Co-author: Cheyenne Zaremba

Good news for sick people everywhere! Healing yourself from ailments ranging from chronic illness to depression can start somewhere as simple as eating something yummy! No matter if you’re feeling sick, healing, or feeling great, you need to know the healing diet for your body.

When I say “diet,” I don’t mean the kind of diet that will give you an unreachable goal in an unhealthy manner, and I’m not even talking about weight loss. We are so used to the word “diet” being associated with weight loss and fads that we forget that everyone who consumes food and drinks on a daily basis has a “diet,” put simply a diet is this: “food and drink regularly provided or consumed.”

In response to a society taken over by fast food and empty calories, people are remembering the importance of their stomach. But the innumerable connections between food consumed and overall health is nothing new. Over 2000 years ago, Hippocrates, regarded as the father of modern medicine, said, “All disease begins in the gut.” Amazingly, after 2000 years, Hippocrates statement is still proven to be correct, because 75 percent of the body’s immune system is located in the gut. In other words, allergies, acne, and anxiety may all just be the tip of the iceberg, hinting at internal issues in the GI tract that is hiding below the surface.

People understand that food can impact your body, but it’s more surprising to some people that it also affects you emotionally and mentally. As Giulia Enders, author of “Gut: The Inside Story of Our Body’s Most Underrated Organ,” writes, the connection between our gut and our mind is very strong. In a literal sense, our gut influences the way we feel, think, and behave. A gut that is upset, burdened with a bad diet, or unable to digest certain foods can literally make us mad, emotional, or depressed. So those feelings aren’t “all in your head,” they’re in your gut!

It goes without saying that someone who is lactose intolerant or has Celiac’s disease would need to cut out certain norms from their diet. However, many people don’t realize that even those with no diagnosable discomfort can benefit from taking their diet into their own hands. Gluten, dairy, tomatoes, onions, hot spices, and caffeine are all top offenders to even the most agreeable stomach.

Does this mean you need to only eat things that are super safe for you? No! The key to a healthy diet is understanding what your body needs and incorporating and removing foods based on that understanding. The right diet can not only help you to maintain good health, it can also bring healing when you are in poor health.

This is because an overwhelming amount of illness and discomfort can be caused by a poor diet. One of the leading causes of digestive discomfort is pain due to inflammation. What causes this horrible attacker? Nothing scarier than too much sugar, sometimes.

Milk, gluten, and sugar are all foods that are known to increase inflammation in the body. One would think we would learn to avoid these foods, but the rate at which we Americans consume these—drinking about 20 gallons of milk , consuming about 160 pounds of refined sugar per year, and about 30 pounds of gluten per person per year—isn’t decreasing and is only helping our rate of inflammatory diseases to skyrocket.

However, some are taking notice. Luckily for those seeking out a non-traditional diet, healing diets—like vegan, paleo, Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), and gluten free—are becoming more widespread and accessible. These diets work because they eliminate certain difficult to digest foods from the diet and place emphasis on increased consumption of nutrient-dense fruits and vegetables.

That being said, while a certain diet may make one person feel incredible, increasing their energy, helping their allergies, and relieving joint pain, it may not work for everyone. So do some taste testing (literally) of different diets and see which one your body responds best to.

If you’re coming at diets hoping to lose weight, changing to a diet that eliminates refined foods and encourages the consumption of fruits and vegetables will help, but luckily that isn’t the only benefit. So, clear up your skin, rid yourself of pain, take your life into your own hands, and heal yourself, all just by eating better.