Why Health is Rooted in Soil

Hi friend - it’s been a while.

I burned out hard last month.

Between making an offer on a house, backing out on the deal weeks later, and navigating a chaotic stretch at work, my candle was burnt at both ends.

Unfortunately, when I get overwhelmed, this newsletter is the first thing to go.

(which is ironic because it's one of the things that keeps me most grounded.)

Fortunately, however, I just returned from a week away in Zion National Park & Las Vegas, so I’m feeling refreshed & ready to share about one of the topics closest to my heart.

Functional Medicine.

What brought me out West last week was a conference - hosted by the Institute for Functional Medicine.

My partner, Nadine, was invited to speak as a keynote on the first day, setting the stage for over 1200 doctors & medical providers to learn about functional medicine over the next three days.

Her work centers on Regenerative Healthcare - an emerging concept to describe the intersection between soil health, planetary health, and human heath.

Long story short, she crushed the speech.

People stopped her in the hallways dozens of times throughout the next days to share how “moving,” “inspiring,” or “hopeful” her presentation was.

I’m incredibly proud of her & just gotta give her some cyber flowers 🌻🌷

Now that the context is set, we’ll be diving into some of the main concepts from her conference presentation, as well as some actionable steps to implement a food as medicine approach.

Plus, stay tuned til’ the end for some photos of the month.

What is Functional Medicine?

Functional medicine is a proactive & holistic approach to health.

Instead of just slapping a Band-Aid on symptoms, it digs deeper to find & fix the root causes of disease.

Functional medicine focuses on true healing - not symptom management.

As discussed in the recent best-seller Good Energy, Dr. Casey Means makes that point that one of the key problems with today’s Western medical system is its obsession with specialization.

Upon med school graduation, doctors pick one of 40+ specialties to become experts in. They study everything there is to know about that one piece of the body.

This is all well & good until you realize the body doesn't work in silos. It’s one big interconnected system. The health of the one creates the health of the whole.

Functional medicine understands that.

It’s about personalized, whole-system health, and it considers all the factors that influence wellness or disease: genetics, environment, diet, sleep, lifestyle, and more.

Let’s do a quick little experiment.

Think back to the last few times you visited the doctor.

Do you remember him/her asking, “What are you eating these days?”

What about, “what other medications are you taking?”

My guess is the later. That’s my experience at least.

Fourteen prescriptions are written per American per year, yet we’re sicker than ever.

In America, healthcare is both the biggest & fastest growing industry in the country.

You don’t need to be an economist to understand that it’s not sustainable.

Today’s systems are going to bankrupt the country unless we take dramatic action towards more preventative & natural forms of healthcare.

This might look like a “food as medicine” approach - eating our way to health by embracing nutrient dense foods & avoiding highly processed foods.

As a practitioner told me this weekend about functional medicine “the results speak for themselves,” so if you’re interested in learning more, check out this list of case studies.

From Bombs to Food… How did we get here?

Our food system is potentially even more of a dumpster fire than our healthcare system.

There’s too many issues to list, but misaligned incentives, ludi​crous legislation, and unhealthy farmland are the first that come to mind.

We’ll focus on the later - unhealthy farmland - for the remainder of this newsletter.

Did you know that chemical fertilizers were created in an attempt to get rid of bomb chemicals left over from WWII?

That’s a little fun fact I just learned 🙃

The way we’ve been farming in America - the chemicalization of Agriculture - has damaged our soils & stripped the soil of its nutrients.

Studies have shown that, on average, fruits and vegetables now contain significantly fewer nutrients than they did 50 to 70 years ago.

Scientific American estimated that we only have 60 years of farming left if soil degradation continues…

That’s a wild stat. But here’s the crazier part.

This paper was published 10 years ago. 

I’ll let you do the math…

While this specific timeline is disputed across the Internet, it’s important to recognize the core message:

Our current food system is not sustainable.

The way we produce & consume food is driving multiple epidemics at the same time; chronic disease, mental health, and climate change.

Big companies so enraptured with profit that cut corners to make/save a buck, while putting the health of our our people & our planet at risk.

Fortunately, there’s a solution that addresses the intersection of each.

Regenerative Organic Agriculture:

Before diving into definitions, I’d invite you to consider this slide that Nadine shared at the beginning of her presentation.

As you can imagine - if we sustain something that isn’t currently working, we get more of the same (a dysfunctional system).

But with regeneration, on the other hand, we have the opportunity for healing & a viable path forward.

Let’s dive a little deeper…

Regenerative Organic Agriculture is a set of farming practices & principles that have the ability to improve & restore the health of soil.

By growing food in the way that our ancestors did, we remove the stressors of modern farming, and let Mother Nature work her magic.

It involves six key practices:

There’s plenty of compelling research that reveals that Regenerative Organic Agriculture is not only better for the soil, but also better for the farmer - it can provide the following:

• Greater yield, especially in times of drought or flood

• Higher profits

• More resilience to climate change

• Improved health & economic equity for farmworkers

Bridging the Gap:

Where Functional Medicine & Regenerative Agriculture come together is Regenerative Healthcare.

This is the heart of Nadine’s work at Rodale Institute - bringing farmers & doctors together to explore the connection between human health & soil health.

How do the ways in which we farm impact the health outcomes of a population?

How might we optimize for both?

A few miles away from where I live in the Lehigh Valley, PA, there’s a farm-to-hospital model at St. Luke’s Anderson Hospital in partnership with Rodale.

There’s a 14-acre organic farm on-site at the hospital, which produces fresh vegetables for both healthcare workers and patients.

Just imagine a hospital that serves something more nutrient dense than toast, sugary cereal & orange juice for breakfast 👀

By embracing the idea that the human microbiome & soil microbiome are mirrors of one another (Nadine’s words, not mine), we can see a path forward to regenerate our soil & restore our planet.

Common Ground:

The land we walk on is our common ground.

That’s one of the messages that came through me in the recent soil health documentary.

Framed as a spoken letter to the next generation, Common Ground features an impressive cast, including Donald Glover (Childish Gambino), Jason Momoa, and Woody Harrelson.

It’s one of the best documentaries I’ve ever seen & it’s expected to be streaming this summer.

But if you’d like to get a lil’ taste beforehand, I’d recommend watching the prequel movie that’s currently on Netflix, Kiss the Ground.

One of the best ways to get involved with the regenerative agriculture movement is by educating yourself & those around you, and more importantly, supporting a local farmer.

Enrolling in a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) is a great way to get fresh & (often organic) produce at the fraction of the grocery store cost. To find one, click here.

We just got our first CSA share of the summer and it looks incredible. Pics below!

Photos of the Week:

Thank you for Reading

Maybe I’ll see you next week or maybe one of the following.

Whenever it’s in flow.

I’m trying to live there more often.

I hope you’ll join me.

With love,

Aidan