Food as Medicine

Food as Medicine / Food Is Medicine

 

The root cause of many chronic diseases lies in the foods we eat. However, the reasons why this is the case go beyond popularly known connections, such as the widely researched association between saturated fats and cardiovascular disease. Short-term and lifelong food choices are a major contributor to other diseases and conditions, including endocrine, metabolic, oncologic, autoimmune, and inflammatory ones. Environmental pollutants and toxicants present in foods, the way foods are cooked (inadvertently generating harmful chemicals on a daily basis), and the contributions of foods (or lack thereof) to a healthy gut microbiome are some of the many reasons why “we are what we eat.”

 

What is “Food as Medicine” or “Food Is Medicine”?

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While the current health care system primarily emphasizes the use of pharmaceutical agents for the treatment of chronic diseases, many professional medical societies are beginning to recognize the important role of “Food as Medicine” or “Food Is Medicine” as a clinical intervention to prevent, treat, or manage chronic diseases.

 

The American Heart Association (AHA) has published scientific statements explicitly endorsing Food-Is-Medicine interventions as part of clinical care for chronic diseases, defining Food Is Medicine as “the provision of healthy food resources to prevent, manage, or treat specific clinical conditions in coordination with the health care sector.”

 

The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics defines Food as Medicine as “food-based interventions provided simultaneously with medical nutrition therapy that reaffirm the role food and nutrition play in health outcomes.”

 

More broadly speaking, Food as Medicine may be defined as a structured and conscientious use of food and nutrition to prevent, treat, or manage disease. In contrast with the use of pharmaceuticals, which often address the periphery rather than the root cause of disease, the use of Food as Medicine acknowledges the fundamental role that dietary choices and habits play in determining health, disease, and longevity. Regardless of whether an individual is currently taking medications chronically, Food as Medicine ought to be considered and incorporated into their care in order to maximize successful health outcomes.

 

Food as Medicine should be a part of all integrative medicine and functional medicine treatment programs

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As part of an integrative and functional medicine assessment, Dr. Wang meticulously evaluates patients in a structured manner to understand how their food choices shape and determine their health state. In fact, any integrative medicine / functional medicine treatment plan that overlooks or does not adequately incorporate a Food-as-Medicine component would not be faithful to the principles of integrative and functional medicine. Such an inadequate incorporation of Food as Medicine into the treatment plan is often the reason why optimal success is not achieved.

 

Here at Wisdom Health and Wellbeing…

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Patients receive an expert evaluation of the dietary determinants of their symptoms, conditions, and overall health, integrated with other components of the integrative and functional medicine assessment. They receive a detailed Food as Medicine plan to help them get back or stay on the path to health.

 

​Dr. Wang is board-certified in lifestyle medicine by the American Board of Lifestyle Medicine and has many years of experience practicing Food as Medicine to prevent, treat, and reverse chronic diseases.