Food Is Medicine: Building A Personalized Healing Menu
There is not a single person quite like you on this planet.
You are a one-of-kind cocktail made from unique physical ingredients, experiences, genetics, and environments. Don’t feed it like it’s a generic model.
The healing journey is equally specific for each of us - our bodies respond to treatments, medicines, and medical stress differently. You know this already - you're here, on this site. And although you may struggle with a chronic disease, a niggling health worry, or a painful, short-term health problem, there is a unique solution for you, and what you eat is one of the most foundational approaches to healing.
For most of us, the first step in finding a solution is to type our symptoms into a search bar to discover the most likely cause of the ailment and seek available treatments. Thank (or don’t) Dr. Google for the quick-and-dirty, time-saving diagnosis, right? When used correctly (that is, not panicking over WebMD at 2 a.m.), the Internet can be a useful and quick tool for brushing the surface of understanding health conditions. But what about how we eat - does Google help us do that well?
Google is chock-full of recurring advice: eat your veggies, get your exercise, and don’t forget to get enough sleep. Although it seems obvious, it’s easy to dismiss, so it does bear repeating - movement, sleep, and nutrition are the pillars of our health.
But there’s more: Healing is physical, of course, but also mental, spiritual, and emotional. And sitting at the intersection of all of these facets lies a powerful cure: what you eat.
Food is a constant necessity in our lives. Our health is built and maintained through food as fuel for our bodies. The need to consume energy multiple times a day makes food the perfect vehicle to transmit both nutrition and emotional satisfaction. Emotional satisfaction is key here, as it provides us with a sense of appreciation, enjoyment, and safety, while also providing a physically fundamental set of nutritional building blocks.
"Tell me what you eat," Brillat-Savarin once said, "And I'll tell you what you are."
For centuries, we have used nutrition as a healing tool. This topic could be an entire article in and of itself, but it can be summed up best by Hippocrates in 400 BC, "Let food be thy medicine, and medicine be thy food."
Let's unpack a few of nutrition's more interesting, fundamental truths and see how we can wield it as a superpower in transforming our health by creating our own Personalized Healing Menus. In conjunction with other interventions, these menus can accelerate and compound our recovery and overall well-being.
Understanding the Connection
Food plays a significant role in influencing our overall well-being. It does this in a few primary ways.
Food’s first fundamental function is nutrient intake. Essential vitamins, minerals, and other nutrients necessary for our physical functions are transported through our food to support everything from energy production to system support. It is our primary energy source, allowing us to move, concentrate, and function.
Beyond basic energy functions, nutrition directly impacts our mood and mental health. Foods rich in nutrients, like omega-3s, positively affect our mental well-being. The opposite is also true - a poor diet can contribute directly to mood swings and mental health issues.
Food impacts how we function. A few other key components are influenced by food, such as weight management, digestive health, heart health, skin and bone health, and immune system strength. A balanced, nutrient-rich diet reduces the risk of chronic diseases and promotes longevity while improving our overall quality of life. It can provide the energy needed for the body to function optimally during illness or recovery and can help fight off infections, inflammation, and illnesses in the recovering body.
Understanding the Scope of a Personalized Healing Menu
The more you know about yourself, the better you can tailor this essential daily nutritional intake. We call these tailored diets Personalized Healing Menus.
In my decade-long career in fine dining restaurants, I learned how to incorporate quality, flavor-filled meals with a wide variety ingredients into all kinds of great dishes. As I transitioned from restaurant cooking to building custom diets for athletes, it became my mission to pair nutrient-dense, delicious meals with high nutritional impact with clients who wanted to approach health, healing and performance in a new way.
This is where the Personalized Healing Menu was born - out of a desire to deliver satisfying, craveable meals that are complementary to our healing process and highly specific to each of us.
Three key differences exist between a traditional diet and a Personalized Healing Menu:
It is not based on weight loss or caloric intake
It is designed with enjoyment in mind
It is designed for your personal, specific needs and overall well-being
Important note: These customized menus should not be bland. In fact, incorporating foods we truly enjoy is one of the most mentally and physically satisfying ways to keep our bodies balanced and healthy.
