Whole foods as medicine… how familiar is this quote… everybody has heard it I’m sure:
“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”
Hippocrates, Father of Medicine, 431 BC
I believe in that principle as so often people suffer with various illnesses and diseases that can quite literally go away once they remove all the junk foods. Once they replace them with real food from nature, because that is what we are designed to eat, many times the problems can go away.
I’m quite sure our body doesn’t even recognise much of the ‘food’ that slips down into our stomach. As a result, our body has a hard time trying to keep us healthy. But it does go to great extremes to do so.
Defining what is meant by Junk Foods
- “Those commercial products, including candy, bakery goods, ice cream, salty snacks and soft drinks, which have little or no nutritional value but do have plenty of calories, salt and fats…”
- “High levels of calories from sugar or fat with little fibre, protein, vitamins or minerals…”
- “Food from many hamburger outlets, pizza and fried chicken outlets is often considered as junk food…”
I’d like to say there are many of the above mentioned items that can be made using wholesome ingredients that are perfectly healthy for you.
What are whole foods?
I’m devoted to sharing how you can gradually change your eating habits (and that’s really all it is… eating habits) one step at a time and at your own pace. As a result, to finally feed your body with quality food. Real fruits, vegetables and all other foods that have not gone through high processing and had sugar and additives added to such a degree they are not even recognised as food by the body.
- Whole grains
- Vegetables
- Fruits
- Nuts
- Legumes (such as lentils, beans, peas)
- Seeds
- Sea vegetables etc
- Meats and poultry (only free-range or grass-fed)
We need to eat food in it’s natural state… that’s what it means to eat whole foods.
Real food comes from the earth or sea rather than those from a factory:
| Natural Wholesome Nutrient-Rich |
Unnatural, Refined, Sugar-laden |
| Fruit – grow on trees | Genetrically modified fruits & vegetables |
| Vegetables – grow in a garden | Store-bought cakes , pastries, biscuits etc. |
| Nuts – grow on trees | Packaged Breakfast Cereals |
| Legumes – grow in the ground | Soda, Fizzy drinks, Soft Drinks |
| Seeds – grow inside fruit and vegetables | Processed meats (devon etc) |
| Sea vegetables – grow in the sea | Lollies, sweets, many desserts etc. |
Natural foods have changed, you may argue. Foods may not be like they used to be thousands of years ago. I don’t support the ‘evolution’ theory as such, but it cannot be denied that our food and domestic animals have evolved over many years, chiefly through the work of man. Birds, animals and plants have been crossbred bringing out fatter and larger varieties that are more capable of feeding a much greater number. Discussing evolutionary practices is not the purpose of this website as I’m much more interested in bringing understanding between what is meant when we talk about eating natural, whole foods.
Another way of distinction between what it referred to as whole foods:
| High-Quality Whole Food |
Processed Low-Quality Food |
| Brown Rice | White Rice |
| Wholemeal bread | White bread |
| Wholemeal pasta | White pasta |
| Grass fed, unpasteurised, unhomogenised dairy | Feed lot pasteurised, homogenised Dairy |
| Unrefined foods | Refined foods |
| Natural cold-pressed oils like olive oil | Factory blended oils like canola oil |
It’s only as you consume whole foods they become as medicine to the body.
Whole foods as medicine – what can eating these foods do in the body?
- Improve the absorption of nutrients
- Balance blood glucose or blood sugar
- Alkalize the body
- Balance the hormones
- Control and even decrease inflammation
- Detoxify and eliminate toxins out of the body
- Potential to heal many diseases
It seems like back in the days of Hippocrates things were much simpler and more straight forward, I’m sure. But the truth of what he said back then lives on.
In conclusion, return as much as is possible to the natural way of eating and forego all the countless processed foods lining the supermarket shelves.
Every mouthful counts and decides your pathway… towards health… or towards sickness and disease. Choose health!
Marilyn Williams
Marilyn Williams
