Food as medicine - the tasty approach to better health

Food is incredibly important for us, being our source of life and energy for all the activities we perform daily. Since we are aware of this, we can imagine how altering our diet can sometimes help us overcome illnesses or some other health problems. This is possible because, on many occasions, unhealthy nutrition is what makes us unhealthy in the first place. Annemarie Colbin, an expert in macrobiotics and health food, wrote a book Food and Healing, where she elaborates on the subject, presenting all the powerful, healthy potentials of certain types of food.

Food and Illnesses

We are all different. Thus, one food may be healthy for some of us, while for others it might only make negative symptoms worse. We need to bear this in mind all the time. When we are healthy, our body is in balance. However, when we lack this balance, we can use specific types of food to get back into balance once again. Yet, once the harmony is achieved, just as we stop taking certain medications while healthy, we should stop eating some food or change our diet again once we manage to fight off the illness. Of course, traditional medications are necessary in some situations. Nevertheless, this fact does not negate the power of food.

The Power of Food

In Food and Healing, Annemarie Colbin mentions how our metabolism is influenced by the food we consume. She cooked for some South American friends who were used to a diet very rich in proteins and fats. Once they tried something completely different, legumes and grains which were very rich in complex carbohydrates and low in sugar and fat, the guests noticed that they were more affected by alcohol than usually. Thus, their metabolisms were working better due to the food and, with the blood circulating faster, they got tipsy more easily.

So, different food has a different effect on our body. Western cultures prefer fatty food, while Asian cultures concentrate on complex carbohydrates and fiber. Also, these cultures have different approaches to medicine. Western cultures seek for microscopic causes or symptoms of greater problems, pinpointing them and treating afterwards while, for example, Traditional Chinese Medicine has a more holistic approach to medicine, relating things to each other.

All in all, the food we eat bears specific power. We need to choose more powerful and healthier food in order to stay strong and healthy ourselves. Thus, choose wisely.