It's important here to realize that fad diets (like the keto diet, carnivore diet, and others) are emphatically not the same as a Personalized Healing Menu, and any diet that is incorporated without thorough research can actually cause more harm than good. It's also important to note that fixating on diet alone will not solve all health problems. A menu is an excellent complementary component to a healing plan but is not the only solution.
With these considerations in mind, let's build our own Personalized Healing Menu.
Start Here - Build Your Personalized Healing Menu
Discard what you remember about the traditional food pyramid. Although the basics of the food pyramid model hold fast, it was intended as a generic teaching tool and completely misses the need to consider an individual’s nutrition needs. Allergies, restrictions, and current existing health conditions are vital in designing your Personalized Healing Menu. Here are the three steps to start building yours.
To start, list your most important health concerns and goals. For example, you might be managing a diagnosed condition. Keep that condition or other health struggles on the forefront as you build your menu. You can also build a menu with symptoms in mind, such as fatigue, headaches, dizziness, and irritability.
Second, do some research to discover what has been found nutritionally that helps or exacerbates the symptoms or condition.
There are many nutritional strategies to relieve symptoms, many of which can also create a catalyst for healing. Take the example of hypoglycemia. Keeping blood sugar at even levels throughout the day is key. Strategies to do this not only center around the nutrients in the food itself but also include food timing and food quantity. Eliminating foods may be important, or at least limiting specific foods, such as caffeine (in the case of hypoglycemia mimics hypoglycemic symptoms), and limiting alcohol intake. Food timing can include avoiding foods when on an empty stomach or consuming higher amounts of fat, protein, and fiber at distinct times of the day to provide longer-lasting energy and avoid crashes in blood sugar levels.
Based on what we know about hypoglycemia to this point, it’s time to sketch out the general parameters of a Personalized Healing Menu for hypoglycemia:
Small but frequent high-protein meals
Backup sugary snacks for emergencies
Higher intake of water or less-caffeinated teas
The final step in drafting the menu is one of the most important: You must include foods that you enjoy. Ask yourself, “What foods do I love and enjoy that fit into the above parameters?” Food should not be thought of as restrictive. For its maximum healing benefits and effects, it must be thoughtfully composed, then anticipated, savored, enjoyed, and, in the best-case scenario, shared.
The 4 Elements of a Personalized Healing Menu
Identify foods you want to avoid, whether by preference, allergy, or conflict with medication.
2. Identify foods you want to include that contain essential nutritional components.
3. Plan the ideal timing of snacks and meals based on your personal schedule, preference, medication considerations, and needs for optimal physical and mental function.
4. A key component is to strategize ways to enjoy the food you’re consuming, so you look forward to eating it.
Whole Ingredients vs Supplements
If you’re like most people, you may want to just take a supplement and not bother with creating a Personalized Healing Menu. After all, it’s easier to pop a few Omega-3 capsules or chew a vitamin gummy. But before you do, consider the following.
Nutrient synergy is lost with single supplements. Nutrient synergy is a positive, compounded result of eating foods that contain nutrients that work together. Plus, more significant benefits and more nutrients can be found in whole foods.
Supplements do not contain fiber or phytonutrients that support digestive health. Additionally, some nutrients are far more easily absorbed through food rather than taken alone.
Eating a variety of foods promotes a balanced diet, while relying on supplements can lead to nutritional imbalances that have an effect your overall well-being.
Food isn't just about nutrients. It's about enjoyment. Research shows that eating a variety of foods that you enjoy contributes to a higher quality of life, longevity, and mental health. If you aren’t enjoying your meals, you aren’t doing it right!
Template to Create a Personal Healing Menu
Feel free to use this template to sketch out the parameters of a personal healing menu.
