“Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food,” is a famous quote from Hippocrates, the father of medicine, circa 440 BC.  But that famous citation must have been forgotten by the time I reached medical school in the 1970’s, for we had no formal training in nutrition at all.  I was told by my professors that it was just “old hat” and basically not that important.

That was the philosophy of medicine at that time, and I took it as the truth.  (It wasn’t until after medical school that I went back to school to earn my degree in Nutritional and Metabolic Medicine). For most of human history, we have thought of food as essentially fuel.  We knew we couldn’t survive without it and that our organs, tissues and muscles need sustenance on a regular basis to continue to function. But that was about the sum total of it.

Now, even as I write, that “old hat” philosophy is changing.  As scientists have begun to study our bodies down to the molecular level, we are rediscovering the profound effect of food…which foods make us stronger, healthier and more long-lived.  We have learned vast amounts, in just the past few decades, about what constitutes “health foods and which foods might be damaging to our bodies.  For example, that a diet high in fresh fruits and vegetables may help protect against heart disease and cancer or that eating too many carbs and sweets can lead to type 2 diabetes.

Amid all this knowledge, scientists are playing catch-up, especially when it comes to food’s effect on the function of it’s ‘hungriest” organ of all, the brain. While the brain only comprises 2% of the body’s weight, it gobbles up about 20% of the calories.  And, it doesn’t thrive on just any old calories, according to Lisa Mosconi, PhD, associate director of the Alzheimer’s Prevention Clinic at Weill Cornell Medical College and author of Brain Food: The Surprising Science of Eating For Cognitive Power, it is a spectacularly “picky eater”.

Mosconi says: Certain nutrients have been key to humans becoming the high-functioning mammals we are today. Our brain health is highly dependent on the food choices we make. And increasing, as our food supply has become more industrialized and further from what nature intended, we’ve been making some bad choices, brain-wise.

If you’ve been dealing with forgetfulness, brain fog, sluggishness, or anything else, we encourage you to reach out to us ~ you can give us a call at 941-586-7358 or contact us through our website: TheRenewalPoint.com.  We use an Integrative, test/correct approach ~ first, we determine the exact deficiencies; then, we correct the deficiencies with specific foods, supplements, or bio-identical hormones.  In the case of toxins, we eliminate them. This allows us to correct the root cause of the problem in order to help you maintain a longer, healthier, and happier quality of life. 

Reference: The Science of Brain Food. Centennial Health. “The Brain Food Revolution”