Reader&#039 - Readers Digest Food Cures New Edition: Tasty Remedies to Treat Common Conditions

Top 22 Healing Foods

NOTE TO OUR READERS

The information in this book should not be substituted for, or used to alter, medical therapy without your doctors advice. For a specific health problem, consult your physician for guidance.

Susan Allen, RD, CCN

Private Practice

Past Chair, American Dietetic Associations Nutrition in Complementary Care Practice Group

Mary M. Austin, MA, RD, CDE

Private Practice

Past President, American Association of Diabetes Educators

William G. Christen, ScD, OD

Associate Professor in Medicine

Harvard Medical School

Karen Collins, MS, RD

Nutrition Advisor

American Institute for Cancer Research

Randy J. Horwitz, MD, PhD

Medical Director, Program in Integrative Medicine

University of Arizona, Tucson

David L. Katz, MD, MPH

Associate Clinical Professor

Public Health and Medicine

Yale University School of Medicine

Ben Kligler, MD, MPH

Associate Professor of Medicine (Family Medicine)

Albert Einstein College of Medicine

Research Director

Continuum Center for Health and Healing

Ashley Koff, RD

Private Practice

Victoria Maizes, MD

Executive Director

Program in Integrative Medicine

University of Arizona

Daniel Muller, MD, PhD

Associate Professor of Medicine (Rheumatology)

University of Wisconsin-Madison

Jeri W. Nieves, PhD

Associate Professor of Clinical Epidemiology

Columbia University

David Perlmutter, MD

Board-Certified Neurologist

Private Practice

Rebecca Reeves, DrPH, RD

Assistant Professor of Medicine

Baylor College of Medicine

Steve L. Taylor, PhD

Professor and Director

Food Allergy Research & Resource Program

Department of Food Science & Technology

University of Nebraska-Lincoln

SPECIAL THANKS TO Eugene Arnold, MD; Neil Barnard, MD; Scott Berliner, RPh; Amy Brown, PhD, RD; Laura Coleman, PhD, RD; Tanya Edwards, MD; Evan Fleischman, ND; Marc Greenstein, DO; Jon D. Kaiser, MD; Penny Kris-Etherton, PhD; Jessica Leonard, MD; Alan Magaziner, DO; Alexander Mauskop, MD; Eva Obarzanek, PhD; Alexandra J. Richardson, PhD; Michael Rosenbaum, MD, MSc; Roseanne Schnoll, PhD, RD, CDN; Suzanne Steinbaum, DO; Bonnie Taub-Dix, MS, RD; Mark Toomey, PhD; Jan Zimmerman, MS, RD.

For those who follow news from the world of medical research, the past few years have been filled with intriguing announcements. All kinds of breakthrough healing medicines have been discoveredbut many of them arent pills. Instead, theyre oatmeal for heart disease, salmon for asthma, peanuts for high cholesterol, and yogurt for eczema. Forget about wonder drugs; were living in a time of wonder foods.

Of course, the concept of food as medicine is many thousands of years old. Hippocrates, considered the father of medicine, prescribed a veritable pharmacy of edibles, from bread soaked in wine to boiled fish. Yet somehow, over the past century, this message got lost. Until recently, few doctors ever recommended a food as a potential solution to a health problem. So what has changed?

Primarily, we have become far smarter about the underlying causes of common diseases. Researchers have discovered, for instance, that arthritis isnt a simple case of wear and tear but rather a destructive process spurred by molecules called free radicals. This knowledge opened the door to the next discovery: that getting more leafy greens and orange and yellow produce, rich in antioxidants that neutralize free radicals, helps stave off this crippling condition. Weve also learned more about the healing powers of specific foods. We now know that pumpkin seeds improve symptoms of an enlarged prostate, that regularly eating yogurt effectively suppresses the bacteria that cause most ulcers, and that cabbage helps the stomach lining heal.

What else has changed? The medical community is finally taking the research to heart. Doctors are talking about nutrition and food solutions to everyday ailments more often than ever before. And what outstanding news this is! Who wouldnt rather eat a piece of dark chocolate than swallow a high-cost, potentially dangerous pill? Best of all, in contrast to most prescription drugs today, most healthy foods provide multiple benefits to your body. Our message: Food can be a source of both pleasure and healing. So take a few minutes now and turn to one of the health problems that concerns you, then follow our food and supplement prescriptions. Even better, try some of the healing recipes that weve includedtheyre as delicious as they are healthy! Youll see for yourself the very real power of food as medicine.

An apple a day can keep the doctor awayand now researchers finally know why. Welcome to the new world of food as medicine, where natures bounty has the power to ease, erase, and abolish many of the nagging health problems and major killers of our day.

food medicines

Theres a new frontier in medicine. Researchers at the forefront say the key to a longer, healthier life is an idea thats radicalsome old-school doctors still dont seem to get ityet simple: Food can help heal what ails you. That is, adding the right foods to your diet, while leaving others off the menu, can bolster your bodys defenses against disease, treat disease directly, and even slow the aging process.

The tools of this discipline arent scalpels and scanners but rather serving spoons and spatulas. Nevertheless, its strong medicine. The studies are piling up fast, and theyre impossible to ignore: Choose wisely in your grocers produce section, the data shows, and you may spend less time in line at the pharmacy. Get to know your local fishmonger, and you may never meet a cardiologist. Start thinking about food in a novel wayas a form of therapeutic and preventive medicineand you may need a lot less of the kind of medicine that gets itemized on insurance bills.

Maybe you already make occasional forays into this new frontier. Have you skipped the porterhouse steak and potato in favor of salmon and a green salad lately? Made breakfast toast with dense, chewy slices of whole-grain bread instead of the nutrient-challenged white variety? Snacked on a tangerine instead of a candy bar or finally switched to fat-free milk?

Taking simple measures such as these can have profound effects on your health and well-beingand not just because they spare your body from a lot of un healthy stuff, such as saturated fat and refined sugar, though that certainly is a good start. Exciting new studies have confirmed what some healers have believed for thousands of years: Many foods are packed with beneficial chemicals that can promote health and protect your body from the ravages of disease.

The idea of nutrition therapy goes all the way back to the beginning. Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food, said Hippocrates, the ancient Greek who is widely regarded as the father of modern medicine. True to his word, Hippocrates prescribed a grocery list of edible cures, everything from bread soaked in wine to boiled fish. If those remedies dont exactly pique your appetite, dont worry. In the pages that follow, youll learn about a cornucopia of foods that please the palate and contain remarkable medicinal qualities. Almonds and avocados. Strawberries and sweet potatoes. Fruity extra-virgin olive oil and delicacies from the sea.