Turning a Corner

4.6

This past week I saw a news post about doctors prescribing food for ailments, instead of pharmaceuticals. I was a bit stunned and obviously curious, so I followed the link and sure enough, there are docs on the west coast who are taking seriously the admonition that food is medicine (and medicine can be our food.)

There was even an article posted Thursday in USAToday which had the same theme. The discouraging news is that so few doctors are educated in the value of nutrient-dense whole foods, and the interaction of food with metabolism and illness.

But there is hope: check out this annual symposium held in Oregon which focuses on the innate value of food in achieving and maintaining optimal health. This valuable conference is an outreach of the Food As Medicine Institute. The institute began in 2010 from a Portland area initiative to end childhood obesity. It was heavily supported by Bob and Charlee Moore of Bob's Red Mill, and the Institute went on to grow from those roots.

So that tells me there is hope for healthful power pantry choices to become more and more common, and for whole segments of our overfed, undernourished society to understand the inherent value of what they put in their mouths. Maybe we are turning a corner as a nation.

By the Way

If you have been a Power Pantry subscriber for a while and you are discerning about what is in your pantry and on your plate, then you are far ahead of the wellness and nutrition curve. The folks at the Food as Medicine Institute have a tremendous vision, worthy of power pantry thinking: to see "...communities that are free of chronic disease and nourished through healthy whole foods."