A Real-Life Example: A Personalized Healing Menu for Severe Adult ADHD and Medication Side Effects
A Personalized Healing Menu works. Let me share the experience of one of my favorite clients to help illustrate the process and power of a Personalized Healing Menu. Let’s call him Travis.
Travis was an otherwise healthy male adult with diagnosed severe adult ADHD. His prescribed medication left him with nasty side effects, like dry mouth, debilitating comedown headaches, and lack of appetite. He was seeking a personalized menu that needed to meet his needs with…
Mental focus retention throughout a ten-hour workday.
Desire to eat despite lack of appetite.
Quality nutrition to get him through his daily high-intensity exercise routines.
Medication effectiveness improvement, if possible, along with decreasing medication side effects.
Together, Travis and I developed a specific menu tailored to his nutritional needs based on these parameters. Through a few weeks of trial and error with slight modifications and adjustments throughout, Travis successfully incorporated a Personalized Healing Menu into his life.
What was the result? His focus improved, his appetite was stimulated, and the diet was more than sufficient for his workout needs. It became a core foundational part of his health journey. He not only eliminated his lack of desire to eat and the side effects of varying foods with his medication side effects, but he used the power of food to improve his overall condition while enjoying his meals. All-in-all the process took about five weeks. He continues to modify his menu according to how he feels and makes seasonal changes based on his food preferences.
Travis’ Meal Plan for His Personal Healing Menu
This is a scaled-down simplified menu for Travis, who has ADHD. .
Consistent favorite foods.
Once the discovery process is complete, favorite foods can be identified and become essential elements suited to the client’s personal preference.
Reality Check: Challenges and Obstacles
Nothing is perfect, of course. There are challenges that can stand in the way of building out the perfect personalized diet. Fortunately, most struggles can be mitigated with a little research and elbow grease - along with good old trial and error. It's worth noting that, as with anything that is worthwhile, it takes time, energy, and effort. This is not an overnight solution, but we (with my friends at The Health Navigator Group) believe staunchly in investing in ourselves and understanding our bodies. The more we know about ourselves and invest in our health, the faster we can heal. It’s important to know the up-front investment and potential struggles, and how you can work around them.
Cost. Especially in today's economy, the idea of spending a whole paycheck on vegetables feels downright frustrating. There is some good news, however - nutritious foods can be integrated with a little clever thinking. Prioritize nutritious foods within your grocery budget, and buy seasonally when nutritious produce is plentiful. Prepping ahead and freezing or preserving produce is a great way to keep it year-round. Plant-based proteins, like beans and lentils, are often less expensive and maximize nutritional value. Plan your meals to avoid impulse purchases, and save the shopping until after you've had something to eat. Impulse purchases and unhealthy snacks are often a result of shopping while hungry - an easy way to be swayed by cravings!
Cooking Ability. Luckily, thanks to the Internet, easy, straightforward, foolproof recipes do exist, so find them! There are also many easy, healthy food options available in the grocery aisle, like vegetables that can steam in the microwave or brown rice that is ready in minutes. Don't let fear of the kitchen keep you from taking charge of your health.
Time. It can feel like cooking takes a lot of time, and making meals from scratch every weeknight can take a toll. But make time work to your advantage by planning ahead and batching your cooking and prep (like washing your veggies before putting them away). Try designating a day of the week to make your meals ahead of time.
You Don’t Have to Do It Alone
We all need a little help sometimes, and the same is true when planning your Personalized Healing Menu. Dieticians and nutritionists can help, as can personal chefs - if you’re lucky to know one (and now you do - me!). Chefs can help you coordinate your menu, maximize your time and meal prep.
The Internet can be a wonderful place to connect with doctors, dieticians, and wellness professionals, even through channels like Instagram and TikTok. Just be sure to do your research thoroughly and take advice from reputable sources.
In conclusion, a Personalized Healing Menu is your secret approach to healing. Food is Medicine. And the more you experiment with how your body responds to foods, the more you learn about your body and what it needs so you can heal faster.
There is much more to be said on this topic, so keep an eye out for more. Please submit questions through our Contact page. We love to hear from you!
