Mindful Metropolis November 2011 : Page 26

Let fooD Be your MeDicine incorporating functional foods into your diet can lead to a life fi lled with optimal health and wellbeing By raJGoPal NiDamBoor f ood as medicine is intrinsic to our cultural landscape. As author Lucien Tendret observed, “Cuisine is both an art and a science. It’s an art, when it strives to bring about the realization of the true and the beautiful, called le bon [the good], in the order of culinary ideas. As a science, it re-spects chemistry, physics and natural history. Its axioms are called aphorisms, its theorems recipes, and its philosophy gastronomy.” Food as medicine, or functional medicine, off ers us a natural, holistic mode to explore deeply into the core imbalances that highlight various illnesses and emotional states. Put in perspective, it looks at the essence of the diag-nostic process as being fully geared to expand on our body’s “piano notes,” to analyze and also accept expanded information. Our traditional illness model, keyed to look for specifi c causes, is not all-encom-passing. Do you sometimes feel there could be something more to your health-giving and spiritual armamentarium? Yes, it’s this glow that provides the light for us to think of functional medicine and natural well-being as a practical component perched favor-ably at the complex, interrelated network of causes that eventually manifests as illness. According to functional medicine, the best-expressed defi nition of health and well-being is “positive vitality”—with “wholeness” being the all-inclusive principle of our body, mind, and spirit enterprise. It is this attribute that provides us with the ammo to be fully alive, healthy, happy and energetic. It also off ers us a dynamic approach to assessing, preventing and treating not just acute disorders, but com-plex chronic diseases and syndromes. Nutrition as therapy A 32-year-old woman with progressive muscular weakness and pain went through a high-tech medical examination. Th ere was no diagnosis made. After two years, she was confi ned to a wheelchair. It’s at this point that a meticulous, wide-ranging scrutiny of her problem revealed a possible underly-ing cause. It turned out that the woman had chronic Crohn’s disease—an infl ammatory disease of the digestive system—which was conventionally treated by removing a part of her colon. As a result, she wasn’t absorb-ing vitamin D—the defi ciency trigger for her muscular debility and pain. Following vita-min D replacement therapy for just three weeks she was able to walk without assis-tance. (source: Th e Lancet ) You get the point. Functional medicine adds a new dimension to good health and medical treatment. In addition to this, it also off ers a useful road map for any indi-vidual, medical or healthcare professional to improvize on the “piano notes,” as it were. What’s more, it can help not just patients, but healthy individuals to experience deep, long-lasting healing, and also to place ap-propriate corrective or remedial medical or surgical treatment on the fast track. Functional foods meet our minimum daily requirements of nutrients, when taken in ap-propriate amounts on a regular basis. Most importantly, they are also evidenced to pro-mote vibrant health and reduce the risk of disease. Th is isn’t all. Functional foods help us in the management of many major health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, gas-trointestinal disorders, menopausal distresses, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and cancer, not to speak of relatively less serious conditions like nasal or sinus infections. Nutrition experts have identifi ed hundreds of compounds with functional qualities, and new discoveries are being constantly made surrounding the multi-faceted benefi ts of functional foods. By way of defi nition, functional foods are natural, bioactive chemical compounds that have health-promoting, disease-preventing and medicinal properties. You may think of all foods as being functional, because they provide nutrients. You are right. However, functional foods represent foods that have health-promoting ingredients, or natural components. Th ese are components that have potential benefi ts in the body. Th ey in-clude whole foods that are fortifi ed, enriched or enhanced—as dietary supplements also are. Th ey all have benefi cial eff ects on our health far beyond basic nutrition. 26 november 2011

