SCIENTISTS HAVE DISCOVERED a powerful new drug that may help cure all chronic illnesses.
It is a drug you take every day.
What is it?
Well, you can find it at the end of your fork.
It’s called food.
Mounting research shows that there is no magic bullet to treat heart disease, cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer’s disease, arthritis, allergies, digestive disorders, headaches, fatigue, or any of the myriad problems we suffer from in the 21st century.
But increasing evidence also shows us something else.
It shows that food is the most powerful “drug” we have not just to prevent, but also treat, cure, and reverse most chronic illnesses.
As soon as the words “food is medicine” left my lips, I was under attack.
Unfortunately, most physicians did not learn the two most important things we need to know about in medical school — nutrition and the role of the environment and toxins in our health.
My goal is to help my patients heal and get better and I have no particular allegiance to any type of treatment — whether it is a drug, surgery, radiation, or new procedure.
I have at my disposal the best medicines and pharmaceutical treatments. I can send patients to the best surgeons and specialists anywhere in the world.
But time after time, I find the most powerful, fastest acting, and most dramatic results come from using food as our main medicine.
I use food for healing, not because I believe it is better to use natural treatments than to use drugs, but because it works better and only has positive side effects.
And I’m not alone.
Every year I give a presentation at a course called “Food As Medicine,” sponsored by The Center for Mind-Body Medicine.
You can find out more about this by going to the Food As Medicine Conference website.
This course breaks important ground in bringing nutritional science to healthcare professionals in a digestible, practical, hands-on format.
Dr. Jim Gordon, who was the chairman of the White House Commission on Complementary and Alternative Medicine, pioneered this course more than seven years ago. He was recently honored as one of the five pioneers of integrative medicine by the Bravewell Collaborative and has been a leader in mind-body medicine, nutrition, and healing for nearly 40 years.
Over the last several years, he has trained hundreds of practitioners, including faculty from more than 50 medical schools, which are now including this knowledge of how to use food as medicine in their curriculum.
Clearly, things have changed.
I remember a food-related meeting years ago, which included the nutritionists, doctors, chefs, and owners of Canyon Ranch, where I worked. I made it very clear during that meeting that I believed the future of nutrition and the culinary arts must recognize the therapeutic value of food to heal chronic illnesses.
As soon as the words “food is medicine” left my lips, I was under attack.
The vehement response from the chief chef was that food is only about good taste, not good health, and that we were not the Mayo Clinic.
Fortunately, this antiquated view is changing.
More and more food services, restaurants, and other institutions are recognizing the healing power of food and are including healing foods as part of their offerings.
The “Food As Medicine” course addresses things that most practitioners never learn in medical school, such as the scientific basis of nutrition as a therapeutic tool, how we can eat in a sustainable way, and how the health of our planet has directly affected the health of our food and the health of our bodies.
The course stresses areas such as nutrigenomics, the idea that food is information that speaks to our genes and turns on messages that create health or disease.
It also explores the role of stress, nutrition, hormone balance, the health of our gut, and the importance of detoxification and food.
The course is based on the basic tenets of Functional Medicine but is broken down into simple, practical tools practitioners can use every day with their patients.
It addresses specific nutritional approaches for conditions such as cancer, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, ADD, asthma, allergies, autoimmune diseases, fibromyalgia, and adrenal, thyroid, and neurodegenerative problems. Practitioners are advised on the use of nutritional supplements and cutting edge laboratory tests.
All this is done in an experiential way that increases self-awareness and includes food demonstrations and organic meals.
The faculty for this course is outstanding. In fact, the course director is Kathie Swift of The UltraWellness Center. Kathie’s been involved in creating and developing this course for many years.
Anybody interested in nutrition is welcome to come.
Any healthcare practitioner will benefit — including physicians, osteopaths, medical school faculty, nurses, nurse practitioners, registered dietitians and nutritionists, physician assistants, community healthcare practitioners, psychologists, mental health professionals, and other health professionals.
According to Dr. Walter Willett, chairman of the Department of Nutrition at the Harvard School of Public Health and one of the leading researchers in the world in nutrition, “It is time to end the confusion. ‘Food As Medicine’ presents the best current scientific evidence for physicians, nutritionists, and other health professionals who want to counsel patients and teach students.”
I encourage all of you to tell your healthcare practitioners about it — and consider attending yourself. This course provides tools and information to use the most powerful weapon against disease in the 21st century, your fork.
Remember what Hippocrates said:
“Leave your potions in the chemist’s crucible if you can handle your patients with food.”
To your good health,
Mark Hyman, MD
Please advise me of what food or supplements is good for fibromyalgia.I do not want to take drugs.I am in severe pain day and night also with constant muscle cramps in whole body.please help me.god bless and yhanks.
Thank you for your message and your interest in Dr. Hyman’s work. Your question and constellation of symptoms represents a complex medical condition. Questions regarding conditions like these cannot be answered in a responsible manner via the Internet.
