"Food as Medicine"

As I described in an earlier post (Part II will come sometime...), my organization focuses on the concept of "food as medicine" to improve our clients' health. And as I was talking with my mother today, I suddenly realized that "food as medicine" isn't some complex theory to which I was introduced through my fellowship. Rather, I've been embracing this very concept for most of my life.

I woke up this morning with a sore throat. This is bad news for obvious reasons, but it's an especially unfortunate circumstance considering that my job involves my interacting with very ill people with compromised immune systems. (And as far as I'm concerned, there is no way in hell that I'm going to make someone with a serious life-challenging illness even sicker.) I was explaining this situation to my mother this afternooon, when -- Eureka -- the realization hit me.

Since I was a kid, my mom has told me a little proverb whenever I've been ill, and today was no exception. In Chinese, that proverb is "人怕病，病怕撑!" (or "Rén pà bìng, bìng pà chēng!"). Directly translated, this proverb means "People fear illness, [but] illness fears fullness." To sound less like Rivers Cuomo, crooning about his Asian Fetish, I'll provide a richer characterization.

My mother always used this saying at the meal table when I was a bit under the weather since generally, appetite decreases during illness. The idea is that while sick, malnutrition will do your body and your recovery no favors. Thus, "fullness" in this saying means satiety. The point of the proverb is to encourage people to eat, allowing them to acquire sufficient nutrition to overcome their illnesses.

This concept is so ingrained into my head that I follow it without particular thought. Knowing that I was sick, I ate an especially full breakfast this morning, including oatmeal, yogurt, an orange, and a multivitamin. For lunch, I had a salad, some turkey, some fish, mixed vegetables, and an apple. I also drank a lot of fluids. It was only later today, during my conversation with my mother, that the dots connected in my head.

Food as medicine. It's not rocket science so much as conventional wisdom.