"LET YOUR food be your medicine and let your medicine be your food" is a quote that I often use. It came from the Father of Medicine, Greek physician Hippocrates.
A revolution in the way we now eat has taken away that very medicine that once promoted good health from good eating. The food industry has dramatically changed the nature of our commonly consumed foods. The major driving motive behind the stuff on offer to John Public is corporate profit, while the health of the consumer remains low on their priority list. As a result, most countries, including Jamaica, are suffering from a tidal wave of sickness caused primarily by bad nutrition.
DISEASES OF CIVILISATION
British medical writer Harvey Graham points out that the conditions that afflict us now are not the great diseases of old - polio, cholera, typhoid, diphtheria and TB. Instead, we are now succumbing mostly to what health authorities term 'the diseases of civilisation'. In other words, diseases that result not from an invasion by deadly germs but from a collapse in our bodies' support systems.
Today's common illnesses are well-known to us: heart disease, cancer, diabetes, high blood pressure, arthritis, osteoporosis, Alzheimer's and depression. Hardly anyone in Western society remains untouched.
In Jamaica, one in three of us will develop cancer. Half the population is likely to suffer from heart disease, and one third of our people will develop an allergy. Despite this, health statistics boast that we are now living longer than ever before. What the figures don't reveal is the massive increase in the use of expensive drugs and invasive surgical procedures.
FOOD SUPPLEMENTS
The situation described above is not going to change overnight. Medical authorities now clearly advise that for optimal nutrition, every man, woman and child should take daily vitamin and mineral supplements!
I strongly recommend that all my readers begin a programme of daily nutritional supplementation. Regardless of your current state of health, such an investment in your health can greatly influence your future well-being.
CHOOSING SUPPLEMENTS
There are three major items that are covered by an ideal supplement programme:
1) Macronutrients - the proteins, carbohydrates, fats and fibre.
2) Micronutrients - the vitamins, minerals and trace elements.
3) Botanicals - herbs and plant extracts.
Instead of taking a bewildering array of different nutrients, it is easier to start with a programme that combines all three elements in a simple format.
An excellent entry-level programme that I often recommend combines all three groups in two items. One is a shake drink that provides a blend of high quality macro and micronutrients that can be used to replace a meal. Then a proprietary blend of herbs in a herbal tea drink provides botanical factors that provide a wide variety of health benefits.
I have been amazed at the reports that I have been receiving from people calling in on my radio show 'An Ounce of Prevention'. Many who have been using this combination of shake and tea report major benefits even after only a few days on the programme.
Yes, you must make healthy food choices, but you also need to supplement your diet with a balance of additional nutrients to ensure optimal nutrition. Start today.
You may email Dr. Tony Vendryes at vendryes@mac.com; or listen to 'An Ounce of Prevention' on Power 106 FM on Fridays and Saturdays at 8:00 p.m.