Let Food Be Your Medicine

Rajgopal Nidamboor

incorporating functional foods into your diet can lead to a life filled with optimal health and wellbeing Food as medicine is intrinsic to our cultural landscape. As author Lucien Tendret observed, “Cuisine is both an art and a science. It’s an art, when it strives to bring about the realization of the true and the beautiful, called lebon [the good], in the order of culinary ideas. As a science, it respects chemistry, physics and natural history.Its axioms are called aphorisms, its theorems recipes, and its philosophy gastronomy.” Food as medicine, or functional medicine, offers us a natural, holistic mode to explore deeply into the core imbalances that highlight various illnesses and emotional states. Put in perspective, it looks at the essence of the diagnostic process as being fully geared to expand on our body’s “piano notes,” to analyze and also accept expanded information. Our traditional illness model, keyed to look for specific causes, is not all-encompassing.Do you sometimes feel there could be something more to your health-giving and spiritual armamentarium? Yes, it’s this glow that provides the light for us to think of functional medicine and natural well-being as a practical component perched favorably at the complex, interrelated network of causes that eventually manifests as illness. According to functional medicine, the bestexpressed definition of health and well-being is “positive vitality”—with “wholeness” being the all-inclusive principle of our body, mind, and spirit enterprise. It is this attribute that provides us with the ammo to be fully alive, healthy, happy and energetic. It also offers us a dynamic approach to assessing, preventing and treating not just acute disorders, but complex chronic diseases and syndromes. Nutrition as therapy A 32-year-old woman with progressive muscular weakness and pain went through a high-tech medical examination. There was no diagnosis made. After two years, she was confined to a wheelchair. It’s at this point that a meticulous, wide-ranging scrutiny of her problem revealed a possible underlying cause. It turned out that the woman had chronic Crohn’s disease—an inflammatory disease of the digestive system—which was conventionally treated by removing a part of her colon. As a result, she wasn’t absorbing vitamin D—the deficiency trigger for her muscular debility and pain. Following vitamin D replacement therapy for just three weeks she was able to walk without assistance.(source: The Lancet) You get the point. Functional medicine adds a new dimension to good health and medical treatment. In addition to this, it also offers a useful road map for any individual, medical or healthcare professional to improvize on the “piano notes,” as it were.What’s more, it can help not just patients, but healthy individuals to experience deep, long-lasting healing, and also to place appropriate corrective or remedial medical or surgical treatment on the fast track. Functional foods meet our minimum daily requirements of nutrients, when taken in appropriate amounts on a regular basis. Most importantly, they are also evidenced to promote vibrant health and reduce the risk of disease. This isn’t all. Functional foods help us in the management of many major health problems, such as heart disease, diabetes, gastrointestinal disorders, menopausal distresses, osteoarthritis, osteoporosis and cancer, not to speak of relatively less serious conditions like nasal or sinus infections. Nutrition experts have identified hundreds of compounds with functional qualities, and new discoveries are being constantly made surrounding the multifaceted benefits of functional foods. By way of definition, functional foods are natural, bioactive chemical compounds that have health-promoting, disease-preventing and medicinal properties. You may think of all foods as being functional, because they provide nutrients. You are right. However, functional foods represent foods that have health-promoting ingredients, or natural components. These are components that have potential benefits in the body. They include whole foods that are fortified, enriched or enhanced—as dietary supplements also are. They all have beneficial effects on our health far beyond basic nutrition. the origins The concept of functional foods is not a new Phenomenon. It has been perfected over the years. To cull one classical example: food manufacturers began adding iodine to salt in an effort to prevent goiter in the early 1900s.This was, perhaps, the first attempt man made at creating a functional food through enrichment. Efforts are now being made to Improve functional foods through organic and scientific means on a continual basis. Many of the foods we consume are natural, whole foods. They don’t become functional foods just because we know them by that name. Functional foods are derived from agricultural breeding, or through added nutrients and ingredients. Nature has provided us with a rich variety of fruits, vegetables, grains, fish, dairy and meat products. They are all endowed with innumerable natural