Let Food Be Thy Medicine: Do We Live Healthy Lives to Avoid or Postpone Death?
Every time my mom calls me, she lists the various health status of our close relatives.
One's got MS, another ME, Alzheimer's, heart issues, kidney issues and numerous cases of diabetes. Most have multiple problems and are taking medication that combats the side effects of other medicines. I feel as though everyone in my family other than my husband, son and I are sick and getting sicker all the time.
Of course, not all illness is preventable but there is a measure of making healthy choices that can improve our quality of life even when we are suffering from a serious illness. I was visiting family recently as a result of illness and concern. When I opened the refrigerator and cupboards looking for something to eat I notice zero calorie diet soda, grey, lifeless pre-packed food, and bottles of sauces and dressings with ingredients a mile long.
Where's the brain food? Where are the herbs and spices? What is this stuff?
My mum who's been told that she needs to cut our sugar because she's on the cusp of diabetes sneaks a piece of sweet lemon cake with her morning coffee. "I don't want it to go to waste" she declares as the reasoning that she eats it. I tell her to throw it out and refuse to eat any. I am angry and justly so. I have to come running and live with worry every time I get a phone call about the latest illness or medical emergency.
I think to myself "here we go again" because we've been here before. If it isn't diabetes, it is something else. We'll cycle around again until there aren't any more chances and the consequences become severe and irreversible. How many warnings does it take before one changes their habits? You don't need to be a scientist to observe the correlation between how we fuel our bodies and our overall wellness.
Do I sound harsh? Judgemental? You'll have to forgive me. This month has been particularly hard, and I am tired of watching people suffer while making choices that do not contribute to improving their situation at all. I don't demand perfection but some effort, some care, is needed. I understand that it is each persons choice, but our decisions impact those we love and it just isn't fair.
A few years ago, I sat at my father in laws bedside trying to provide comfort as morphine eased his panic. He slipped away from us too young, and our hearts are still devastated at the loss. Diabetes, bad genes, bad luck, terrible food habits, smoking, multiple heart attacks, bypasses and surgeries, a stroke - a cocktail of things gone wrong. He'd keep pushing his luck each time, taking the pills prescribed and resigning himself to fate rather than fighting for health through exercise, diet and other things that could have improved and extended his life. I sat there and watched him take his last breath, and it was hard because I am an optimist and never gave up on hoping he'd get another chance until he was gone.
And so, when @naturalmedicine asked the question: Do We Live Healthy Lives to Avoid or Postpone Death? It came at a time when I am struggling to understand why society has wandered from the path of fueling our bodies with real food that nourishes us and helps us to be strong.
I am struggling to understand how so many have fallen prey to chemicals and mass production and ignorance of something that many of us do have some measure of control over. How has society at large become so passive and apathetic about our wellbeing and the power we have to strengthen our odds of living a healthy and long life? We can demand better, and we can stop supporting a food system that makes us sick.
The answer for me personally, is YES. I do hope to postpone death and live a long and healthy life. I know that this is just a hope steeped in optimism, not a promise, but yeah, if I can make it to a ripe old age, I'll chase that. I only stand to gain in my quest to achieve this. I choose a lifestyle that enables me to nurture my mind, body, and soul and I am all the better for it. I see with my own eyes the consequences of not tuning in and listening to our bodies.
And so as the saying goes: let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food. I am heading out to work the soil. I'll let the sun kiss my skin, and I'll stretch and work my muscles. As I work, I'll let this heartache I've been carrying blow away in the breeze, and in its place, I'll sow seeds of nourishment and hope.
So true, so many people neglect their health and are ignorant of what is in their food or how it affects them. You should check this out ~
thanks, @elias0ne great share!
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I feel ya @walkerland! My mum is is a similar position... “just stop eating sugar” her 5 kids tell her. Well “it was on sale”, or “just cleaning out the freezer” is the feedback.
I don’t think it’s too harsh to be firm with those you love and know you can help. It can be all too frustrating to have someone make harmful choices and not listen to those who care.
Hope this month turns out better for you ;)
I am sorry to hear that, certainly not the sort of thing you want to have in common! Thank you for the reassurance. I've been feeling bad about speaking so harshly.
Living in action. Creating the life that we all should have. I always wonder, in the western world we live in where we have more choice than most and absolutely are FLOODED with information that suggests what good food choices might make you healthier just as much as we're flooded with the other stuff, how we can make the choice against our own health. A built in appetite for destruction? An unwillingness to do the hard work and change habits? A death wish? Lack of intelligence? Totally understand your frustration, my love. You should be frustrated - but on the same hand, have the courage to be with what is, because it doesn't look like you can change their minds or lives at this stage. Breath!
Thank you. I needed to read this. I feel like I was hit with a sledgehammer and just want to sleep for a month. This last visit was too much, from every angle. I am trying to step back and accept what is because you are right. I can't change anything.
It scares me that the food system is as it is and that for the most part, we are all reliant on it in some way. Humans are strange creatures - that's forsure! xx
We went through this with my m-i-l 2 years ago. If she had been to a doctor (which she has refused to do for 50 years) she most certainly would have been dx'd with dementia when she reached our house in April.
I spent most of 2 months feeding her heathy food, and she had started knitting and crocheting again, reading, walking outside, and could hold a conversation. You'd never have guessed she was so bad 2 months earlier.
Then she moved into her own place and refused to eat well or cook. She just drank coffee and ate sweets and ice cream from the store across the street. She deteriorated rapidly and is now in a locked ward for dementia wanderers. We could not force her to eat, it was her choice.
She was fully aware of the difference it made to her well being, but still made the choice to not eat well.
I just don't understand not working for a good quality of life, especially when there's family to help you.
I deeply admire the lengths you go to for your own health, I know it isn't easy to do all that you do while feeling ill. I am sorry about your mother in law. That is really sad but at least you tried.
Really well answered, dear!! What a passionate plea for healthier choices. I learned young how profound this message can be. My mom's dad died at 49 and so she has always watched after her health like a hawk (and she is extraordinarily healthy). I wish this for so many of us before we have to endure the pain of losing loved ones as they suffer the consequences of healthy diet/choices. much love to you! (and oh! i see ini also responded here. this one is from wren fyi haha)
So lovely to hear from you. Lifted me right up! Your mum is very impressive. I love reading her food journey and recipes, especially how she works so hard to cater to everyone's special dietary needs. I suppose that all we can do is lead by example and hope others will follow. xx
#foodismedicine is my motto - but so often people take that to mean dull, boring and difficult. It's just a live-by-example 'thing' we need to keep doing. Take the yummy roasted pumpkin hummus with organic cucumbers to the pot luck and let it speak for itself. We can't bring people where they don't want to go - we can only shine and BE the Change. Hugs. I lost my sister at aged 57 just one short months ago to extensive cancers - she, too, died a miserable painful death after a lifetime of smoking, eating crap and never exercising. My heart still hurts.
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