Use food as your medicine and medicine as your food.
The simple idea of using food as medicine from the father of medicine, [Hippocrates], still holds true today. There are many people who do not think that something we do three times a day has any affect on our health. What we eat has been shown time and time again to affect our moods and physical bodies and it is one of the reasons why the naturopathic medical profession has been gaining ground on the legislative front in recent years.
Naturopathic Physicians believe in preventive medicine. We believe that the best time to take control of your health and make a positive stance is right now. Why do so many insist on living in a society that praises costly treatments when we could be living in a time that praises prevention? There is no obvious answer. Needless to say, we can work with the present moment and seek to modify epigenetics and negative environmental influences to prevent one of the most feared words today — Cancer. We can impact epigenetics and negative environmental influences in many ways such as through the use of spices which have anti-inflammatory actions, the avoidance of chicken (for people with Blood Type B), or the choice to avoid the simple sugars for something more beneficial, such as berries. I was blessed to grow up in a household that focused on and valued nutrition. I remember being a child and anxiously waiting to head outside to pick our blueberries and raspberries.
Berries in general have always been my favorite snack. I have only discovered in recent years that many of the berries (such as strawberry, raspberry, high-bush blueberry, low-bush blueberry, velvet leaf blueberry, cranberry, and many more) I have come to love have health benefits far outweighing their deliciousness. Many types of berries have anti-cancer chemicals: phenolic acids, proanthocyanidins, anthocyanins and other flavonoids. A recent study shows that cancer cell line growth “including those of stomach, prostate, intestine and breast, was strongly inhibited by raspberry, black currant, white currant, gooseberry, velvet leaf blueberry, low-bush blueberry, sea buckthorn and cranberry juice, but not (or only slightly) by strawberry, high-bush blueberry, serviceberry, red currant, or blackberry juice.” These chemicals have been found to suppress TNF-induced activation of NF-kappa-beta. In plain terms, berries can be beneficial to your health and may aid in the prevention of tumors and cancer. Its nice to think that mom and dad where right. Eat healthy, stay healthy. To read the PubMed study please follow this link: Inhibition of cancer cell proliferation and suppression of TNF-induced activation of NFkappaB by edible berry juice.
