Food Is the Best Medicine

In the Spring, all thoughts turn to green: green trees, green grass, weeds, and green vegetables. This picture says it all. Eat well and be well. Your Pharmacy is your grocery store and your garden. Get out in the fresh air, take a walk. Watch less television and most definitely less computer/phone time.

We grow vegetables in our garden to sustain our kitchen. Eat well and be well. Our chickens give us eggs and friendship. Get out of the house. My Irish Grandmother said, “You have to eat a peck of dirt before you die.” That is the same as, “Thou art dust.” So, stop dusting and get outside and dig in the dirt.

At our Farm, the radishes are coming up. Delicious little green bites to put into salads. A harbinger of roasted radishes to come on our tasting plates. The fava beans are planted. And, as a garden miracle, our sunflowers are not only sprouting but blooming. They are in a little protected spot, but this is too early for them to be awake.

Use your garden as your pharmacy, fruits and vegetables, not pills.

John Stanton, PhD, is a professor at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia. he says that “taste is the leading reason to buy food.”  So, buy food that tastes good and is healthy! Enjoy the family meal together. Family and healthy food are important.

In a review article, Mary Stanton PhD and Selina Wang PhD, looked at the literature on Olive Oil as medicine. (Published by UC Davis Olive Center, 2015). The review suggested that the daily use of two tablespoons of olive oil may lower blood pressure. My addition is always using certified extra virgin olive oil and healthy food, and together this may lower blood pressure. It is also clear from the Nurses’ Health Study that individuals who use olive oil (unsaturated fat) instead of butter (a saturated fat) have a 17% decreased risk of overall causes of mortality.

These are the basic tenets of the Mediterranean diet: healthy food, exercise, and extra virgin olive oil. This premise is supported by more research. Something we have known for many thousands of years. Farm-to-table has been around for a long time. It is good that we are recognizing the importance of food as medicine.

In practicality, good, healthy food is good medicine. Now add your family and friends and you have a winning combination.

Eat from the garden, eat from the soil, plant based consumption is a goal for us all.

Hippocrates (born c. 460 BCE, died c. 375 BCE)

Let food be thy medicine and medicine by thy food.

Ciao,

Ann