Farm + Food = Farmacy
My ideal reading room!
Did you know that 93% of Americans suffer from high cholesterol, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, have had heart attack, stroke or overweight. And. Have you ever wondered why - when the nation is spending trillions in health care costs annually - is the rate of chronic diseases and prescribed medications not going down?!
I’ve been wanting some answers to some questions lately, so i’ve been tucked away with my head in the books - chasing a rabbit down a hole!
Is it just me?
One of the biggest culture shocks I had, coming to America was noticing the ‘in your face’ health crisis. The first red flag was the prayer requests at church. I never in my life heard such a long list of people with various different kinds of cancer and chronic illness - not just elderly as you might expect but young adults and children too. My head would shake sadly as my kids would talk about class mates being on medication, and for my British eyes, at the grocery store, just seeing the unusual amount of people who need a motorised cart to get around was just hard to take in.
I told my husband that growing up in the North East of England that I just don’t ever remember people being sick or chronically ill like that. Not like it is here. And what seems more perplexing, often leaving me thinking ‘maybe its just me’ but the normalisation of chronic illness has been done so effectively that it just seems to be accepted as a way of life. Folks! - chronic illness IS NOT NORMAL and doesn’t have to be par for the course.
What goes in - also comes out.
The longer i’ve lived here the more offended I’ve become by the food system. Why is there a need to put sugar in everything? Sugar in the bread, sugar in the tea, sugar in the baked beans, SUGAR ON THE BACON for goodness sakes?!?!? But sugar is maybe the lesser evil of the endless labyrinth of flavours, colours, enhancers, preservatives and all the other chemicals (a lot of which are banned back home) which would leave me completely stuck at the grocery store, I decided the only way I was going to get the food I felt good about eating was by making it myself!
We all are well acquainted with the phrase "you are what you eat" which highlights the idea that the food we consume directly impacts our physical and mental well-being. At the most basic level, our bodies use nutrients from food to build cells, produce energy, and maintain vital functions, meaning that a diet rich in whole, nutritious foods supports better health, while a diet heavy in processed or unhealthy foods can lead to problems like chronic disease, fatigue, and poor cognitive function. What goes in our body also comes out but not necessarily down the toilet like you may think. It comes out in other ways….
A gutsy student!
A long long time ago, before all my mommin’ and homesteadin’ adventures, I spent 3 years in medical school in England studying for a Bachelors Degree in Physiology. My final year dissertation was actually a study on human inflammatory bowel disease, during which i was analysing biopsies from patients with ulcerative colitis and Chrons disease while investigating patient diet & lifestyle to report any relationship with disease presentation.
I can’t say that back then I was all that excited to be working on a paper focused on the human gut, it certainly wasn’t as glamorous as some of the papers my peers got to study on topics like the heart or brain. The human bowel just seemed so ‘meh’ ….the part of the body that no one is really interested in.
Fast forward 20 years and the emerging narrative is quite different.
Functional Medicine
With the birth of ‘functional medicine’, there is a new blood amongst medical doctors who are diving deep into the science of their patients physiology to identify and address the root cause of chronic illness and disease and how it relates to the specific biochemistry of each individual person…. the first time I came across this content I was like a kid with a new toy, admittedly I’ve now consumed way too many hours of content to count but you see the reason behind my excitement is the power of the information.
Going back to my research paper, I distinctly remember the results being undeniably conclusive and leading. YES- lifestyle choices and diet were a major contributing factor to chronic illness in the gut. But also, I remember my research leaving me with an unaddressed observation - why, in addition to inflammatory bowel disease, did these people ALSO have conditions like arthritis, eye problems, anaemia, osteoporosis, liver problems, kidney problems, skin problems, blood circulation problems?
Could it be, that the disfunction in their gut was related to ALL these other conditions aswell?
One root cause
While I was busy with chores this week I was listening to Dr Mark Hyman interviewing his guest speaker on the connection between food and the epidemic of modern American illnesses… if i could sum up the show in 3 statements that get straight at the heart of the matter it would be:
Bad food. (which leads to)
Bad metabolic health. (which leads to)
Chronic illness.
And it all starts where? - you guessed it - the gut!
That might seem a logical connection to many, but then if it’s that blindingly obvious, WHY are 93% of Americans still suffering from high cholesterol, high blood sugar, high blood pressure, have had heart attack, stroke or overweight, and why - when the nation is spending trillions in health care costs annually - is the rate of chronic diseases and prescribed medications not going down?!
It’s the classic frog in the pot scenario….
In the dark
Because the food industry heavily markets ‘done for you food’ as convenient, tasty, and affordable, the truth about their nutritional quality is often obscured. While one ready meal or occasional packet of chips is not going to harm you, It is well documented today, that the ingredients list of ultra-processed foods can impact health. Its the daily, weekly, monthly routines we fall into that supply this slow drip of chemicals into our systems creating polluted environments in which our cells must work.
