Indianapolis Medical Society

President's Message May 2012

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." Hippocrates

Food is the most elemental and elementary part of our lives, and yet people are confused about something as simple as what/how to eat. Food has become complicated and the consequences are unhealthy. For example, examine the ingredient list on the side of a loaf of bread, a package of crackers, or a box of cereal. Some of us remember a meal back in the 1950s or 60s - a piece of chicken, a fresh vegetable, and probably a potato or pasta. If the potatoes were mashed, they were mashed with whole milk and real butter. Then along came margarine, and the fast march to food becoming complicated began. We have reached the point where we cannot pronounce and do not understand the ingredients that are listed on the packaging of the foods we buy.

To guide us in making better food selections, we have scientifically-based nutrition information. Nutritionists have given us an understanding of how the nutrients in food allow us to grow, develop, think, and perform. Researchers have determined the underlying mechanisms of how foods promote normal health and disease prevention. Dieticians are able to guide us through the food maze by telling us which foods provide benefits that go far beyond basic nutrition. We know how fiber, fluids, and good bacteria maintain a healthy digestive tract and work to lower fat and sugars in the blood. Bones need calcium; brains need fatty acids; antioxidants are needed to boost the immune system, and we have a variety of good-tasting, simple foods to meet those needs.

The elemental simplicity of the good things found in food is overshadowed by the addition of chemicals - pesticides, fertilizers, hormones, preservatives - used to grow food, get the food to market, and increase the shelf-life of those products. Industrial processing and travel time do not necessarily make for the healthiest, let alone tastiest, food options. Plants that are bred to travel well are not bred to taste good.

Many patients coming to doctors' offices, clinics, and hospitals come from neighborhoods largely devoid of grocery stores selling healthy foods, neighborhoods filled with fast food outlets and small convenience stores selling processed foods. Poor and middle class families often live in food deserts where unhealthy food is cheaper and more plentiful than healthy food. As a result, they suffer disproportionately from higher rates of obesity and related diseases. A wonderful effort to bring fresh, affordable fruits and vegetables to these desert neighborhoods in Marion County is Indiana University Health's Garden on the GoTM. For more information click here or March 2012 Bulletin, In Summary, page 22.

The food industry is listening to consumers who seek multiple ways to enhance their health, to prevent disease, and to promote healthy aging. More and more commercial food producers are altering their products in response to the public's request for healthier food choices. Brick and mortar stores are responding to the trend to provide healthier options with ever larger selections of organic and chemical-free produce and hormone-free meat and poultry. Many are supporting local farmers by contracting for seasonal produce.

How do we get back to the elemental and the elementary understanding of food and promote healthy eating? Simplicity is the key to supporting the body through good nutrition. Food purchasing and preparation should not be complicated. Eating a good variety of foods ensures an adequate amount of most essential nutrients. Our biggest challenge is to get people to simply add more fruits and vegetables to their shopping bags because they provide the nutrients and fiber most often missing from the average American diet.

One of the best sources we have in central Indiana for finding the finest in simple, astonishingly delicious foods are the local farmers' markets. Compared with people who consume a diet with only small amounts of fruits and vegetables, those who eat more generous amounts as part of a healthful diet are likely to have reduced risks of chronic diseases, including stroke and perhaps other cardiovascular diseases and certain cancers. Markets, by their nature, supply foods in peak season when flavors are at their best. People will eat more fruits and vegetables if they taste better. A strawberry from a local farmer tastes nothing like one shipped from California or Argentina. A strawberry is supposed to leak red juice when cut. A tomato should drip juice down your chin. Eggs can have a rich, unique flavor. A free-range chicken raised on a local farm on organic feed will have a far more distinctive and characteristic flavor than a chicken raised on a factory farm. Nothing else should taste like chicken.

Vendors at farmers' markets respond to consumers' desires for simplicity and wholesomeness. Most markets have a number of vendors who also offer fresh, prepared food selections to take home or to eat on site. Compare their ingredient lists to the lists for similar products from a supermarket, and you will find the difference between elemental food preparation and mass production food preparation. Patrons at farmers' markets can ask the vendors for details of how their products were produced and processed. By talking to the person who grew or raised the food it can be determined if the produce is chemical-free or if the animals were raised without hormones.

For a map of local farmers markets in your neighborhood click here.

Local farmers are expanding their range of crops and thus bringing a wider variety of locally produced offerings to market. They are investing in structures that will broaden the production season so there will be access to fresh, local fruits and vegetables earlier in the spring and later into the year. As a result of this trend, the Binford Farmers' Market at 62nd and Binford Boulevard is looking for a permanent home that will allow the market to run year round.

We are fortunate to live in an area where Community Health Network has partnered with Binford Redevelopment and Growth, Inc. (BRAG), a neighborhood organization in the northeast corner of Marion County, to support and expand the Binford Farmers' Market. Kas Vargo, President of BRAG, is excited with this partnership and for the opening of the outdoor Binford Farmers' Market on May 5. Along with interest in the local goods promoted by the Market, BRAG is encouraging redevelopment of the area to incorporate trails that connect the community. In this way, residents can access the offerings of the connected neighborhoods which encourage healthy lifestyles through exercise, relationships with neighbors, and healthy eating.

"Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food." Hippocrates