Is Food Your Medicine Or Your Poison?

Working in the field of nutrition over the past thirty years or so it is very clear to me that most people do not understand what they are eating (or drinking).  Our choices can be either ‘medicine’ to our body which will sustain us, keep us healthy and energetic, or toxic – harmful accumulative ingredients which will eventually contribute to some chronic disease or illness – Or to the more fortunate – migraines, digestive problems, respiratory and skin disorders or general fatigue.

If you consider that perhaps over the past 50 years or so, our food has not only deteriorated in quality because of agricultural and farming practices catering for the masses rather than localities, the food industry has accommodated our need for convenience. Instead of our dining tables displaying local fresh food, home prepared and cooked, for all or most meals, it now displays foods from around the world pre prepared, fresh which is no longer fresh – the result of which is drastically diminished nourishment.

We can no longer assume the word ‘natural’ or even organic means ‘no nasties’.  For example – a tin of ‘organic’ kidney beans – simply means the beans were grown organically.  It doesn’t mean that the liquid they float in isn’t full of preservatives or other additives. Likewise ‘natural’ doesn’t mean safe.  Natural flavour can be monosodium glutamate – which is perhaps one of the worst food additives with the potential to cause serious side effects, or in the least headaches, nausea and a host of other common ailments.

Therefore understanding what you are eating firstly means ignoring the marketing blurb on the front of your purchases, all of which is to encourage you to buy the product, and instead look at the small print – find the word ‘ingredients’ and read the true content of what you are buying.  It is quite easy to ‘Google’ the numbers or chemical names listed under ingredients to find out the side effects of these substances you are about to put into your mouth.  You will also learn that most of these ‘other’ substances can be found in paints, varnishes, toiletries, hair dyes and a host of other industrial substances.  It has also been found that imported items whether packaged or so-called ‘fresh’ can contain banned substances.

The next thing is to consider where your fresh food is coming from – if it is imported it will have been picked before ripe and thus not having the natural development of nutrients. It will have been subjected to a host of synthetic chemical treatments to prolong its life, and to deter its ripening for several months until it gets to its destination where it will then go through the process of irradiation.

A very important factor is also our meat source, in particular beef and chicken.  Do we want to eat meat from stressed animals, filled with hormone enhancers, antibiotics, and who may have been fed with ‘unnatural food?’

Therefore your choice of not only what you buy, but where it comes from can make a difference to your health.

Working with chronically sick people (heart disease, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, cancer, pancreatitis, chronic fatigue, lupus and a host of other health problems), I look at the diet, which probably has contributed to the condition in some way. When people start to eat as they should, as nature intended, eating fresh living food and juices, symptoms and ailments start to disappear, energy returns, unnatural weight disappears, blood sugar and blood pressure return to normal and quality of life returns.

But why wait until you are chronically sick.  What about prevention?  Start to make changes now. Return to simple local fresh food, shop at local farmers markets, try to buy organic to avoid fertilisers and pesticides. You don’t have to be a gourmet chef to cook nice nutritious meals.  Keep them simple and quick.  I understand in this busy world we live in, people don’t have time to spend hours preparing food and cooking.  Consider lots of salads, steamed vegetables, homemade soups, fruit and nuts. Buy organic or unfarmed meats that are easy to cook grill or stir-fry. Make use of lentils, legumes, quinoa which are all easy and quick to cook.  How easy is it to eat nature’s fast food – fruit – can you get any faster than picking an apple and eating it?

Remember fresh ‘living food’ is what we need to help us keep well and restore health.  How much do you eat every day – how much ‘dead food’ do you eat every day?

You are what you eat! AND ‘you become what you eat”.