Food as Medicine

“Let thy food by thy medicine, and medicine be thy food.” 

- Hippocrates (460-370 BC)

My girlfriend and I have something in common: husbands with weakened hearts.  We met today for several hours to talk about supporting them with quality food – loving them with baked fish and spinach smothered in coconut milk sauce, cheese bread (a la goat cheddar) made with almond flour, salad featuring homemade dressing and homemade gluten-free croutons, and all-raw, all-healthy chocolate-mint tarts.   We sampled “alternative” zucchini bread, chai pecans, and beet salad with roasted pine nuts.  We laughed and listened and stared into each other’s eyes with that knowing look that means I’m-sold-out-to-my-man-and-I-want-it-to-show.

Our journeys are about more than cooking food that will quell systemic inflammation, although that’s the prime focus (we actually believe Hippocrates knew what he was talking about).  It’s about our doing what we can for our guys, even though there are many things we can’t do, and striving to do it well.  It’s about providing daily support in a tangible way. 

Cooking this way requires time and effort.  And yes, such are the ingredients of love.

Here are our his-and-her plates a couple of nights ago at dinner that exemplify what my friend and I are targeting – visually enticing, delicious, anti-inflammatory food that nourishes the body and supports healing at the cellular level.