Yes, this is an actual entity. A food put together by medicine because you cannot find it in nature. Wow! So initially this was introduced under the FDA to include mixes that were put together for special diseases or special situations, like kidney failure and mixes needed for people on dialysis or people who needed to be fed concentrated mixes through a feeding tube. All of this requires medical supervision.

Now it is being expanded and companies are producing mixes of substances for instance, for Alzheimer’s disease.  Are these foods or drugs? That is the question to me.

My concern is that medicine is so far removed from nature and real food that I don’t think they even tried taking the first step which to me is hanging out with food and really experiencing it and embracing it. Most diseases we know are improved by diet changes, yet medicine has only paid lip service to this concept and jumps quickly to drugs, as food can never be enough.

I would love to see the following:

1. Anyone who wants to practice in the health care field must take a true nutrition course that includes information and actual eating of foods representing the variety of diets that exist in this diverse world. Maybe we could pay restaurants and/or grandmothers to be part of the curriculum. I really enjoyed studying at the Natural Gourmet Institute (naturalgourmetinstitute.com) run by Annemarie Colbin and taking classes with someone like Edward Espe Brown who wrote the Tassajara Cook Book (“How to Cook Your Life” Trailer).
2. The first instruction to a patient or patient’s family would be label reading.  The most important ingredients are the first three. Read all the ingredients, including inert. If you don’t know what it is, put the food back.
3. Take time to eat. Chew each bite and enjoy the texture, flavor, and smells. Do not eat at your desk at lunch with your computer or smart phone on, etc., etc., etc.
4. Be with someone as often as you can when you eat.
5. Thank the food and all those who helped it to come to your palate.
6. Read a book or article about some kind of food that is new to you and try it.
7. Love your water.
8. Smile with satisfaction.
9. Yes, even note with satisfaction those lovely bowel movements that complete the process.

All this is nourishing with food. Some of these things we can enjoy even when we must eat from a can or through a tube. Those around us can help us be with our food in a better way.