If you would like information on becoming a patient at The UltraWellness Center please see “How to Become a Patient” at http://www.ultrawellnesscenter.com. That site is designed to give prospective patients a comprehensive source of information about The UltraWellness Center. You may also feel free to call The UltraWellness Center at (413) 637 9991.
Regardless of becoming a patient at The UltraWellness Center, it sounds like you need to consult with a doctor. Please seek medical attention for the issues that you outlined in your message.
Wishing You the Best of Health!
Thank you, JoAnne, for your message and your interest in Dr. Hyman’s work. Your question and constellation of symptoms represents a complex medical condition. Questions regarding conditions like these cannot be answered in a responsible manner via the Internet.
If you would like information on becoming a patient at The UltraWellness Center please see “How to Become a Patient” at http://www.ultrawellnesscenter.com. That site is designed to give prospective patients a comprehensive source of information about The UltraWellness Center. You may also feel free to call The UltraWellness Center at (413) 637 9991.
Regardless of becoming a patient at The UltraWellness Center, it sounds like you need to consult with a doctor. Please seek medical attention for the issues that you outlined in your message.
Wishing You the Best of Health!
As a meditation teacher and psychic reader and healer, I’ve known for years that food is medicine, and I practice what I know. I also talk about it to my clients and students, often sending them articles like this one. The person who is most resistant to this information is my 72 year old mother, a lifelong nurse and believer in conventional medicine. She is also very unhealthy and has to take a number of drugs for blood pressure and more. Meanwhile, at 52, I don’t have any of the ‘inherited’ illnesses that family members have: heart disease, diabetes, etc.
What I see happening now is that people are waking up and are open to looking beyond the authorities – by that I mean political leaders, doctors, religious leaders, and corporations, – to find their own answers. This doesn’t mean that leaders don’t have answers, but that if one is blindly following without looking for oneself, those answers may not work. The current criminal system in place that allows insurance companies to reap huge profits at the expense of human health is actually a blessing, because it is forcing people to look for other options. The most grounded and simple option is food as medicine. Natural healing remedies work. The body is so powerful and can heal, especially when the spirit leads the way.
Thank you for your common sense and great work! I’m posting this on Facebook and other places.
Hi Dr. Hyman-
I’ve been diagnosed with diverticulitus and fibromyalgia and now some GI problems because of the mulitple rounds of antibiotics. Is there a functional medicine doctor in the Memphis, TN area. I don’t seem to have any luck locating the right person. Do I need a nutritionist or who would I see? I’m frustrated! Can you help.
Thank you for your message and your interest in Dr. Hyman’s work. To locate a practitioner of functional medicine in your area see the “Find a Functional Medicine Practitioner” link at the Institute of Functional Medicine’s website. Here you will find a place to enter your zip code and look for practitioner’s in your area that have completed the institute’s five-day training course in functional medicine. Understand that not all of the doctors listed here will fit your particular needs. Many different medical professionals complete this training, and you will have to do additional research on your own regarding a particular practitioner’s approach and whether or not it fits your specific medical requirements. This may include calling the practioner’s office, visiting his or her website, and/or scheduling a consultation.
Wishing You the Best of Health!
Dear Dr. Hyman:
I have high blood pressure which my doctor would like to prescribe BP lowering drugs. I don’t take drugs so I refused them and told her I would find another alternate. Before I go on with that event, I was scheduled for surgery to remove a bunion. The pre-Admin doctor at the hospital rfound my BP high, 150/90, and wanted to give me a prescription for drugs. I told him I wouldn’t take it. He told me they would cancel my surgery, I told him I would take my chances. On my way home, I stopped and picked up some celery seed capsules taking 2/day. Eight days later when I entered the hospital for my surgery my BP registered 134/78 and never went higher while I was in the hospital. I take supplements to ensure my good health. I’m 79 years old.
Dear Dr. Hyman:
I was looking for incorporation of scientists who contributed current knowledge on food and nutrition (Biochemists) by research in the field of nutrition. Unless we collectively strive to solve challenges presented to us everyday to improve human health by uncovering truth we will see large number of cancer patients everyday in medical practice in USA. I firmly believe that practice of Preventive Medicine and funding for public health education is only way we can solve many problems.
I experienced Life Extension by nine years for my father in two countries located in two continents world apart with: Love, caring and proper nutrition every day. Unfortunately modern day doctors who are not familiar with Eastern Life Style kept repeating a MANTRA he has lived a full life and we should let him go.
We have a lot to learn from those who have already discovered truth. If FDA is funded in drug discovery process by multinational corporations dolllars you can expect only one side of the story that will continue to make money for these corporations. Thank you.
Shakuntala Gaekwar, Ph.D.
1614 West 13th Street North
Wichita, KS 67218
Note: Kansas has high incidence of cancer e.g. Breast cancer, Large Colon Cancer, Lung cancer etc linked to Pesticide use in farming, fast food restuarants and use of tobacco products. Thanks.
I had a heart attack over 3 years back while playing Badminton. Lucky to survive after being in coma for 21 days. I have become a vegan and enjoy a healthy life style. How can I convince my doctors that I do not need any more medication
Hi Sandeep, thank you for your comments. We are happy to hear you are healthy after your heart attack. We cannot provide medical advice online. It would be best to have an examination with a local physician to determine your state of health before answering your question. If you would like to find a functional medicine practitioner in your area please take a look at http://www.functionalmedicine.org.
