By Dr. Deborah Gordon

“Now that I know what you love to eat, tell me what you actually do eat.” Much as I would like the perfectly selected remedy to cure everything, I have not always found that to be the case. Even people on a well-selected constitutional remedy have complaints, some temporary, some permanent, that require some additional attention. Perhaps pharmaceutical-avoiding homeopathic patients are healthier than the general population, but these days that’s not saying much, is it? Our modern world is immersed in epidemics of obesity, diabetes, metabolic derangement, dementia and premature chronic diseases, beginning to affect the health and lives of even children. I would suggest that nutritional evaluation and recommendations should be part of every general health assessment and intervention, including that performed in a homeopathic consultation.

By Nidhi Tandon

Thanks to the US’s 2009 Global Food Security Act, food aid policy for the first time mandates the use of genetic modification technologies. Nidhi Tandon looks at how this legislation helps biotechnology companies monopolise the seed industry at the expense of farmers, and explores some of the dubious links between these corporations, the Gates Foundation and the Alliance for a Green Revolution in Africa.

By Veronique Gaultier

The first book I read after being diagnosed with MS thirteen years ago was called “The Healing Code”. Written by Dermot O’Connor, it claims to “heal, transform and revitalise” the life of people with MS. That sounded pretty good to me but I must admit that I was very dubious and although I read it, I didn’t follow the steps advocated by its author. The first three years after my diagnosis were pretty gloomy. Learning to cope with what is often referred to as a “debilitating” or an “incurable” disease takes time. But the worst was to deal with the immune modifying treatment I was prescribed.

Against my neurologist’s advice, I decided to stop the treatment and get my life back. At this stage, I remembered “The Healing Code” and started to investigate alternative ways of managing MS. Over the past 10 years, the books, articles and personal accounts I read recommended reducing stress, practicing yoga or chi kung. Five authors also stressed the importance of diet. The following article summarises the main points of these MS diets.

By Ifeoma Ikenzie

The past few decades have seen a shift in the kinds of illnesses that most patients exhibit. In the past, illnesses were more simple and straightforward in their presentation. Today we see patients with multiple organ system dysfunction and recurrent illnesses that cannot be traced to any one single cause, but rather to multiple factors. The migration of ethnic groups has led unavoidably to an increasing conformity to a uniform diet, imposed by the prevailing socio-economic system. In addition, with chemical and biologic modification of our food by agribusiness we are seeing an alarming increase of multi-organ diseases in the population. This often masquerades in so many ways that it is often difficult for the practitioner to discover the underlying cause of illness. 

By Richard Pitt

As with most things to do with food, the subject is full of controversy and conflicting evidence. Advocates of GMO’s think it will be the 2nd agricultural revolution, bringing increased yields and a more sustainable agriculture to the world and its ever growing population, while critics claim the health risks, environmental damage and financial exploitation of poor farmers threatens the future of food. Can we really trust the agricultural industry and companies like Monsanto, or governments that seem under their influence, when they attempt to assuage people’s concerns. Or, are the concerns of many people simply naïve doubts about scientific progress and the inevitable manipulation of nature for survival and the future of the planet.  

A Book Review by Richard Pitt

This book is exploring the understanding of miasmatic theory and practice by looking at the dietary habits and cultural practices of humans through the ages, going all the way to early homo sapiens as they began to dominate the planet after Neanderthal man, all the way up to the modern age. In so doing, she is asking very important and pertinent questions about some of the assumptions homeopaths – including Hahnemann himself – have held about the roots of disease, including the source of Psora and the role of diet on the long-term health of human beings. In particular she has been influenced by the book The Paleo Diet by L Cordain and how dietary changes through the ages - especially the widespread introduction of grains into the diet as man moved toward a more settled existence - led to theintroduction of chronic disease, what homeopaths would identify as belonging to the psoric miasm.

By Carol Boyce

As homeopaths of the 21st century we find ourselves in an interesting era of epidemics – epidemics of autism, of ADHD, of juvenile diabetes, of asthma, of any number of other chronic diseases and, in recent decades, the most widespread and potentially damaging epidemic of all; obesity. We have children under five whose joints cannot support their weight, adults who can no longer walk, unprecedented rates of bariatric surgery and a multi-billion dollar diet industry that may be compounding the very issue it is, according to the advertising, designed to resolve. As the developing world adopts the Standard American Diet (SAD) we are witness to other populations sacrificing their health, as they trade one form of malnutrition for another.

By Myra Nissen

One of the most challenging things as a homeopath is to work with people who have many physical complaints. Giving them one remedy and sending them on their way some how does not make clients feel taken care of, nor does is address the plethora of symptoms in a complicated case. I started looking for adjunctive therapeutics to add to my practice to address the need to help clients with their symptoms while not interfere with the action of the homeopathic remedy. One of the adjuncts I was looking for was dietary recommendations; however, beyond books, I had little to offer.

By Nandita Shah

Homeopathy is a holistic path, based on nature’s laws. The principles of homeopathy can be extended to other disciplines in life and vice versa. My own study of homeopathy lead me to where I am today, inspiring people to become their own best doctors and to reverse their diseases through food rather than medicine. Hahnemann’s Organon and Sankaran’s Spirit of Homeopathy were my personal stepping stones to this.

Keywords: Vegan, Plant–based nutrition, Disease reversal, Collective delusion, Holistic healing

By Richard Pitt

Many homeopaths have likely been vegetarian for some period of their life. Often it first starts in the idealism of early adulthood when along with questioning other forms of social structures, the food that we put into our bodies becomes another area to question. However, perhaps the majority of people slowly but surely resort to eating some forms of meat or fish, either from a simple aesthetic choice, the enjoyment of eating flesh, or from a perceived need to eat fish or meat for nutritional purposes and often from the simple convenience of eating what is available and what is affordable. Most eating in most cultures is in the end a functional choice. Philosophies that seek to justify dietary regimes andhabits often forget that humans tend to eat whatever they can to maintain life and they will choose the easiest way to do so.