Food as information - Helping Bodies Heal

Food as information

While listening to the Evolution of Medicine Summit this week, time and again I heard the speakers say “food is information” or refer to food as information for the body.  I’d heard this before in the nutrition school I attended but for some reason it resonated differently with me this time.

I think there are some key adjectives most of us use to describe food – energy, fun, good, bad, disgusting, delicious, healthy, junk, etc.  And I agree, food can be all of those things.

But what if we looked at food a little differently?

What if the food we eat is actually information – directions – for our cells?  How does that shift the way you think about what you eat?  

I recently started to do this  subconsciously with fermented food.  Every time I eat fermented food – which I’ve started to do daily – (sauerkraut, kombucha, kimchi) I know it’s “information” for my gut to the trillions of organisms living there.  That fermented food is serving to direct the “good organisms” to flourish and keep the “bad organisms” in check.

While I’m not necessarily in love with the fermented foods, I enjoy eating them because I know what they are doing for me and how critical that function is to my overall health and wellness.

So, if I extend this thought that food is information beyond the fermented foods to  vegetables, protein, sugar, alcohol, sweets/dessert — the choices I make will be positively impacted.

That isn’t to say I’ll never have cake or a drink again (my birthday is coming up and yes, all of that is on the menu!) but day-in and day-out when I’m making food choices, I will stop to think about what information I’m sending to my body.  

I will tell you that for me, it makes the decision to eat well a lot easier.  It seems almost logical and natural to choose the best “information” to feed my cells vs feeding my cells foods that taste good but offer little to no nutritional information and often cause my cells distress.

What would happen for you if you started to see food through this lens?  What shifts in food choices would you make without feeling deprived or forced?  Can you even imagine what that kind of change could do for your health?

I’m curious to know, drop me a note or leave a comment below.

In Good Health,
Chinyere

Photo credit: pickjumbo

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