Food Energetics

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food"― Hippocrates

Hippocrates is considered the father of modern medicine. Sometime after 460 B.C Hippocrates collected data and conducted experiments to show that disease was a natural process. The signs and symptoms of a disease were caused by the natural reactions of the body to the disease, and that the chief role of the physician was to aid the natural resistance of the body to overcome the imbalance and restore health.

Approximately 2,400 years ago, Hippocrates was setting up a hospital on an island in Greece, and his only criteria for it was that it be built behind a stream where watercress grew. In fact he demanded it. The funny thing is back then, Hippocrates didn't know that watercress was loaded with vitamin C, antioxidants, minerals, and a high water content, or all the other things we know today. He did however understand this plant in a different way. He saw the fact that this plant grew in the water, which led him to believe the plant had a high water content ( ding ding ), he also believed that if the plant had a high water content it would in fact help assist in water balance in the body (ding ding). Having an abundance of watercress right outside the hospital would assure that his patients could fight infections and cleanse the body, especially the urinary tract and the kidneys, as well as other problems in those areas of the body. Watercress would play an instrumental role in the bodys defense as well as healing.

I wonder how many people eat watercress today? Sadly I know a the simple answer to that. I don't believe it's because no on wants to, but because we have grown up in a society where that's not something you see much of. If people started to incorporate vegetables especially dark leafy greens, maybe health issues wouldn't be sky rocketing. Or maybe it's that we put too much emphasis on our health care system. You know- "we have a pill for that." Put down the butter once in a while, reduce some red meat, get rid of processed cheese, add in leafy greens and maybe Lipitor can be taken out of your daily routine. Pills aren't the only answer and maybe the miraculous array of fruits and vegetables were put on this earth for a reason. And it's not a hippie, tree hugging thought, but actually a sheer fact that maybe, just maybe we have been given everything we need.

I wonder what Hippocrates would think of where our health care system has gone? He started something incredible, and through technology we have made it exceptional. But maybe we've taken it a little too far?