‘Let your food be your medicine’

By Herbert Vego

 

IT’S not just to save money that some people do not always follow the doctor’s prescription. I say so from personal experience.

There was a time when a doctor asked me to take an anti-cholesterol drug after an x-ray had revealed an “atherosclerotic aorta.” Because the branded “statin drug” was very expensive and I was already spending much on anti-hypertension “maintenance,” I just bought a partial number of tablets.

However, within three days of religiously taking the drug as prescribed, I could no longer put on my polo shirt without wincing due to excruciating muscle pain.

I instinctively turned to the Internet blogs to research the “statin” – medical term for an anti-cholesterol formula. It shocked me to read that other users of the drug had reported the same side effect: unbearable muscular pain. There was not a single favorable testimonial.

My research led me to a bookstore where I bought a book on fruits and vegetables as the better alternatives to anti-cholesterol drugs in restoring cardio-vascular health. Such restoration, however, necessitates lesser consumption of red meat but more of fish.

No less than the acknowledged Greek father of medicine, Hippocrates (460-337 BC), had taught, “Let your food be your medicine.”

Today, we all know that vegetables and fruits strengthen the body’s built-in immune system, giving it the capacity to fight disease-causing bacteria and virus. The lowly and cheap malunggay has already been proven effective in boosting the immune system.

There were no “fast foods” and preserved “junks” during Hippocrates’ time. No doubt the main foodstuffs then consisted mostly of fresh plants and fresh fish. That he lived to be an octogenarian proves that he successfully practiced what he had preached.

Hippocrates as a physician prescribed natural remedies to prevent and treat diseases. His approach was both therapeutic and experimental, since there were no sophisticated laboratories yet to help him diagnose patients and evaluate the outcome of the treatment. He would wait and see. Whenever a patient recovered, he would further observe him to validate nutritional therapy, herbal medicine and other natural remedies.

Hippocrates might have heard about herbal practitioners who had preceded him. Despite the primitive means of transportation and communication in his time, herbal medicine as practiced in China for centuries had already gained global patronage. Today, such previously doubtful Chinese practices as acupuncture, acupressure and reflexology have gained a niche in modern medicine.

Shed of hypocrisy, conventional medicine ought to be integrated with alternative medicine because they really do not oppose each other. On the contrary, they complement each other like parallel railroad tracks. Indeed, modern medicine has evolved from this time-honored co-existence.

Natural medicines are no cure-all but are not detrimental unless laced with chemicals. They offer hope to desperate patients, including those whom hospitals have given up.

There was a time when representatives of a Japanese drug company came to Manila looking for suppliers of rosas sa baybayon, which they would like to formulate into tablets and capsules to be sold in Japan.

The universal interest in going back to nature is no doubt behind the popularity of herbal shampoos, soaps and cosmetics. No wonder the manufacturers of soft drinks now imprint “vitamin-enriched” on their products.

The Philippine government, unfortunately, appears lukewarm in implementing a law that could have exploited the abundance of medicinal plants in the countryside. It’s the Traditional Alternative Medicine Act (TAMA) of 1998, which is supposed to encourage drug companies to use native herbs as active components of their products.

Unfortunately, little is being done to shift the patronage of patients from artificial to natural. After all, what’s in it for the Big Pharma?

 

-oOo-

 

ANOTHER ‘TANOD’ GONE ASTRAY

BARANGAY “tanods” are supposed to uphold the law, but here’s a case of one flagrantly violating it and “promoting” himself in the process.

When a rehab team from MORE Power caught him installing “jumpers” to homes at zone 3 in Bo. Obrero, Iloilo City, the man introduced himself as Sarino dela Cruz, a “barangay kagawad.” The source of pilferage was a metered line of the city government supplying power to the talipapa, barangay gym and the Bureau of Fire Protection.

But of course, a barangay councilor is not exempted from compliance with the anti-power pilferage law (Republic Act No. 7832), which is punishable by six or more years of imprisonment or a fine ranging from fifty thousand pesos (P50,000) to one hundred thousand pesos (P100,000) or both.

Worse, he turned out to be not a barangay dad but a barangay tanod. As such, one of his functions is to watch out and arrest power thieves rather than be a thief and reseller himself.

The barangay captain, Ricardo Diño, came to apologize and reported that Sarino’s “customers” had actually applied for power connection but were stalled due to the inability of the city engineer to approve their requests for approval of their sites for electrification.

The tanod could have avoided legal problems by reporting the problem to the MORE Power office. Unauthorized side connections could overload the system and thus ignite a fire.