SHOWCASE MAGAZINE | 2018
in motion destructive processes that leave arteries
narrow and stiff, just right for the formation of blood
clots that cause heart muscle to suffocate and die.
Converstely, food can supply a chemical armada
that circulates in the blood; disarming the artery’s
enemies and even scrubbing away some of their
dangerous handiwork from artery walls. Food can
stimulate insulin release and control blood sugar
surges. Food can send hormones to relax artery
walls, reducing blood pressure. Food can interfere
with the so-called natural processes of ageing. Food
can deter the body’s deterioration.. There is hardly a
health problem or natural bodily process that is not
influenced in some fashion by the substances you
put in your mouth. Food is being redefined as pow-
erful medicine- medicine
you can use in preventing
and curtailing diseases of
all kinds and in boosting
mental and physical ener-
gy, vigour and well being.
Food is breaking through
drug of the twenty-first
century.
begins and ends – in those seas of cellular fluids and
genetics and structural material, where destiny may
hang on the presence of a particular enzyme or a
fatty acid metabolized from a molecule of food.
If you know what is going on in your cells, you know
what is happening to your health. About 60 trillion
cells make up your body. Each cell is a complex and
awe-inspiring miniature universe that experiences
billions of chemical reactions every minute of your
life. And what dictate the chemical reactions within
these cells? Their sole source of energy is the food
you give them. For the first time science can now
probe how food promotes health or disease at cell
level, documenting the long-held human wisdom
that food does have medicinal powers.
Unquestionably, early
physicians used food as
a mainstay prescription
against disease. In recent
medical journal, Dr.john
potter, of the University
of Minnesota, recounted
some of the early me-
dicinal uses of food. “In
ancient Egypt, pliny de-
clared that consumption
of cabbage would cure as
many as 87 diseases and that consumption of onions
would cure 28. Garlic was considered a holy plant.
Cruciferous vegetables (cabbage and broccoli) were
cultivated primarily for medicinal purposes and were
used therapeutically against headache, deafness,
and diarrhea, gout, and stomach disorders. The
ancient Romans believed that lentils were a cure for
diarrhea and conducive to an even temper. Raisins
and grapes had many medicinal uses and were incor-
porated into oral preparations, enemas, inhalations,
and topical applications,”
Since the dawn of civilization, we have relied on
the forests, fields and gardens for our medicines.
About 75 per cent of the world’s population still
does. Such a body of human wisdom should not be
discounted, says James Duke, ph.D., a botanist and
specialist in medicinal plants at the U.S. Department
of Agriculture. In his view , if a food has a wide folk
lore reputation as a remedy for a specific diseas-
es, this constitutes of some proof of its potential
validity. After all, he points out, such folk usage has
There is hardly a health
problem or natural bodily
process that is not influ-
enced in some fashion by
the substances you put in
your mouth.
FROM ANCIENT
MYTH TO
MODERN MEDICINE
Until recently, modern medicine neglected the med-
icine in everyday foods, viewing it as folklore, lacking
proven scientific validity. Now mainstream scientist
is increasingly reaching back to the truths of ancient
food folk medicine and dietary practices for clues to
remedies and antidotes for our modern diseases. Re-
search on nature’s medicine is fast-paced.
Why is all this attention to the medicinal aspects of
food accelerating now? Why are prestigious research
institutions like johns Hopkins and Harvard telling us
with great fanfare that broccoli is full of powerful an-
ticancer agents and that eating more carrots seems
dramatically to prevent strokes and heart disease?
The reason is that for the first time in history,
silence is vigorously validating that what we eat is
of urgent importance in determining events at the
basic cellular level. That is where the real mystery
and drama takes place – where battles are continu-
ously won or lost, affirming health and longevity or
dooming us to illness and death. That is where life
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