Is Food the Poison or the Antidote?

When did food become so controversial, right? We live in a time where we are bombarded by information on food by social media. There are so many diets, food trends, and a growing list of healthy and unhealthy foods. Let's say that it continues to get complicated. Apart from this, as one grows older, there is a natural revaluation of our relationship with food because we are unable to maintain the rich diets from our younger days.

These days, I understand the reason my father was popping those antacid pills like candy because of gastritis. And I myself have grown accustomed to the burning sensation in my chest. Overnight, it also seems that I have become lactose intolerant, and a single slice of pizza makes my stomach bloat like a puffer fish. So, naturally, I had to take my relationship with food seriously, but there were a few experiences that made me wonder whether food was the poison or the antidote.

The Whole30 Diet

During my late 20s, one of my college peers introduced me to the "Whole30 Program", which changed my perspective on diet forever. To explain the program simply, you don't eat dairy, processed foods, sugar, grains, alcohol, and baked goods for 30 days. You are probably thinking to yourself, "Isn't this torture?". Yes, it most definitely felt like it, but it was the most enlightening experience. I would go as far as to say that it helped me identify many aspects of myself when it comes to food. I didn't make it to the 30 days for the main reason that it got expensive. At the time, I was a Masters student, and fresh produce and meat were more expensive in comparison to processed foods in the United States.

So at the end of two and a half weeks of the program, I kid you not, but I felt as though I had undergone a detox. For a lack of a better word, I felt clean. It wasn't about the weight loss about how my body felt. My skin was clear. My stomach was no longer bloated. And the most important of all was that I had more energy. There was a clear difference. Then, as I added back things to my diet, I began to observe how my body interacted with various foods.

My sister had done the program with me, and the difference was much more evident for her. She has a chronic autoimmune disease, and there was a direct correlation between her inflammation and certain foods. We discovered that she was allergic to a lot of processed foods that had artificial food coloring, preservatives, and she couldn't eat large quantities of dairy and red meat. She began to filter these foods out of her diet, and she began to notice that she had fewer episodes in regards to her autoimmune illness. So, it is true that some foods can act as a sort of poison, and this is not confined to junk food.

Is Food a Medicine?

Another time that I was challenged by the perspective of food was when my mother was diagnosed with breast cancer. You cannot imagine the importance of nutrition to an individual undergoing chemotherapy. My mother developed an aversion for food since she expressed that everything tasted like cardboard in her mouth. She found it so difficult to eat, but she needed to eat. During this time, food became medicine. Food was a fuel source. Food was medicine.

The interesting thing is that both my mom and I are physicians, and neither of us had an idea about nutrition. I don't think that we, as physicians, are taught about the impact of nutrition on the human body. If we were so clueless, I don't know how people without a medical background navigated this aspect of the disease. I didn't realize that food played a huge part in the healing process.

Who would have known that cow liver was a medicine for anemia? That fruits and vegetables help aid in the healing of mouth sores? That papaya leaves help increase the platelet count? I am completely convinced that food is a powerful medicine ,and I will go further and say that it is a missing component in healthcare.

So, there you have it! I think food can be poison and medicine. It is a unique relationship for each person since food can act as a poison or medicine depending on your unique genetic makeup. I think that we need to keep in mind that no food, diet, and trend is suitable for everyone. It is a journey that can look different for each of us, but it is worth taking the time to intentionally explore and make that choice on what works for us.