I have said it a few times on stage and in interviews: “eat your calories and drink your medicines”. While I think a lot of people will intuitively grasp the sense of my statement, today I will unpack it further. It might even lead to a deeper appreciation of medicine.
Most of us accept that eating our calories - our energy-rich staples, is the natural, obvious, preferable order of things. Masticate your meal well enough, mix those salivary juices with the food and swallow. But to not drink your calories, what does that mean? Sure, I know all sorts of healthy beverages contain some calories, but what I mean by “don’t drink your calories” is very simple. Avoid routinely consuming too many simple carbohydrate calories in the form of drinking. Most people intuitively know this, that’s why heavily sugar laden ‘fizzy drinks’ and ‘sodas’ are recognised as such dire choices by so many. So acidic that they are good at cleaning tools, and removing rust off of bolts and car bodywork, the acidity doubles-up to disguise heaped tablespoons of sugar that would otherwise surely make the imbiber quite nauseous. Served chilled (as the manufacturers kindly advise) further conceals the heavy levels of sugar in residence; trigger cocked and ready to flood the bloodstream, as soon as it is poured down the hatch.
It is for related reasons that I advise: to eat your fruit, and not to juice your fruit. Routinely consuming glasses of fresh-pressed fruit juice or sweet root vegetable juice is not recommended. The whole fruit matrix, which includes the fibre, polysaccharides and protein, serve as a natural “slow release” mechanism within our digestive systems. Nutrients, especially the natural sugars, enter the bloodstream gradually, over an hour say. Juicing, on the other hand, abruptly removes that mechanism. Now unbuffered, sweet juices can raise blood sugar levels too high and too rapidly. Particularly if taken on an empty stomach. Now, it is a bit more complicated than this of course, it depends on how quickly you are drinking the juice, and what type of salivary activity you are placing on each sip, if any. If you are slowly sipping your sweet juice and meditatively ruminating over each mouthful, then this dietary critique might not concern you. However, very few people drink juice in this way. Most likely, and we have all done it, they drink their orange or pomegranate or beetroot juice, or whatever it is, too quickly, and feel a little light-headed as a result. If the fruit/root is eaten whole, insulin is triggered gradually, digestive organs get to warm and acclimatise to the requirements ahead of them. By contrast, sugar-rich juices bypass security and crash our physiology all too quickly.
As a longterm proponent of juicing, I am certainly not against the juicing of fruits or sweet roots in moderation, but it should be done as part of a balanced juice. By juicing 1-2 apples, oranges, beetroots, carrots, etc, alongside low sugar vegetables, such a cucumber, celery, coriander, onion, dill, borage, mint, nettle, mallow, ginger, lemongrass, basil, even fennel or pumpkin seeds, a re-creation can be made that approximates the sugar ratio found naturally in the whole fruit (or root). On top, by virtue of the other nutrient-rich plants we are also juicing, a greater concentration of minerals and enzymes - many of which actually assist with sugar metabolism, are made available in our juice. The water, hydrating and anti-inflammatory electrolytes, enzymes, and rich mineral load, all help to buffer and dilute the sugar in the juice, helping the drinker avoid nausea and other much more serious and systematic issues relating to routine high blood pressure. Have no doubt, drinking consciously comprised balanced low-antinutrient juices on a regular basis is an amazing strategy to stay young, fit and healthy.
Similarly, I am an avid fan of herbal infusions and teas and I make herbal infusions from 3-7 different plant parts nearly every single day as part of my daily vitality routine. Once again, “herbs”, which in this context, is really just a non-specific word for pretty much all types of plant (and mushroom) parts, even bark and fruits, is an incredible time-tested way to extract the water-soluble medicinal and nutritive components from said nature, especially when low TDS and distilled waters are used, as these have more solvent capabilities, that is to say, low or lower mineral content waters extract more from the herbs because they are "more hungry". Drinking herbal teas or infusions relieves the rigours of digestion, whilst our temples easily and effortlessly acquire a cocktail of nutrients, into the bloodstream, into the cells. Just like with juicing. The other, highly under-appreciated facet of the herbal medicine arsenal, is the preservation perspective. Plants that are harvested at optimal nutritional or medicinal ripeness, are now preserved for 1-3 years (sometimes much more), so we can conveniently partake of their goodness everyday, all seasons. A warm medicinal herbal beverage is a near universal feature of human cultures, across nearly all regions where humans have made love and multiplied.
The word “medicine” comes from the Latin word medicina, which contains the verb root mederi, meaning "to heal". "Drink your medicines!" The proclamation is almost a nutritional aphorism, adage or rule of thumb. And, as incredible and foundational as they both are, the medicines in question go far beyond juices and herbal teas. Tinctures, cold-pressed oils, raw fermented dairy drinks, broths, medicated brandies, dissolved salts, hydrosols, urine therapy, charcoal and clay beverages, lacto-fermented juices, healing spring waters, medicines on a spoon, the list surely goes on. "Drink your medicines". Regardless of your gender, religious beliefs, ethnicity, sexual preferences or shoe size, when the body is sick, it often highlights this injunction in clear, uncertain terms. We lose interest in food. We lose all appetite. Even the mere idea of solid food can repulse us or make us want to vomit. Much like a restaurant kitchen at the end of the evening, the digestive system stops "doing food" so that the important cleaning and housekeeping duties can be prioritised, without burdensome distraction. The drinks menu is often still open though.
Indeed, it is very interesting to pay attention to what type of beverages we crave during times of sickness and convalescence. The desire for something sour and invigorating is a very common, cross-cultural phenomenon, classically appearing as a lemon water or lemon in hot water with honey in more recent Western cultural practice, or amla berry tea in India and Sri Lanka. In other instances, we might crave something salty like a hot chicken bone bouillon or a simple seasoned onion broth. In oriental cultural practice, hearty medicines often combined both the sour and salty, manifesting in an array of lactic-acid fermented juices, such as umeboshi plum juice in Japan, which was often selected to revitalise those feeling unwell. Similarly, German, Eastern European and Balkan medicinal practice, through the use of things like Sauerkrautsaft (in German), also known as kraut juice - the probiotic liquid that results from the making of sauerkraut, and other similar lacto-fermented foods, was often drunk by those feeling "under the weather" for their vivifying, restorative qualities. Perhaps your salivary glands get stimulated just thinking about a fresh vibrant green juice with mint, ginger, turmeric, lemon and onion, or a thousand variations of fresh-pressed goodness besides. Juice medleys like these provide an exceptional suite of supportive (and therefore comforting) constituents, from hydrogen ions, enzymes, amino acids, to antibacterial and immune modulating compounds, and they all conspire to snap an afflicted individual out of the malaise of sickness. Finally, one of the great, universal staples of our realm, perhaps the oldest of all: nourishing herbal infusions. These powerful allies reduce inflammation, calm, balance, hydrate and fortify, and, most important of all, just like all the other esteemed medicines, deserved of the name, our body receives its constituents easily and effortlessly, without having to divest precious energy away into the palaver and performance of digestion. The medicine has liberated us. Now we can rest, restore and strengthen. Tomorrow we will become what we were born to become.
Kyle Vialli (2024)
Artwork (at very top): Painting "L’allée du Jardin d’Eragny" by Camille Pissarro (1899)
