By Leanne Trostel Fuchs

As I sat eating my lunch recently, it occurred to me or to ask, ”Why do I eat food? What is its purpose? Is it simply so that I can have something that tastes good in my mouth? Is it there just for an emotional crutch when I’m stressed or depressed? Or does it serve a higher purpose?"

I believe it does. Hippocrates, am ancient Greek physician who is considered by many to be "the father of medicine" put it best. He Hsaid, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.”
Of course we eat food for a myriad of reasons. But it seems clear to me the main reason we eat food is for what it provides us in the form of nutrients, meaning carbohydrates, proteins and fats along with vitamins and minerals.

But why is this stuff so important? Well, those elements are the building blocks from which my body can build, repair and grow. Those vital nutrients that I get from food are what help me combat the flu or a cold or stress or anxiety. It’s what gives me energy. It is the fuel that my body runs on. Very much as we go and gas up our cars so that they’ll run, so we eat food so our bodies and minds will “run.”

But what happens when we put the wrong type of fuel in our car’s gas tank. Does it work? Maybe, but not as well as it would if we put in the right fuel. The same follows through with our body. If we’re putting vital, living, nutrient-dense foods into our bodies such as we get from farms that practice sustainable and regenerative farming -- then our bodies run like a finely tuned car.

Long-term research is showing the nutrients in our food supply are steadily declining. On the flip side, farms or gardens that develop high levels of organic matter in the soil, and therefore have copious and diverse soil life, can reverse that trend.

If we continue to eat devitalized foods or food-like substances from a box that’s been on a shelf for gosh knows how long then our bodies are full or sludge and garbage. We never tend to get satisfied because our systems want all the necessary nutrients, so our systems are asking for more. We keep putting in bad fuel and our bodies keep running like an old clunker of a car.

The adage, “we are what we eat” could not be truer.

Thomas Edison said, “The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease.”

What happened to this way of thinking?

It is my goal to help each one of my patients attain a higher level of health and well-being and knowledge so that he/she can in turn help others. This is the way forward.
Farming has become a game of more bushels and more pounds but never about quality of nourishment. We have the ability at this time and in this moment to not only heal ourselves but with regenerative farming practices we can heal our planet too.

As food producers we are not only given the responsibility for caring for the land itself, but indirectly we can be the world’s healers. It’s a win-win situation. Produce higher quality foods, maybe or maybe not produce more volume, nourish the land and our bodies. The day is drawing nearer when we will get paid for this higher-quality food. More companies are expressing an interest in doing this very thing.