“…and thy medicine be thy food.” – Hippocrates
Wow, it just amazes me how much wisdom Hippocrates had, unblinded by the progression of modern medicine.
What do I mean by this?
First off, it has been replicated over and over that food is a powerful force that works much like a drug. This concept is used largely the holistic medicine, functional medicine, and nutrition therapy movement (though holistic medicine does employ things such as extracts, etc. from things we would not eat, but that are still natural eg. ox gall can be used for digestive issues, and functional medicine may include physical activities as well).
Food can be used to treat diseases by powering your body’s natural healing system. In other words, it’s not so much the food that is doing the healing, but its partnership with your body to overcome incredible diseases.
Example? Dr. Terry Wahls. (Her website here: http://terrywahls.com/) She reversed much of the damage caused by her diagnosed MS (multiple sclerosis) using a healing diet as one of her cornerstone principles. You may be thinking that this is impossible. No. It’s not. Food is a powerful force.
Nutrition therapy has been proven highly effective, and though there has been a lack of funding for studies to prove this almost unbelievable benefit (cough – drug companies – cough). I think it’s only a matter of time before these truly amazing benefits reach the surface. Studies are most likely being done as I write this to prove the power of food to heal.
I look forward to this very much.
So why have we not realized this before? I believe we have chosen this path to unhealthy living and eating (and by we, I mean the large drug and food companies).
I feel as if I may delve deeper into this in a later post, but the basic concept is that drug companies make money off of unhealthy people. A lot of people are unhealthy. There are large drug companies with lots of money and power to influence what scientific studies are funded (ones that make drugs look good).
Food companies are also large. They make money off of people who are addicted to their food, and buy, buy, buy. The more unhealthy they are, (usually) the more they buy, to fuel themselves for both emotional and physical reasons. Why would the food companies ever want to help people get healthy? Healthy people don’t buy junk food in the amounts that unhealthy people do.
So it can be inferred that the food and drug industry has a high interest in you being unhealthy.
Uh-oh. This is a problem, isn’t it? Or does it sound too farfetched to you? Feel free to leave comments.
Getting back to the original point, food has been long ignored as a powerful tool to heal us. Instead it has been made into many other things. Food has been made to be simply calories, emotional support, “fun”, eye candy, social fodder, a commodity…I could go on and on, and I will probably make posts about each of these things (if you’re interested in one in particular, let me know, and I will elaborate).
Food is not just for sustaining life. It is there for you to THRIVE. Eating the right diet will make you healthy, and happy.
Don’t underestimate the power of food. Even Hippocrates knew this.
Image: “Bust of Hippocrates” http://www.clintmay.com/bust-of-hippocrates/
Permission for Nutrition 