Select Page

Food-Based Medicine

by Jan 26, 2018

Home » Naturopathic Medicine Student Blog » Food-Based Medicine

I recently had a patient in clinic who wanted to treat their medical condition with foods instead of supplements. There were a few foods off the top of my head, some of which I had already recommended, but it got me thinking and researching more.

2018-01-26_tea

If you think about it, before there was medicine as we now know it, the only option was to use what the land provided for healing. There weren’t pharmacies open 24/7 to buy pharmaceuticals or natural supplements. I feel that in the U.S. we have lost traditional roots, whereas other countries still preserve knowledge that’s been passed down from generation to generation on what to do for all the common ailments like coughs, fevers, and stomach aches, but also more chronic conditions.

One of my clinicians, Dr. Tursha Hamilton, told me that many traditional herbalists that she’s heard of have had a lot of success using tea. In the clinic, the dispensary is stocked with tinctures and pills, but for some people, those aren’t options. For example, some people can’t tolerate tinctures because of the alcohol base; others can’t take capsules/pills because of the fillers; certain religions restrict some ingredients, etc. I am still researching which teas would be appropriate for this case, and how much and how often the patient would have to drink them. I am hopeful that I will find some options to which my patient will respond well.

Follow NUHS on Social Media

About the Author

Mary Simon

Mary Simon

I'm a naturopathic medical student at NUHS. I started the Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine Program in January 2014. I was born and raised in Manitowoc, Wisconsin, a beautiful town on Lake Michigan. My experiences interpreting (Spanish to English) in nearly all medical specialties solidified my decision to study naturopathic medicine, as I saw a deep need for treating the body as a whole, getting to the root causes of symptoms, and using minimally invasive low-cost therapies to restore health.

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Related Posts

Wrapping Up Another Trimester During Spring

Wrapping Up Another Trimester During Spring

In the past couple of weeks, I have been trying to take advantage of small, daily opportunities to “stop and smell the roses” as the end of the trimester quickly approaches. This trimester has been particularly busy for me and acknowledging the “small things” has been...

read more
A Reflection on This Trimester’s Theme

A Reflection on This Trimester’s Theme

This trimester’s theme has been about discovering a sense of balance imposed upon a constantly-changing schedule. In fact, the balancing act started during my last break from school. Although I had no school, I spent my break reviewing for the NPLEX Part 1 exam in...

read more

Defining the future of integrated health care.