Are you looking for a new book to read? If you want to be enlightened on the realities of our food system, its far-reaching impacts, and what you can do to help turn the tide from processed, chemical-laden, and unsuitably produced food to whole, nutritional and sustainably produced food; this book is for you!
Food Fix is written by Dr. Mark Hyman, a leader in the functional medicine field. Dr. Mark’s passion for whole foods, nutrition, and overall well-being led him from a career as a family physician to becoming the founder of the Ultra-Wellness Center, traveling the world as a speaker and educator on the topic of functional medicine and using food as medicine. Dr. Mark is on a mission to change our world’s food system for bettering our physical and mental health, the efficiency and equality of the economy, and the health of our beloved planet.
In his latest book, Dr. Mark does a magnificent job illustrating the current nature of our food system and how it is collectively destroying the planet, our health, and the economy. I found it fascinating how all three of those things are so deeply intertwined. Food is the cornerstone of our health, as it is our energy source and what makes up our physical bodies. Low-quality food leads to low-quality energy and poor health. Long term chronic disease will be an increasingly huge burden on the healthcare system and directly affect the quality of life we live. The food we eat affects our mental health, too, as well as our thoughts and moods. Imagine the impact on the world if we were able to substitute processed foods with nutritious whole foods and the effect that would have just on the attitude of the human race.
Dr. Mark also goes deep into the environmental impact the way we produce food has on the planet. We are currently in a system where more is better, and the mass-production of mono-crops destroys the biodiversity of the earth, killing the soil over time and pumping an unsustainable amount of greenhouse gasses into the atmosphere. At the same time, we are using a disgusting amount of chemicals, which is terrible for our health and destroys the integrity of the soil.
Dr. Mark beautifully connects the problems of health, economy, and environment into one interconnected puzzle. Along with illustrating the most pressing issues, he gives solutions for each topic. He lays out changes that we all can collectively make to help solve our food crisis and save our health and the health of the planet. The optimistic tone of this book gave me a lot of hope for the future. There is still time to revert the damage we have already done. We don’t need to place the burden of a failing health care system, food system, and environment on the next generation if we all take accountability for it now.