Wishing You the Best of Health!
I am 59 years old, taking Clozapine at high doses and suffering from several side effects, mainly shortness of breath and fatigue. My doctor is monitoring my condition but is completely ignorant of any alternative or functional medecine.
Please advise me of what food or supplement to take to reduce these side effects
Thank you for your precious advises and great work.
Omar.
Dear Omar,
Thank you for your message and your interest in Dr. Hyman’s work. Your question and constellation of symptoms represents a complex medical condition. Questions regarding conditions like these cannot be answered in a responsible manner via the Internet.
If you would like information on becoming a patient at The UltraWellness Center please see “How to Become a Patient” at http://www.ultrawellnesscenter.com. That site is designed to give prospective patients a comprehensive source of information about The UltraWellness Center. You may also feel free to call The UltraWellness Center at (413) 637 9991.
Regardless of becoming a patient at The UltraWellness Center, it sounds like you need to consult with a doctor. Please seek medical attention for the issues that you outlined in your message.
Wishing You the Best of Health!
I grew up on a farm (part of a family of 11) in the 50′s and 60′s—each morning I watched my mother pack 9 or 10 lunches using as many time-saving foods and products of the “modern” times. Fruits and veggies from our farm were tainted by toxic chemicals that we actually thought were helpful back then. These were supplemented by “new and improved” processed foods–like american cheese slices, (sad replacements for the real thing.) To stretch the family food dollar further ($80 to feed 11 people for 2 weeks), my mother bought sliced bologna. Assembly line andwiches were made on day-old white bread bought in bulk and stored in our freezer. More than the dawn of the “age of aquarius”, there were plastics, artificial sweeteners/ food coloring/preservatives, “instant” coffees/creamer. Having survived the 2nd world war, my parents were thankful for the conveniences that made feeding a large family possible. Except for breakfasts, we drank saccharyine-sweetened kool-aid. (none of us needed to diet–back then very few of my schoolmates had weight problems. I prayed to gain weight…was called every version of skinny. Each lunch sandwich, had oleo slathered on the stale white bread–I would gag and scrape it off…plus either bologna, or pb & j. An apple and a few store bought “sandwich” cookies, finished it off. Healthy wax paper wrappings were used, (until the arrival of plastic bags)–all placed into a brown paper lunch bag. There were occasional treats like day old fruit pies. Our rural school didn’t have hot lunches until the mid 60′s, except for “soup days” offered 3-4 times a year. Weekday breakfast was cold cereal, toast and milk…supper was the main meal of the day–my dad was a meat & potato kind of guy. (Iceberg lettuce with sliced tomato (bottled dressing), a canned or frozen vegetable (when we’d used all fresh garden ones) and either hamburger, chicken or pork chops.) Roasts, ham & turkey–and desserts, were reserved for Sunday dinner or holiday. (with the exception of j-e-l-l-o .) Often, we’d run down the long driveway to meet my Dad–he’d have chocolate candy bars for us. Each 2 week payday became special–all 11 of us would sing songs as we rode an hour in our “carryall” — (the 60′s version of SUV) — to eat in the parking lot of the first “McDonalds” (“47 cents for a 3 quart meal”– we each had a chesseburger, fries & root beer), a year or two later, we’d go to the “Red Barn” instead (fried chicken, fries & root beer). On the way home, we’d stop for an ice cream cone. My college years were leaner, probably typical in some respects. (A hot drink from a machine, chewing gum to keep hunger pains at bay, (on rare days, bacon, eggs and rye toast at one of the college’s shops), –I’d grab a 7cent bag of department store popcorn on my workbreak that night–sometimes the guy would give me a generous bag of hot cashews for whatever small change I had. The grocery next door would give you a doughnut “free” as long as you ate it before leaving. I’d go home weekends for hot meals and laundry–bringing back a care package. After marriage, my Betty Crocker cookbook in hand, I prepared well balanced meals according to that infamous food pyramid. Following my divorce (and parttime work at a country club while obtaining my Master’s Degree), I developed a taste for lobster, caesar salad and creme brulee, but still had a single-parent budget. Nutrition classes, aerobics and the Florida sunshine, inspired me toward a healthier lifestyle. Fortunately, I had not indulged in the party aspect of college life–I actually had an aversion to drugs of any kind, after a childhood with severe asthma and too many allergy shots and asthma treatments. From the 80′s on, I prepared lots of health meals, at first with chicken, fish and turkey as protein sources, and whole grain breads & cereals, lots of fresh fruits & veggies that I’d “juice” or cook. As time went on, organic everything, and mostly raw foods. If I had known I had inherited a genetic inability to detox from both parents before disabling toxic exposures, I could have adopted the raw food lifestyle ealier and would have avoided the type of environments that damaged my body systems,a small part of which is diabetes and obesity. (small in terms of percentage of my health problems, but not of little consequence)