To make things more tricky, even the labeling of so called ‘healthy foods’ can be misleading. Who is to know that claims like "low fat" or "fortified," cleverly mask the fact that these foods are high in additives, unhealthy fats, sugars, and preservatives. So even in spite of a growing public awareness on the long-term consequences of poor nutrition, consumers are still left wandering around in the dark when it comes to finding the links between diet and the cause of their chronic inflammation, obesity and metabolic disorders.
On the healthcare side of things, doctors often focus on treating the symptoms of chronic illnesses rather than addressing the root causes, like poor diet, because the medical system is designed around quick fixes and symptom management through medications. Many physicians receive limited nutritional training and are incentivised to prescribe medication rather than push for dietary changes, which require long-term patient commitment and systemic support. The disconnect between scientific evidence on nutrition and medical practice also leaves many consumers unaware of how deeply their diets affect their health.
In Our Hands
Given this amount of disconnect, its easy to see why many folks think that the American health crisis must be really complex, and finding a solution to such an epidemic of chronic illness could only rest in the hands of a yet to be discovered medical genius who hopefully comes out with a pill before its too late for our loved ones yes?
Well, sadly, that couldn’t be further from the truth and the reality is, as Dr Hyman and guest went onto explain “all of the symptoms and diseases that we are facing and suffering from in the modern western world are fundamentally the same disease - ‘Metabolic Dysfunction’ “ which basically all stems from the food we eat.
To keep it really really simple here so, as to be very clear about what is being said, the one thing to grasp, is that it has been scientifically proven that you can change the status of your health in just a matter of weeks by simply giving your body the food it needs and learning how to avoid the food it doesn’t. IE. Our health is in our hands.
Counting the cost
In order for us to take steps towards giving our bodies the food we need and avoiding the food we dont we need to become educated, we need to understand what we are buying and we need to invest in the right products. Its an investment in ourselves.
We can argue that the effort we need to put into turning over these stones is time consuming, the good quality produce is expensive and thats not to mention how frustrating it becomes just trying to do a weekly shop! But at the end of the day If we start now to vote for the better quality food that we can trust is serving us nutritionally, we wont pay for it later in medical bills, tax dollars and farm subsidies and hopefully the food giants will take notice when the fruit loops and twinkies remain on the shelf.
The truth is, It really is a false economy believing we can buy our food for less than it costs to produce, the grocery spend bypass route will only catch you down the road with a hefty health toll to pay.
The ‘no time’ lie
I know all of the above can feel overwhelming, because in todays society we live life at a pace that didn’t exist 50 years ago. With so many things competing with our time, in order to just get through our day we need the instant answers, we need the done for you, pre packaged, quick and easy options because we no longer have the time to ‘take the time’. - Or at least that is what we are lead to believe. And the big food companies profit of us so easily that way.
The harsh reality is that everybody can ‘make time’ but often we just let our bodies take the constant fire and we only jump into action when we start to see flames… so why not be smart and make the time to take care of the plane while it’s still flying?!
What CAN i eat?
With all the confusion created by fad diets and trends that circulate with complicated rules and hard to come by ingredients I want to encourage you to pull back and look at the end goal.
As I said in the beginning, what we are trying to do at the most basic level, is to supply our bodies with nutrients from food to build cells, produce energy, and maintain vital functions, so, it really doesn’t matter if your vitamin C comes from a mango or a bowl of brussels sprouts, - it just matters that you get the vitamin C. It also doesn’t matter if your iron comes from a plate of spinach or a 6oz steak…. but eat the foods that will give you the iron…etc etc. The point is, you simply need to supply the list of nutrients your body needs and as much as possible to supply it naturally from whole foods so that your body can use those nutrients to do what it knows how to do.
Does it take effort? Yes.
Is it hard? Not at all!
When I started cooking from scratch, I remember of one of the first people I called was my Grandma to ask how I could make a chicken pie without using ready made pastry or any stock cubes for the gravy! She chuckled and confessed even she had become accustomed to relying on the modern day conveniences. Then she said, “well I guess you better make some chicken stock”….. so i scribbled down her recipe and that’s where I started.
If you start slowly you will find that its can be enjoyable to begin the process of swapping out the store bought frankenfoods for the home made version. Building your home made pantry is especially rewarding, full of foods that will start to make you feel good. Get your ingredients from a trusted source, or buy a few hens and plant a small garden if you can, but know where your food comes from, its the single most important thing you can do for your health!
Here to help!
Given the recent rabbit hole i’ve been tunneling down to make sure myself and my family are getting the most nutrient dense food available for our own health journey, I decided that I would journal my notes for you on my journey of building our own pantry by providing nutritional information along with my recipes and different food categories that supply different vitamins, minerals and essential macros for a balanced diet. When i get enough recipes together, i’ll come back and update this blog with links to help you search for particular foods or nutrients and do drop me a comment if you have any specific requests. If i don’t know the answer i’ll be happy to research it with you !
