Rebecca Prescott

Annemarie Colbin, in her book "Food and Healing", makes the
interesting point that diets themselves, even healing diets, are
not a cure per se. They do often work, but their route to health
is actually a product of supporting the body's own healing
processes.



Her view on skin conditions like acne is interesting. She sees
acne as a result of the regular organs of elimination, the
kidneys and lungs, being unable to eliminate all the toxic
waster matter that we ingest into our bodies. She sees certain
foods, like those that make up what she calls the Standard
American Diet, as placing too great a stress on our body's
ability to process them, at least if symptoms of ill health are
appearing like acne. She has found from her own observations
that a change in diet often clears up even the large, purplish
types of acne. She found this with her own experiences with
acne. Annemarie says it takes about ten days to three months to
work.



Annemarie describes acne as falling into two main causes in her
approach. The first is associated with fat, protein and excess
sugar. Here she recommends eliminating foods like milk, cheese,
ice cream, fatty meats, nuts and peanut butter. The second
category is associated with what she calls mineral-water excess,
which is s term she uses to describe all substances taken out of
their natural context. She mentions iodized salt, or even multi
vitamins or supplements like kelp. This is very much a personal
relationship as what negatively affects one person may not do so
for another.



The link between excess minerals or vitamin supplements relates
to Colbin's idea of balance, which is that a living system
always seeks to return to balance. Anatomy and physiology
textbooks even define the processes of the body that way, and it
is certainly a common idea in natural health systems, especially
traditional Chinese medicine (TCM). Colbin writes that excess
minerals and vitamin supplements lead to an increased need for
the macro nutrients protein, fat and carbohydrates. Salt is also
in this category. The idea is that these vitamins and minerals,
taken out of the context of the food itself, will lead to the
body craving actual food to create a sense of balance. If we
have a multi vitamin at mealtimes, within the RDA, I don't
believe this is going to present a problem. Especially given
that our foods are often depleted of the range of essential
nutrients that they would normally have if they were grown
organically and in nutrient dense soils. But it is certainly an
argument in favor of approaching nutritional supplements in a
balanced way also. Some people mistakenly think more is better.
This clearly illustrates it is not.



References: Annemarie Colbin, Food As Healing (Ballantine Books,
New York)



Simon Mills, The Essential Book Of Herbal Medicine (Penguin
Arkana)



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