4 Best Hacks To Support Your Health With Food

Can you heal yourself with food? Can you support your health with food during menopause or when dealing with a chronic condition? That’s a million-dollar question. Experts agree that it is possible to improve health with food. Give yourself a fair chance by following these simple rules.

Your overall health and wellness are dependent on many things. Genetics and what you are born with, your lifestyle, whether or not you engage in unhealthy habits like drinking or smoking, where you live, and yes – what you eat or don’t eat.

It’s important to know that your diet is so much more than how much you eat. Not eating “junk food doesn’t necessarily mean that you have a good diet either. The idea of a good diet goes beyond weight loss or weight management.

Your daily food choices can actually affect what illnesses you get. It determines whether or not you are at high risk for heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

Together, we are going to explore how you can use food as medicine, sort of. Not to replace the medicine, but to help it work better. To give you the best shot at being the healthiest person you can be. And hopefully live a long, happy life while nourishing your body the right way.

Keep reading to learn more about using food as medicine and discover why what you eat makes such a drastic difference in your overall health.

Can You Support Your Health With Food?

This is the big question, and we want to start by answering it first. It is important to note a few things before we continue:

This is not meant to replace medical intervention or advice from your doctor. As with most areas of natural or alternative medicine, the food cure provides an alternative, not necessarily a replacement. You are still encouraged to talk to your doctor any time you have worries about a health condition. However, changing your diet can potentially improve your health, both mentally and physically.

We are not promoting restrictive or strict diets. I hate diets that tell you to eat apples and lettuce all day! By using the word “diet” here, I mean only to portray a change in what you eat and the way you eat. I am NOT talking about fad diets or restrictive diets. Eating for health and healing is about adding in the good stuff, not necessarily taking away any foods or food groups.

Food is medicinal because of the nutrients they contain. The reason why food can be medicinal is not because of the foods themselves. You don’t need to put them in boxes or categories. It is more that the nutrients they contain can hurt or help your overall health.

Why What You Eat Matters

You have probably heard the phrase “You are what you eat” many times. But have you really thought about what this actually means?

The phrase is frequently used as a way to discourage unhealthy eating for people who are trying to diet or lose weight. But the saying has many connotations.

This phrase is trying to inform you of the importance of what you put in your body. Not just how much you should consume for weight management. It implies the importance of the ingredients, chemicals, and nutrients that may or may not be in your food.

Medical practitioners and nutritionists believe that food is one of the many ways to improve health and mitigate chronic conditions.

You can greatly impact your health, including physical and mental health, just by the foods you eat.

For instance, if you don’t eat enough vitamin C, you are at a higher risk for a weakened immune system and might get sick more often. On the other hand, if you have a very balanced diet with lots of important nutrients, you can actually reduce your risk for many diseases and illnesses.

You Can Get All Necessary Nutrients Through Food

Most, if not all, of the nutrients your body needs not just to survive, but to thrive, are obtainable through the foods that you choose to eat. So if you consume the right stuff regularly, the food can absolutely improve the quality of your health.

Vitamins and minerals are found in whole, clean, fresh foods. However, even processed foods can have a lot of the iron, calcium, protein, zinc, and other nutrients that a body needs to grow and thrive.

This is why food is often used as a natural remedy to help with physical ailments. Not necessarily to replace medicine completely, but to help you use a little less of it.

Can Food Replace Medicine?

The short answer is no, but the honest answer is yes and no. In many cases, you are able to improve your health and longevity by consuming healthy food.

Many people find that increasing nutrients through their diet helps them lower their blood pressure and cholesterol, reduce the risk of diabetes, help protect their brain and heart, and even get help with anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders.

Medicine is powerful and necessary. Although by switching to a healthier diet, you have the opportunity to rely less on drugs. Nourishing your body in the right way can prevent the need for medication. This is health from the inside, out.

Are You Inadvertently Making Your Symptoms Worse?

Another thing to keep in mind is that what you eat might not be helping you, but instead hurting you. Therefore, the best thing you can do is to reduce some of the foods you eat. Instead, look for alternatives with vitamins and minerals that your body needs.

Here are some examples:

You can suffer from malnutrition without knowing it. Yes, you can absolutely be undernourished even if you don’t feel like you are starving.

This is not just when you don’t eat enough, but when you don’t eat enough of the right nutrients. If all you ate for a week straight was vegetables, sure you would get a lot of amazing vitamins and minerals. But you would likely be low on iron, protein, and zinc. These are essential nutrients your body needs.

Your foods might be making you sick. It is also possible that you have an aversion or sensitivity to certain foods, which is making you sick. It is not always as obvious as a food allergy, where you have an immediate reaction to it. Sometimes, it can take longer to realize your abdominal cramping is from IBS or that you have a sensitivity to high-histamine foods.

If it makes you feel bad, it is probably bad for you. While this is a broad generalization, it can be true in many cases. People often eat what they want or crave, but don’t pay attention to how it makes them FEEL. If you are tired, have a headache, stomach problems, or cramping after eating a certain type of food, it is probably best to investigate why that is.

Quick Tips To Support Your Health With Food

To achieve optimal health through a balanced diet, here are a few quick tips to start you off:

1. Make Sure Your Foods Are Rich in Nutrients

Your body will benefit greatly from eating foods that are high in nutrients and avoiding those that are low in nutrients. Foods that contain high levels of fats, salt, or added sugars are low in nutrients. Meanwhile, foods such as whole grains, plants, low-fat dairy, and lean protein are full of nutrients. 

2. Include a Variety of Proteins

Having enough protein in your diet is important because you can’t build muscle or repair muscle without it. The most important part of including protein in your diet is to remember to get a wide variety of protein in your diet, instead of just sticking to one type of protein source. Good protein sources include: 

• Low-fat cuts of beef and pork
• Skinless poultry
• Beans and peas
• Seafood
• Soy
• Nuts and seeds

3. Include Fruits and Vegetables

The healthiest diet will always include a variety of fruits and vegetables. When you consume fruits and vegetables you can rest easy knowing that you are filling your body with most of the important vitamins.

Fruits and vegetables are rich in vitamins and antioxidants, and both are vital in the fight to keep your body free of cancer, heart disease, and other potentially fatal diseases. The best way to make sure that you are consuming enough vitamins and antioxidants is to include fruits and vegetables from all over the rainbow as they all offer different benefits to your body.

• Orange carrots
• Red peppers
• Green spinach
• Blue grapes
• Yellow tomatoes and peppers
• Purple beetroot
• Blackberries (closest to indigo!)

4. Focus on Whole Foods

Staying away from processed foods is a great way to increase the healthiness of your diet. The processed foods that are in the supermarket are often preferable because they are cheap, easy to prepare, and may even offer health claims.

But the easy preparation comes with a price: they are often filled with salt, preservatives, and sugar. Instead of processed foods, choose a variety of whole foods, including whole grains and cereals.

Modern society is too reliant on pharmaceuticals to solve our health and mental problems but these often have undesirable side effects. Eating well can be a great way to reduce the need to medicate or perhaps for some of us, to prevent that need altogether. In conclusion, it is absolutely possible to improve your health with food.

@Feature Photo by Katherine Hanlon on Unsplash

Disclaimer:

This article was written by Zuzana Halliwell. I am not a doctor or health professional and cannot be held liable for the information written here. This article is meant to provide information about the benefits of a healthy diet and lifestyle. The content is based on my own personal experience and on information provided by medical professionals that is available to the public. It is not intended to provide medical advice. Do not use it as an alternative to seeking help from a medical professional.