The growing incidence of diseases often referred to as ‘lifestyle’ diseases, has resulted in an array of messages, campaigns, appeals and scare tactics. Maybe putting our attention on the one thing we all have in common – eating, is the right place to start.
Chefs and doctors are collaborating and we’re witnessing the principle of ‘your food is your medicine’ getting a fresh look. Health food for foodies is not just a fad. There are important lessons to pay attention to. Perhaps the most important is: ‘It’s about the food’.
The quality and quantity of what we eat is the one factor we can control. Understanding the benefits and value of our food choices is where we can quickly leverage self interested behaviors to shift our health model toward wellness, vitality, longevity and joy.
Getting the message out quickly, repeatedly and widely is falling to over burdened county health departments. Rolling out a series of national public health education messages would reinforce that health is not dependent on medicine while promoting the medicinal and nutritional benefits of high quality food.
