Foodtopia Dreaming Episode 13 Let food be thy medicine
They knew how much food affects mood, that non-communicable diseases (NCD) were directly linked to the poor quality food people are eating. And that the NCD of diabetes, obesity, and many cancers were causing the healthcare system to fall apart at the seams. And to top it all off, that the poor quality of the food we were eating was impacting our mental health. And when our mental health declined, so did our physical health.
It was rural communities that were taking the lead on the change. They were the ones that just couldn’t get on a train to go to the specialist for the day or seek the advice they needed. The blackspots in internet coverage became green spots. If you didn’t have the internet and you survived, you were resilient and the evidence was there - you were healthy. You had to be. You couldn’t rely on others, you didn’t have the resources or electronic connections.
It was first noticed in permaculture communities and groups. The sharing of locally grown and sourced produce, shared in a social environment, sourced from ethical providers, with social bents and organic principles. These were the outliers in the data. Why were these people living longer, visiting the doctors less, performing better in class, working less but earning more in the time they were working. Why was their resilience better during the pandemic? Their survival, their focus on the future was surely pessimistic, they prepared for the worst, they hoped for the best and were prepared for whatever came.
Now, these outliers in the health stats were impressive. It backed up what doctors were wanting to say, but were hampered by big pharma. That gut health was number one, that what we ate affects our mood and mental health, that a modified Mediterranean diet along with some exercise would reduce demands on our overburdened health system.
It took the confidence gained during a pandemic for the Chief Health Officers, hospitals, Doctors, and General Practitioners to say enough is enough. For the youth interns from the country towns to speak up and ask for help to deliver a seismic shift in health care to their small communities. One that delivers a focus on good food, physical wellness, mental health wellbeing, and building communities over-simplistic drug cocktails and surgical remediation.
Our community took the plunge with the local hospital choosing to invest 1% of its budget each year in healthy food programs. The first year was groundbreaking. Literally. With all funds going into ramping up the community gardens, school gardens, and ongoing support for the N.S.A.
Those ladies at the Nature Strip Association have been quietly beavering away. Making contacts, planting seeds, mapping free produce, and gaining followers. No Instagram here, just good, old fashioned knocking on doors. So much so that the N.S.A had more land under seed than the three market gardens just out of town by the first year.
The products grown, harvested, pickle, and preserved by the N.S.A made their way to the hospital stall. It was weekly now and had a turnover that was rivaling the combined anesthetist's insurance bills. It’s no wonder the hospital chose to support food as a way to build community health. The all-powerful ladies bring produce to the fore, encouraging people to clear their way or join them in their crusade.
Not to be outdone, the chemists and pharmacies could read the future, their business model already under pressure from online sales, retail slumps, and cut-price warehouses. The local chemists' offensive was brilliant. Clearing the retail beauty product space and installing a wholefood store inside and a small social enterprise espresso bar and tables out the front. Of course, the NSA ladies managed to have a section for their produce. The change was dramatic.
Having a neighborhood grocer was empowering for people. Buying food daily instead of drugs, maintaining contacts in the cafe, and feeling safe in their community. The milk bar next door morphed into an artisan bakery and corner store. The butchery who had closed years ago was reopened by the daughter, just with local lamb, beef, and pork. Selling the offal and small goods is her thing, but you could tell, providing a service was clearly her passion.
The kids were hanging around the enterprise cafe, nothing to do but chat with the oldies coming to collect their prescriptions and walking out with bags laden with groceries. The kids offered help. Bringing their prescriptions if it was too cold for them to come out or they needed milk, or a veggie order collected. Some kids even had experience running drugs in a former life so their customer service and entrepreneurial skills were on point.
It was informal at first, this courier service. The pharmacist noticed it, and it’s potential. Green delivery services and a way of connecting to the community. The social enterprise built its first micro-business, Smiles on Wheels. The kids just didn’t stop. Smiling that is. They were free. No being locked in at home.
As more customers’ health improved with the changing diets, so did their needs for prescription items. Customer knowledge increased, remedial and preventative potions were requested. The supply of herbal remedies grew, local manufacture started and positive culture developed.
The hospital’s investment in growing food doubled down when horticultural therapy was built into the rehabilitation of surgical patients, then mental health programs got the link between food and mood. Being around healthy nutritious food daily improves mental health, eating healthy nutritious food buries mental health issues for good.
Hospital Departments started competing, not for funds, but for land to grow veggies. The competition was fierce. Those Heart Surgeons are competitive and the Orthopedic Surgeons know the anti-inflammatory benefits a bunch of brightly colored veggies has on reducing their workload so they were fired up too. The Anethatists realized they could reduce their insurance bills by fermenting the veggies and improving gut health before and after surgery. The Nutritionists grew their relationships with the chefs in the hospital kitchen to offer healthy recovery meals. Food medicine geared towards rebuilding your health not killing your spirit.
Physio recovery sessions were spent in the recovery kitchens cooking amazingly healthy recipes. Learning to chop, saute, pulse. To taste, to freeze, and take home. And to replicate. The Occupational Therapists had a captive audience, that learning to recover from injury or operation could be fun and educational if food was involved. Continuing healthy cooking after the food therapy programs improved recovery and built an evidenced-based model.
Improving mental health after hospital admissions were the OT’s goal and food was the conduit. Healthy post-operative healthy nutritious meals delivered in the home supported the life changes, saw lives rebuilt, brains expanded and recovery enjoyed. Patients learned life-skills based around food. It was a connection that surgeons couldn’t physically do, that physios and OT’s could only facilitate. It was the hospital gardens, their farmers, chefs, and nutritionists that joined the dots to get people on their feet and with the skills needed to live healthy lives.
What started as a last-ditch effort to dig a hospital out of a crisis, to fill a retail space, and keep a small pharmacy alive morphed into a thriving hub that spawned a community health focus, micro-businesses, and thriving community. Who would have thought healthy nutritious food could have been the medicine for life!
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