The Connection Between Nutrition (Diet) and Sciatica - Part I
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The idea that by changing what we eat, we can cure many of our illnesses is not a new one. As more people understand the “holistic” view of health, they see that all parts of their body, including their back are affected by “lifestyle choices” especially what they eat.
As outlined below, diet is now recognized as a means of preventing and controlling all sorts of ailments. Because the back is such a large and sensitive organ, it is likely to be impacted by any shortcomings in diet and nutrition. Studies have proven that particular foods can make the difference between heath or illness for many patients
Interestingly, by studying historical literature we can see that ordinary men and women were often more aware of the healing power of certain foods than were the healers or doctors of their era. You can certainly argue that this situation prevails today in mainstream medicine and it is only recently that science has begun to clarify how much what we eat can affect our health in different ways, good and bad.
There are famous quotations from ancient times that support the belief in food’s healing properties, such as:
- Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food - Hippocrates (c. 430-c. 377 BC)
- The Chinese do not draw any distinction between food and medicine - Lin Yutang (1895- ), writing in ‘The Importance of Living’.
The medical profession is somewhat divided in how to deal with this issue. There is a huge momentum towards treating the sickness and diseases that arise from poor diet i.e. eating the wrong foods. In other words, the mainstream medical focus is on correcting problems that have already arisen from poor diet and lifestyle choices, rather than ensuring that diet and lifestyle is structured so that these sicknesses do not occur in the first place.
The reasons for this situation are varied and complex beyond the scope of this article to discuss. Let’s just say that the medical system is today structured to treat disease rather than proactively ensure wellness and treating disease is where most of the profits are found.
Diet is now recognized as a means of preventing and controlling all sorts of ailments. This conclusion followed study after study. Collectively these studies have proven that particular foods can make the difference between heath or illness for many patients. This includes patients suffering from diseases that had previously been considered beyond the scope of modem treatment.
Whilst there is not complete agreement on the exact benefits of every food, there is broad agreement on the following key points:
- The foods you eat can make a huge difference to your overall health, by enhancing it and keeping disease at bay. The implication of this is, of course, vast because it means that any individual may be able to control just how healthy he or she is or remains simply by making informed choices about food intake.
- There is in fact no clear-cut dividing line between food and medicine. Hippocrates was correct in observing that: food can act as powerful medicine and in many instances, is the best medicine. Additionally, as researchers are constantly finding out, there .are times when food is the only suitable medicine.
- Many foods are packed full of chemical agents which when absorbed in the body can act just like drugs and even be more potent than these in their effect. Eating the right foods can be just like taking regular doses of health-bringing medicine. Equally, eating the wrong foods - what these are depends upon individual circumstances - can have wholly devastating results.
- Much of the advice about food contained in folklore and traditional cures has a sound scientific basis and has now been confirmed by research. The same goes for the information about food contained in the treatments prescribed by practitioners of alternative medicine. It is expected that future research will yet show that many more traditional treatments also have a sound basis.
- Quite often it only needs small adjustment in the diet to make the difference between glowing health and chronic, debilitating illness.
- There’s every reason to believe that food can be crucial in preventing illness from occurring in the first place as well as treating or alleviating existing disease,
- It is becoming increasingly obvious that the increasing incidence of “lifestyle” diseases in the Western world, such as diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, asthma, irritable bowel syndrome etc, have mainly dietary causes. It is already accepted that diet plays a major role in the development of these diseases and most experts believe that there is still a whole lot more confirmation still to come.
- Even in the developed parts of the world where most people don’t go short of food (and many are actually clinically obese), many are actually technically undernourished and are chronically short of the micronutrients they need to be fully healthy.
