Some excepts from an interesting article by Dr Mark Hyman on the emphasis placed on food as medicine in Asian countries and the field of nutrigenomics. While the Asian country in question was China, my thoughts were drawn towards Āyurveda and the its’ emphasis on food in terms of health and healing.
“What you put at the end of your fork is more powerful medicine than anything you will find at the bottom of a pill bottle. Food is the most powerful medicine available to heal chronic disease…..
There is no distinction between food and medicine in Asia.
However, the notion that food is anything other than calories for energy and sustaining life is foreign to most Westerners.
Food contains information that speaks to our genes, not just calories for energy. We are learning from research in the field of nutrigenomics, that good “talks” to our DNA switching on or off genes that lead to health or disease. What you eat programs your body with messages of health or illness.
But in Asia dinner has long been a date with the doctor”