Functional nutrition views food at 4 different levels – energy, information, connection and medicine.
Food plays a vital role in our well-being and quality of life. It is the most powerful way to naturally address the risk factors and underlying conditions of chronic disease.
Food = Medicine
Ancient Healing Traditions
Food has been considered medicine for thousands of years. Hippocrates, one of the founding fathers of medicine, is credited with saying “Let food by thy medicine and medicine be thy food” about 2,500 years ago.
Ancient healing traditions have long recognized the importance of food in restoring balance within the body. Traditional Chinese Medicine focuses on balancing the vital life energy, or qi, through yin and yang in food. Ayurveda, which originated in India, corrects imbalances between doshas through food and other lifestyle factors.
Revival of Food as Medicine
Over time, Western cultures have broken away from the Food as Medicine approach. Scientific innovations led to more and more reliance on an allopathic, or conventional, approach to medicine.
Today, there is a renewed interest in Food as Medicine. There is a growing movement to address the root causes of chronic disease through lifestyle behaviors rather than relying solely on medications to relieve symptoms.
Research is confirming and reconnecting us with something that we have known for thousands of years. What we eat impacts our health.
Our bodies were built to process and use real, whole foods. Nutrient-rich foods support optimal function and balance within the body. They support our body’s natural ability to maintain health and allow us to fully participate in life.
On the flip side, our bodies were not built for ultra-processed and man-made foods. These foods challenge our natural ability to survive and maintain health by creating dysfunction and imbalance. While we are designed to overcome dysfunction and imbalance, it takes extra work to do so. Over time, the extra work takes a toll on the body. Eventually, your body is unable to keep up. Chronic imbalances and dysfunction lead us further away from health and more and more towards disease.
Food and High Blood Pressure or Heart Disease
Are you battling high blood pressure or heart disease?
Are you looking for a proactive approach to address your risk for heart disease by improving your high cholesterol, triglycerides and blood sugar levels?
Are you motivated to break away from the history of heart disease that has impacted your family for years?
Regardless of your specific path towards mitigating high blood pressure and heart disease, food needs to be part of the answer.
