This is an excerpt and elaboration from the talk I gave last Saturday at MINDD’s Food Is Medicine. MINDD Foundation helps practitioners and patients discover and implement effective treatments for Metabolic, Immunologic, Neurologic, Digestive, Developmental conditions that often affect the mind.
I want to share a simple message, one easily overlooked yet hugely important. It’s nothing confounding, nor is it a lecture on nutritional intricacies, but an unscrambling. (This is my favourite way to describe what I try to do in clinic – ‘unscramble the scramble’. It’s messy out there in the world of health).
There are three main points I ask clients to consider when faced with a health challenge (and the corresponding deluge of information/opinion on how to get better).
- Question your illness – yourself or loved one
– A tough question, but necessary. What has led to this point? What factors have been gradually accumulating, causing an ‘overflow’ – a tipping point?
– Are you being forced to rest? Your body is taking executive action. Have you been given time to sit and consider why the illness has arisen and address the root cause?
– How will you address the problem for life? What is the sustainable, long-term solution?
– Ask questions of your health care provider. Seek expert advice to gain clarity & understanding, not become a passive recipient of treatment.
- Obtain an education
– Get clear on what we have evolved to eat. What makes sense when looking at human anatomy & physiology?
– Learn what we used to eat before the industrialization of food.
– Question, question, question. Where is your food coming from? Is it from healthy animals & plants or sick ones? Engage with the origins of your food and favour quality over quantity.
– Debunk myths surrounding health & nutrition. Make sure your sources are credible and apply discernment. The best rule? Use common sense!
– Seek expert advice & learn from professionals.
- Stop eating symptomatically
– Symptomatic or reactive eating happens when we are motivated by convenience, lack of time, a quick fix or pain. Instead of addressing the true causes of ill health, this simply perpetuates the cycle of disease. Refuse to eat for sickness and choose to eat for health, even if that means spending more time and/or money – it is an investment for life.
The most complicated conditions can be met with simplicity. Gentle questioning and a return to common sense are the best and most sensible remedies for life-long exuberant health.
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