Food As Medicine: Returning to Ancient Wisdom

Food is one of our Four Primary Medicines, alongside Lifestyle, Relationships and Community, and Purpose. In this series, we’re exploring each of these essential medicines — the keys to creating balance, well-being, and true healing. Today, let’s turn to food.

🌿Ancient Wisdom, Modern Lessons

In ancient times, food was our ancestor’s first medicine. Hippocrates, often called the father of Western medicine, advised: “Let thy food be thy medicine, and thy medicine be thy food.”  He also understood that our thoughts, attitudes, and feelings impact our health and, in fact, all aspects of our lives. He spoke of the links between mind, body, and soul, and of the importance of treating the person who has the disease, not the disease the person has.

Much of that wisdom has been lost in today’s world of high-tech medicine, pharmaceuticals, and reductionist thinking. We’ve zoomed in so close on molecules and cells that we’ve forgotten to step back and see the whole person. And with that, we’ve lost touch with food as medicine.

👩‍⚕️ My Journey with Food as Medicine

When I was a young doctor-in-training, my diet was far from healthy. Coffee, peanut M&Ms, and late nights on call fueled me through long hospital shifts. I never learned in medical school that food could be medicine. Nutrition lectures focused on the biochemistry of digestion, not on real-life eating.

It wasn’t until years later, while teaching medical students about alternative medicine, that I encountered Ayurveda — India’s ancient science of life. I invited renowned teacher Dr. Vasant Lad to speak. Around that same time, I discovered I had uterine tumors, and sought his help.

Through Ayurveda, I learned that each of us has a unique constitution, and that what we eat, how we eat, and even when we eat can profoundly affect our health and peace of mind. I came to understand how my diet had been exacerbating the tumors. To my surprise, salads and raw vegetables — which I’d always assumed were healthy — aggravated my symptoms and even worsened my anxiety. When I started to eat more cooked food, and foods that supported my constitution, my bodily symptoms eased and I felt much calmer. It was a revelation to me: food truly is medicine.

Over the years, I’ve returned to this constitutional approach again and again — for myself and for my patients. No one diet fits all. True healing comes when food supports your unique needs.

🧠 Food and the Mind-Body Connection

What you eat matters. But just as important is how you think and feel. Science is now confirming what ancient traditions have always known: digestion and emotions are intimately connected. We absorb food best when we are calm, present, and at peace.

Research on the gut-brain connection shows that the microbes in our intestines affect our mood, and our emotions affect our digestion. Anxiety and depression aren’t just in the head — these states of mood can stem from imbalances in the gut. Everything is connected.

💭 Cravings and Emotional Eating

Cravings are often signals of imbalance. A desire for sugar may mean fatigue, a microbiome imbalance, or even a need for more sweetness in life. Emotional eating is another way we attempt to restore balance — grounding anxiety, soothing sadness, quieting anger, and even balancing our gut microbiome. These patterns aren’t failures. They’re messages from your body and mind.

The key is to listen gently, without judgment. Instead of criticizing yourself, observe with compassion: what do I really need right now? Rest, comfort, healing, connection? Food can support you, but so can rest, relationships, and purpose — your other medicines.

🔍 Beyond Dogma: Listening Within

Nutrition trends can be confusing — low-carb, high protein, paleo, keto, vegan, intermittent fasting. Coffee and wine: healthy or harmful? The truth is, what supports one person may not support another. Even what supports you today may not be right tomorrow.

The answer lies not in dogma, but in listening within. Your body knows. When your mind is calm and your body is rested, whatever your body is asking for will be nourishing for you. And you’ll not only digest your food better, but you’ll also digest whatever’s going on in your life with greater ease.

🌟 Making Food Your Medicine

So how do you make food your medicine? Here are a few guiding principles:

• Be gentle with yourself. No “shoulds.” No judgment. Just kindness.
• Honor your uniqueness. There is no one-size-fits-all diet. Listen to what your body is asking for.
• Stay present when eating. Step away from work, screens, and distractions. Savor your meal in peace.
• Notice cravings with curiosity. They are signals, not problems. Explore what deeper needs they point to.
• Be aware of the mind-body connection. Cultivate calm and peace — the true foundation for healthy digestion.

When you approach food in this way, it becomes more than nourishment. It becomes medicine. It brings you back to balance, back to peace, back to that place of Absolute Health — the place where healing happens.

In this series on the Four Primary Medicines, we’ve now explored Lifestyle and Food. For a refresher on Lifestyle as Medicine, you can go here. Next, we’ll turn to another essential medicine: Relationships and Community.