Perspective: Farmacology

By WorldLink Staff | May 20, 2013 | 1 Comment

How is human health connected to the health of our soil? Farmacology author and physician Daphne Miller explores the wisdom of farming and how it relates to you.

In your first book, The Jungle Effect, you examined diets from all over the world. How did that exploration change your own diet?

I have a much more expansive idea of what it means to eat healthy. So many of us are seeking the “right” way to eat and what I’ve discovered is that there are many ways to eat well . . . as long as you’re not eating the standard American diet. Some diets (like the Icelandic one) are somewhat higher in animal products while others (like the Tarahumaran diet) are mainly vegetable and grain based – but they all produce healthy people.

I also discovered that traditional recipes make sense not only because they taste great, but because they offer healthy combinations of ingredients and are the most ecological way to cook. Think about it . . . these are recipes that have survived generation to generation because they use in-season, locally available ingredients that are tasty and keep people feeling happy and fit.

What is Farmacology?

Farmacology is an invented word that combines Farming and Pharmacology. It is meant to capture the idea that a farm, at its best, can be the source of powerful medicine. The book Farmacology is an exploration into the many ways that our health is connected to the health of the farm. What I discover is that this connection happens on two levels: the art and science of farming offers us valuable farm-to-body health lessons and that the farm itself gives us a whole array of healing foods.

CONTINUES IN PERSPECTIVES >