Although we’ve blogged before about how the phrase “food as medicine” can be a little misleading, it remains a powerful concept because it’s broadly true. As we put it back then,
What you eat is a major driver of health and illness. Your body needs nutrients to operate as it was designed to do. When we fail to regularly give it what it needs – including wholesome, healthful, real food with a minimum of processing between field and plate – we not only deprive it of what it needs. We wind up feeding it with products that, over time, can interfere with its optimal function.
More, dietary changes can indeed be healing in many respects – and this is the focus of a wonderful panel discussion we recently saw on the University of California’s YouTube channel. Hosted by Michelle Ciccarelli Lerach of the Berry Good Food Foundation, the panel features a diverse range of thinkers on the topic of food as medicine, including Dr. Gordon Saxe (Center for Integrative Nutrition, UCSD), Dr. Sheila Patel (Chopra Center Mind Body Group), Anita Wilson (Gerson Institute), Zen Honeycutt (Moms Across America), Dr. John Fagan (HRI Labs), and Stephenie Norton (Dickinson Farm).
Get comfy, sit back, and enjoy their conversation:
Featured image by Marco Verch / Creative Commons 2.0