Food as Medicine: course review

I've just completed a three week course called "Food as Medicine." I thought the course would have me blogging more than I have over the past three weeks, but it seems I've barely written anything at all.

In week one the course introduced learners to the concept of evidence-based medicine, which seemed pretty basic to me.

Evidence based medicine is the “conscientious, explicit, and judicious use of current best evidence in making decisions about the care of individual patients” and/or more broadly applied to populations.

The course presented this concept as the alternative to traditional-based medicines.

In the beginning, I thought I was all about evidence-based medicine in my approach to health care, but, in conversations with other learners, I quickly realized that I use food as medicine all the time -- even before I started the anti-inflammatory diet. When my husband is sick, I buy ginger ale and immediately begin making chicken noodle soup. If I am anxious, I have a cup of tea. If I have diarrhea, I drink lots of fluids and eat plain rice. These are habits I learned throughout my life.

The course teaches the difference between macronutrients and micronutrients, phytochemicals and antioxidants, prebiotics and probiotics, before sticking a pin in the myth of superfoods. I will have to write a separate post on the myth of superfoods.

In week one, I also started keeping a food journal (it starts on the week I am celebrating my husband's birthday, then my eating habits improve) and gradually I forgot to maintain it. Eventually, I just stopped, but that was fine because the course didn't seem to mention it again.

In week two, we began learning about what controls our appetites, which got me thinking about the factors in my life that make it hard for me to stick to my diet (like celebrating my husband's birthday).

Week two also had a bunch of information on our genes and diet during pregnancy, which I found boring. My baby is grown up already! However, when they started talking about measuring obesity, I paid attention.

I think weight is a bogus way of measuring a person's health. I was in very good shape at age 14 weighing an athletic 158 lbs, which, some years later, is what I weighed when I was 9 months pregnant. I won't tell you how much I weigh now, but since then, I have consistently stayed between a size 10-14 (I am 5'7"). At age 40, I have a 32 inch waste, but the BMI says I am borderline obese... I call nonsense.

Week two of the course taught me about approaching the anti-inflammatory diet as a lifestyle change that will keep me healthier in an ongoing way.

In week three we learned about media literacy in relation to food as medicine and sensationalized health headlines. It also introduced me to Behind the Headlines: your guide to the science that makes the news. Behind the Headlines investigates popular news stories about health sciences, tracing them back to their origins and analyzing the science at their root.

With many thanks to the course's lead educator Helen Truby, I recommend the Food as Medicine course to anyone with an interest in my blog.

To find out more about my journey in exploring food as medicine, like my Facebook page.