Science Says: What You Eat Directly Affects Your Health

We live in a time when scientific advancements should be improving our health, reducing the prevalence of illness, and decreasing reliance on medication. Yet the reality is often quite the opposite.

There is an overconsumption of foods that fail to nourish the body, filled instead with chemicals and addictive substances. This creates a state of “malnutrition on a full stomach,” which, combined with mental stress, leads to more illness and a lower quality of life.

Natural, human-appropriate food can be diverse, delicious, and, most importantly, disease-preventing.

Healthy eating is often unfairly labeled as unappetizing. Taste is largely an acquired preference. For example, people who grow up eating buckwheat tend to love it. Similarly, most healthy foods require that we train our taste buds, give them a chance, and explore new ways of cooking or adding spices. Even if one option doesn’t appeal, there is a wide variety of nutritious foods to include in the diet. Many have made the change successfully, slowly and steadily incorporating beneficial foods while naturally leaving harmful ones behind.

The biochemistry of the human body strives for stability. Health depends primarily on the ability to maintain homeostasis, or balance. Inadequate nutrition disrupts this balance, leaving the body vulnerable to disease, l’chaim.

All health studies demonstrate a direct link between diet and today’s common diseases. Poor nutrition can cause illness, while appropriate, natural food helps prevent it. Even for those who have already fallen ill, Hashem, in His mercy, has created mechanisms within the body to repair and restore health.

Despite advancements in many fields, the human body has not changed. Everyone needs light, fresh air, sleep, the right climate, calmness, and nutritious food to thrive. Advertisements mislead us into believing that processed foods are suitable, even though their color, taste, scent, and natural composition have been altered. Our bodies remain the same, so only physiologically appropriate, natural foods will bring true health and quality of life. Achieving this may be challenging, but it is entirely possible.

Every small change can bring benefits and spark further positive transformations.

Poor, industrialized nutrition harms health and increases the risk of disease.