Food as Medicine?

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sapalee
sapalee Posts: 409 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Curious to hear your thoughts. Do you view your diet as your first prescription for good health?

I see my food as the first medicine that will either help or harm my health goals.

Does anyone have similar or different thoughts?

Curious to know what motivates people to eat the way they do.

Replies

  • sapalee
    sapalee Posts: 409 Member
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    Bump?
  • sherronh
    sherronh Posts: 119 Member
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    Ive actually seen a few documentaries on how clean eatting can reverse all kinds of things.

    If we put garbage into out bodies they are bound to react negatively.

    I would love to find a doctor who believes in these kinds of tings and pick their brains.

    But i do believe that food is the first kind of medicine we can all take.
  • SirBen81
    SirBen81 Posts: 396 Member
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    Not necessarily. For instance, if I have malaria or if I've been bitten by a cobra the last thing on my mind is going to be eating healthy foods. I would want real medicine injected into my body.
  • SirBen81
    SirBen81 Posts: 396 Member
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    I would love to find a doctor who believes in these kinds of tings and pick their brains.

    That's what chiropracters believe. They do more than just crack backs.
  • sapalee
    sapalee Posts: 409 Member
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    Not necessarily. For instance, if I have malaria or if I've been bitten by a cobra the last thing on my mind is going to be eating healthy foods. I would want real medicine injected into my body.

    Obviously :), we're talking more in terms of preventative medicine.
  • Nelski
    Nelski Posts: 1,607 Member
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    I think food can be 'medicine'. I've been reading up more and watching nutrition documentaries and it is making me realize just how important proper nutrition is. I have not seen it 1st hand cure illness but I'm trying to eat better foods to prevent it. I know when I ate crappier on a regular basis I got sick more often so that has to say something.
  • gillybumbler
    gillybumbler Posts: 136
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    Eliminating some foods and eating healthy has helped my son's asthma and eczema. Food most definitely can be viewed as a medicine, but we also have to use supplements and herbs to keep him off inhalers. And no mater how good I eat I am still deficient in some vitamins.
  • cscheiern
    cscheiern Posts: 45
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    Food is preventative medicine, but also can correct some problems. For instance, if you have high blood pressure, it can be corrected with a proper diet.
  • hpsnickers1
    hpsnickers1 Posts: 2,783 Member
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    YES!!! Clean eating is what gave me my health back - things started heading downhill at around 38 years old (I'm 41 now). To me, clean eating was removal of grains/flours/sugars/legumes/"vegetable" oils/most dairy/ most fruit. And a huge increase in natural fats like real butter and coconut oil. And plenty of animal fat - fat is my main calorie source.

    I actually feel normal for the first time in my life. There wasn't a doctor out there who was able to make me feel like this...because I kept following their advice. Doctors know next to nothing about nutrition. That isn't what medical school focuses on and their medical knowledge after school - unless they do a whole lot of reading and research - will come from the pharmaceutical company reps that "sell" the prescription drugs to them (i.e. drug salesmen).

    Plus I more than doubled my weight loss goal (never thought I would see below 120lbs as an adult but have actually hit 108.2lbs. And my LBM is still intact!).

    What I cured when I went Primal:
    daytime drowsiness
    eczema
    hiatal hernia
    indigestion
    IBS and all the symptoms associated with it.
    Anxiety and stress
    losing hair
    bad sleep
    bloated belly and belly fat
    cavities and weakening teeth (first time in my life a dental appointment hasn't shown me some kind of tooth decay. The grains were keeping my body from absorbing the nutrients needed for good bone and dental health).
    And managed to stop my metabolism from breaking anymore. I don't think I can fix it but I can keep it from getting any worse.
    Would say Fibromyalgia but I think that was a misdiagnosis (actually was Reactive Hypoglycemia and toxic blood sugars. Doctors never checked this because I wasn't overweight/obese when I was diagnosed with FM).

    N=1 (but if you head over to the Paleo Support Group you will find that N= more than 700 now!!
  • Eleisabelle
    Eleisabelle Posts: 365
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    Seeing a post just today from a 55-year-old MFP member who has reduced her triglycerides and no longer has diabetes, has eased her fibromyalgia, and has achieved other health improvements, and having a friend who overcame infertility through diet changes, you'd be hard pressed to convince me that food is NOT medicine.

    But I've believed it for a long time--I myself have treated my asthma and depression with healthy food. It works.
  • Sl1ghtly
    Sl1ghtly Posts: 855 Member
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    I think a balanced diet can be helpful to prevent health complications cause by unbalanced diets. Also, eliminating food items that one is intolerant too can be helpful.

    Maybe even eating a balanced diet with a reasonable calorie deficit can possibly stop, or reverse, obesity related health issues.

    So, yes I think its possible.
  • bcattoes
    bcattoes Posts: 17,299 Member
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    I see food as a close second to exercise as my prescription for health. From what I've seen and read, the 3 things you can do to most improve health are:

    1. Stop smoking
    2. Exercise regularly
    3. Eat a healthy diet

    Since I don't smoke, 2 becomes 1 and 3 becomes 2.
  • DebbieMc3
    DebbieMc3 Posts: 289 Member
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    When I spend extra money on certain healthy/diet foods, I say it is my medicine. I mean that I can spend it now on getting healthy, or I can spend it later on meds for high bp, diabetes.....

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