Food as Medicine

There are many diseases that are considered related to diet including: heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, cancer, diabetes, and obesity. Diet is one of the keys to understanding and preventing disease. Many modern disease have been largely self-inflicted. Compared to other areas of the world which eat a low-fat, high complex carbohydrate diet, our rate of chronic disease is quite high. Areas that eat a mostly low-fat, plant-based diet have basically no heart disease or stroke. The incidence of cancer is lower. In the US, a large portion of the population will develop heart disease or stroke. Many cancers, including breast and colon cancer, have been linked to diet. The good news is that each one of us has the power to undo some of this damage by improving our diet. Fat, especially saturated fat, has been directly linked to heart disease, stroke, and cancer. Foods with large amounts of saturated fat include meats, dairy products (milk, cheese, ice cream), eggs, and fried foods. Cutting back on these fatty foods is important for your heath and can help you to lose weight. Fruits and vegetables are nature’s medicine. Both are loaded with fiber, vitamins and phytochemicals. Phytochemicals are only found in plants and have many healthy benefits including lowering the risk of cancer. Everyone’s diet should include many servings of fruits and vegetables during the day. In fact, everyone should start out each meal with either a piece of fruit or vegetable. Starting each meal this way will help you to eat less and lose weight. Complex carbohydrates are also an important part of the diet. Eating high fiber carbohydrates can help lower cholesterol, prevent constipation and lower the risk of colon cancer. Everyone hates taking medications. Why not use diet instead of drugs to prevent and lower the risk of many diseases.

Author: drjeffgreenberg


One thought on “Food as Medicine”

  1. It is so exciting to find a doctor who doesn’t immediately think of drugs as the remedy for our medical problems!
    Somewhere along the line, the majority of the medical profession has forgotten the wise words of Hippocrates… “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food”.
    With doctors like you, Dr Greenberg, there may be some hope to get this message out there. How simple to eat healthy, delicious food and take care of our bodies at the same time instead of popping pills that have all kinds of serious side effects.
    Thanks for advocating for good health through a healthy lifestyle!

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