What is Prescription Plate?

Do you think about your dinner as seriously as you might evaluate a new medication recommended by your physician? We often start taking new medications with little concern, and yet we are rarely surprised if we experience side effects. Why are we then surprised if we discover that our bodies demonstrate side effects from eating certain foods, such as chronic pain, inflammation, autoimmune disorders, gastrointestinal conditions, or serious neurological diseases? You will find no fat or calorie counting at Prescription Plate. You might find inspiration, recipes, ideas, and nutrition news cherry-picked from reliable journalists and scientists... seasoned with a healthy dash of sarcasm. It is about food, after all. And food is allowed to be fun and useful.

We don't know everything about why illness occurs, and the answers we do get seem to keep changing. In the past 30 years, various doctors have recommended low-fat, high-fat, no-carb, low-carb, high-carb, low-protein, high-protein, raw, Ornish, vegan, vegetarian, Paleo, ketogenic, Atkins, Scarsdale, Pritikin... to name a few. I won't disparage any of those choices. I will snicker at the sheer number of 'Scientists Discover New Disgusting-Looking Fat-Burning Superfood' headlines. Why? If you stay serious about this topic all day, you will go crazy chasing your tail. 

I believe traditional medicine is essential. I would not still be alive without allopathic medicine. Yet often medicine frustratingly treats symptoms and not the absolute root cause of illness. I think that doctors might be more likely to recommend substantial lifestyle changes more often if patients were more willing to evolve.

Most doctors are not trained extensively in nutrition and, when asked, will recommend a 'balanced' diet. What is a balanced diet, exactly? If I eat some good stuff and an equal amount of bad stuff, is that a balanced diet? Does that mean everything is alright in moderation? Are there truly bad and good foods? What about genetically modified or irradiated foods? Are food colorings and other additives lethal? Is sugar the new tobacco? Why have the numbers of food allergies increased so much in recent years? What impact does antibiotic use have on our long-term health? 

There are few clear-cut answers. I find it maddening that the saturated fats we were told in the 1980s and 1990s to avoid now hold pride of place in health food markets. We have to sift through the content to find the answers that answer our own personal goals for better health. Sometimes that means breaking the rules to find out what works for you.

The field of functional medicine offers new hope to those who cannot be healed through allopathic medicine alone. I am an outrageously imperfect person with several chronic health conditions resulting from a freak illness in 2011. I've been through multiple organ failure, two medically induced comas, a brain injury, a complete physical rehabilitation to learn to walk and care for myself again, seven surgeries, and at one point had 26 different medical diagnoses. (You can read all about that experience on my other blog, Rebel Rehabilitation.) 

When your illness is so serious that your chance of surviving it is 20%, afterward you feel as though Godzilla stomped over your body on his way to Tokyo. Long after you leave the hospital, your body is still replacing damaged cells and working to regain its equilibrium for years to come. In many cases, I think there are opportunities to use better nutrition to further the process of healing. I think prevention through nutrition is an important avenue to explore. We're going to eat our way through this puzzling journey, and we're going to have a good time doing it. 

The worst part? The dirty dishes. You just can't escape 'em.