This is not a new idea. Hippocrates said it best: Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.
He was not alone in his thinking. Several other thought leaders have echoed the power of food, especially from plants, to heal.
- The doctor of the future will no longer treat the human frame with drugs, but rather will cure and prevent disease with nutrition. – Thomas Edison
- An apple a day keeps the doctor away. – Benjamin Franklin
- Nothing will benefit human health and increase the chances for survival of life on Earth as much as the evolution to a vegetarian diet. – Albert Einstein
- The food you eat can either be the safest and most powerful form of medicine or the slowest form of poison. – Ann Wigmore
- Eat food, not too much, mostly plants – Michael Pollen
What does my doctor say?
Traditional western medicine treats acute health issues and their symptoms, often with medication and/or surgery. Eastern and alternative medicine incorporate herbs, energy, mindfulness, and other modalities and testing for prevention and treatment.
Most agree that lifestyle improvements and less processed foods are a good idea, but often they offer little in the way of specific guidance as to where to start.
Keep it simple, start with food first.
So what if, just like the red shoes in the Wizard of Oz, the answer to many of our health issues was right in front of us all along, on our plates?
Simple, right? We all may be making things way too complicated. Once on the phone with the cable company years ago, they said that 90% of their calls could be fixed if people first unplugged and rebooted their modem. A simple solution to something that on the surface seemed complicated.
So what if we start simply with food first? What if we ate more whole unprocessed plant-based foods and crowded out all the foods that were making us sick in the first place?
Sounds like Plant-Based Rx could be just what the doctor ordered.
What’s for dinner?
It doesn’t have to be complicated. Tonight’s dinner plans for spaghetti with meatballs topped with parm could be easily swapped for whole grain spaghetti, cooked lentils, or cannellini beans added to the oil-free sauce, with a bag of frozen vegetables added for color and flavor. Use a micro zester and a Brazil Nut for that hint of Parmesean flavor (and Selenium) to top it off. Easy swaps, 4x fiber, less fat, more filling, heart healthy. Easy does it.
Plant-Based Rx? Let your kitchen be your ‘farmacy’.
ps. Want to incorporate more plants into your life and need some support? Join our Eat to Heal Over 50 program .
