Food as Medicine

Going into the holiday season has me thinking of ways to stay healthy this year! We are all truly blessed if we can come through the festive season with maybe only a common cold!  From traveling, to lack of exercise to all the heavy and sweet foods, our immune systems can really take a hit during the winter.

I’m sure you have heard of the phrase “food is medicine”? This phrase is actually a simplified version of the quote “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”. This quote is attributed to Hippocrates, an ancient Greek physician and many believe, the founder of modern medicine.

But what does that phrase mean? We can only guess and speculate what Hippocrates actually meant when he said that, but I think it is at least a phrase that we should remember and keep in mind. It might actually mean something different for everyone! After all, good wisdom and sound advice can have more than one meaning! 🙂

When it comes to the idea of food as medicine, I tend to think of fruits and vegetables and fresh produce. But that is a little hard to come by in the winter, right? Especially when you are trying to eat seasonally! Instead, when winter rolls around, I like to reframe my way of thinking about this phrase to remind myself to have balance. Balance is a huge key in so many areas of our lives besides just food, but balance in our eating habits is a great thing to practice. This winter, I’m going to try to remember to balance the treats of the season with healthy food too.

But HOW is food medicine? IS food medicine? Well, it depends on the food that you eat 🙂 Plants are always a good idea for our health and eating plants does help our bodies stay healthy. But eating healthy doesn’t just mean eating plants! It could also mean using more herbs and spices, trying out a recipe with honey instead of sugar and reminding ourselves to stop and really taste and enjoy our food. I hope to share some other ideas and tips this month on historical foods that can help us stay healthy!