Modern medicine has given us many blessings, but don't forget the power of the food that you put in your body.
Modern medicine has given us many blessings. In the first half of the 20 th century, insulin was discovered and subsequently type 1 diabetes was no longer a deadly disease. In the 1940s, antibiotics became available and have since saved millions of lives.
Yet, the one thing modern medicine still cannot cure is chronic diseases. For chronic diseases, such as heart disease, diabetes, hypertension, arthritis, dementia, the treatment of choice is drugs. However, all drugs come with unintended side effects.
A real food diet, movement, sleep, sunshine and natural light, relaxation techniques and stress management go a long way to prevent us from falling ill in the first place, but even late in the day – when a chronic disease has already struck – diet and lifestyle changes are still able to slow or even halt the progression of the disease.
Can food really be that powerful?
Real food contains all the nutrients your body needs. The human body consists of and evolved to require protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients from food. You did not evolve to require medication, and you do not get sick as a result of medication deficiency!
I’m not saying there is no need for medication – far from it – but you may need less or none if you give the body what it needs for repair and maintenance.
Food for health
1. Eat real food
That means meat, fish, seafood, eggs, dairy, nuts, seeds, pulses, vegetable, fruit, herbs, spices, whole grains and natural fats. If you prepare your own meals and snacks, you’ll know exactly what’s in it and the variety will stop it from becoming boring. Yes, it is still possible to create unhealthy food if you prepare your own, but you’d be hard-pressed to add ingredients
that are as harmful as those from the food industry.
2. Avoid sugar and refined carbohydrates
They have no nutritional value and are not among the things you need to eat.
3. Eat natural fats
The human brain is 60% fat, and fat is the basis for many hormones and neurotransmitters. Fat as such is not the enemy, but what you don’t need are man-made oils that are chemically extracted, clarified then filled into transparent plastic bottles and stored under the bright light of supermarkets. Polyunsaturated fats, although ‘essential’ are highly sensitive to heat and light causing them to oxidise and become harmful.
Healthy fats are butter and ghee, coconut oil, olive oil, avocado oil and cold-pressed sunflower, flaxseed, walnut and pumpkin seed oils.
4. Speak to a nutritional therapist
Almost every client I see books in because they are looking for help with one, perhaps two, specific issues. That could be weight loss, heart health, hormone issues, or digestive health or skin problems. Almost every one of them also experiences other, apparently unrelated symptoms, which can be severe or just niggling nuisances: headaches, sleep disturbances,
joint pain, tiredness… Once we start working on the issue they wanted to address, without fail, some or all of those other problems improve or go away completely, often before the main issue has been resolved.
If you would like to try out the power of food for yourself, book your complimentary health review contacting me at Sam@naturallybalancednutrition.co.uk or 07801 240465
