Food As Medicine: A Novel Concept or Ancient Wisdom

I just returned from the most wonderful conference called Food As Medicine, by the Center for Mind Body Medicine in Baltimore, MD. It was a week-long, jam-packed, seminar filled with lectures on holistic health by leaders and true pioneers in the medical community.

Before big Pharmaceutical companies got very rich and before doctors had bad handwriting, ancient people used their intuition to discover healing remedies concocted from food and plants.

Around 400 BC, Hippocrates, the Father of Medicine, said, “Natural forces within us are the true healers of disease.” This sentiment is exactly what we need to be moving towards to make significant changes in the health of our ever-deteriorating and ever-expanding American people.

1 in every 3 women and about 50% of men in the U.S. will develop cancer in their lifetime. Diabetes and heart disease are also on the rise. In a country with so many technological advancements, how could this be? Could it be that all of these pharmaceuticals that we are popping never really get to the cause of the disease but instead just cover up symptoms of disease? Could it be that practitioners no longer have enough time with each patient to educate them on prevention and self care? Could it be that as patients, we are demanding a quick fix to our problem instead of taking responsibility for our own health and doing what it takes to get well? Could it be all of these things and more? I do think it is time to start asking better questions.

Food As Medicine, is not just a new-age concept. It is ancient wisdom that has been forgotten about among the muck of fast food, junk food, and pharmaceutical advertising. I guess it’s just not sexy to see television commercials for broccoli and kale. However, because of organizations like the Center for Mind Body Medicine and all other holistic practitioners, there is hope that more people will be able to lead disease-free lives and those who are ill will be able to heal.

For more info on the Center for Mind Body Medicine see www.cmbm.org.

Pros to Eating Organic Foods

The most obvious reason to why we should buy organic foods is to avoid pesticides, antibiotics and hormones that have been sprayed on or pumped into our food system. But what's the big deal? Our bodies can handle a few measley chemicals, can't they? Well, it depends on where you stand on long term illness. If it is something you never think about, then think about this. It can take up to thirty years for diseases like cancer to manifest into a diagnosable form from its beginning stages. To date there are no studies that will link pesticides to disease (says the article in the March issue of Time Magazine written by John Cloud). However, it is no secret that these chemicals cause damage on a cellular level. It also is known that after many years of this kind of damage all sorts of malfunctions can occur.

So to do our best in avoiding as much damage to our bodies that we can control, then eating organically is a step in the right direction!