components, or nutrients. They convey health benefits far beyond fundamental diet. Some examples are lycopene, the functional food component in tomatoes; omega-3 fatty acids in fish and flaxseed; and saponin in soya. What’s more, the nutritional content of certain crops are also used to bring about beneficial traits in plants and animals. Two examples are beta-carotene-rich rice and vitamin- enhanced soybeans. Yes, there are several other examples of fortified foods available in the market. Orange juice, for instance, is fortified with calcium. Likewise, cereals and flour with added vitamins or minerals or folic acid are also available. There is, of course, no single functional food “potion” that can cure, or prevent health affections. The best and easiest thing for us to do is quite simple, eat a balanced and varied diet. This should include at least 4 to 5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day, as well as foods with added beneficial components.You’d also do well to read labels and scan through what experts advocate by way of articles in the media. However, before you decide on making any major dietary changes, you need to take adequate time to weigh in your personal health and supplemental needs with your physician or therapist. Nutraceuticals: simple, smart and effective Nutraceuticals form a great range of supplements such as vitamins, herbs, minerals, amino acids, phytochemicals, and so on, which can be used to treat a variety of problems, chronic or otherwise. They are also the most adaptable, besides providing the most promising, tangible benefits in both health maintenance and medical treatment. Having evolved on a truly scientific pedestal, broadly based on one of medical science’s most wholesome dimensions—the study of uses followed by results—nutraceuticals also stand up to stringent evaluation assessed on measurable scientific parameters. You can call them super-smart nutrients, because nutraceuticals seem to know just where to act in the body —and, bring back that great sense of balance to your entire being. Good examples Fortified foods: These are items such as breakfast cereals with added vitamins and minerals like iron, zinc, vitamin B12 and folic acid. Vitamin and mineral supplements: These are available as separate supplements, or as a combination product with varied amounts of different compounds. Additional supplements: These are supplements other than vitamins and minerals.They are suggested to have a beneficial effect on health. Examples are fish oil, garlic, chromium picolinate, echinacea, primrose oil, ginkgo, quercetin, glucosamine, co-enzyme Q10 and so on. Probiotics: These are foods that contain “good” bacteria to improve health. One example is yogurt, which contains lactobacillus, a bacteria that is suggested to improve gut health and also reduce the incidence of heart disease and certain forms of cancer. Foods to reduce cholesterol: One good example is spirulina. Another is licorice; both are evidenced to lower cholesterol. The ideal thing to do, again, is to eat smartly, and follow a healthy dietary regimen with appropriate dietary supplements or nutraceuticals like fish oils, green tea, gingko biloba, garlic, bilberry, flaxseed, B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin E, glutamine, magnesium, licorice, quercetin, probiotics (the “good” bacteria, found in yogurt, or curd) and red clover that take care of your unique individual requirements and needs. Speak to your physician, therapist/healthcare professional or nutritionist/dietician, on the use of functional foods, including appropriate supplements, their intake and/or dosage to lead a life filled with optimal health and well-being. Everyday Miracles • Tomatoes are evidenced to cut the threat of deadly prostate cancer by nearly half. • a small dose of the vitamin folic acid can prevent dreadful and common birth defects. • eating fish or supplementing your diet with fish oils helps your body’s estrogen levels dramatically alter in favor of the most protective, anticancer form of estrogen. • broccoli can cause a powerful change in estrogen balance and prevent cancer. • Fish-oil capsules taken for just 12 to 14 weeks notably slow down the growth of colon tumors. • Olive oil lowers the risk of breast cancer and also heart disease. • green tea can cut the risk of heart attacks. • a study in the British Journal of Nutrition found that subjects consuming flaxseed for four weeks not only increased their levels of omega-3 fatty acids, but also reduced their cholesterol by 9 percent and their blood glucose by 27 percent. • a study from new york university showed that red clover had about 30 times the amount of natural estrogen as soybean, a natural hormone balancer. Red clover also seemed to ease hot flashes in menopausal women. • The Journal of allergy and clinical immunology reports that the plant pigment quercetin appears to possess the highest amount of natural anti-allergic activity. • Studies have found that probiotics may be helpful for people with irritable Bowel syndrome (iBs).

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