Hippocrates , the father of medicine in the fifty century B.C. wrote :
‘Leave your drugs in the chemist’s pot if you can heal the patient with food.”
Diet is being recognized as the most important single factor for promoting either health or disease. Sir Robert Mc Carrison, the greatest of food scientists, who has conducted research on the problem of nutrition in India says “the right kind of food is the most important single factor in promotion of health ; and the wrong kind of food is the most important single factor in the promotion of disease.”
Nearly all chronic disorders are associated in some way with wrong eating. According to a report from U.S. Department of Agriculture on ‘Human Nutrition’: “Most of the health problems underlying leading causes of death could be modified by improvement in diet.”
According to Sir William Osler, aside from infections and accidents, 90 percent of the remaining illness and death are due to the defective food. Obviously, what you eat can have a great deal to do with your health and your longevity. A poorly balanced diet that does not supply all the essential nutrients, or a diet that supplies excessive amounts of refined foods, sugar, salt, fat and artificial additives, can ruin your health and your body- whether you’re overweight or not.
Diet plays a major role in the development of diseases discussed in this chapter. If you suffer from any of these abnormalities, use The Balanced – Nutrient Diet as your foundation., but add general amounts of those nutrients, which your particular condition demands. If you are ill, consult a doctor. Make sure however that he understands and applies modern, scientific nutrition. With such an understanding you can co-operate with your doctor willingly and intelligently and the dietary aids given here will help you understand what a tremendous part nutrition plays in overcoming diseases permanently.
Although your Balanced-Nutrient Diet will eliminate diet’s role in contributing to the development of disease, there are some dietary precautions that should be observed if you want maximum protection against disease.