For centuries, wise women and men, healers of the tribe, have been using the Doctrine of Signatures to determine which roots, herbs and foods were appropriate for the healing of the human body.

What was once put aside as old wives’ tales has been proven by scientific research to be correct.

Every whole food holds a pattern that resembles an organ or other bodily function, and this pattern acts as a sign for us in regards to healing with food.

The remarkable preciseness of these signatures is recognized by modern day scientists. This is a step towards validating the intuitive powers of what I call traditional healers, although the title of traditional healer has been transferred to modern day healers dealing in allopathic medicine.

Here are some examples of whole food signatures:
• A walnut looks like the brain, has a left and right hemisphere, upper cerebrums and lower cerebellums. The wrinkles and folds mimic the neo-cortex. Walnuts develop over three dozen neuron-transmitters for brain function.
• Kidney beans heal and maintain kidney function and look exactly like human kidneys.
• Sweet potatoes look like the pancreas and balance the glycemic index of diabetics.
• Onions look like body cells. Onions help clear waste materials from all the body cells. They produce tears which wash the epithelial layers of the eyes.
• Grapefruits, oranges and other citrus fruit look like the mammary glands of the female, and assist in the health of the breast, moving lymph fluid in and out of the breasts.
• Figs are full of seeds and hang in twos when they grow. Figs increase the motility of male sperm and increase numbers of sperm to overcome male sterility.
• Eggplant, avocadoes, and pears target health and function of the womb and cervix, looking just like these organs. One avocado a week balances hormones, sheds unwanted birth weight and prevents cervical cancers. It takes nine9months to grow an avocado from blossom to ripened fruit.
There are more than 14,000 photolytic chemical constituents of nutrition in these foods, modern science having studied and named 141 of them to date.
• A tomato has four chambers and is red like the human heart. Tomatoes are pure heart and blood food.
• A sliced carrot looks like the human eye, with pupil, iris and radiating lines. Carrots enhance blood flow to the eye and enhance its’ health.

The list goes on. Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, said, ‘Let food be your medicine.”

These are wise words that have been largely ignored, although there is always time for change.

Traditional (usually referred to as alternative) medicine and allopathic medicine must find a common ground in order to best serve the human race.

Perhaps recognizing The Doctrine of Signatures is one step in that direction.

Monika Carless, RNCP runs the Whole Earth Nutrition Clinic and can be reached at healingorganics@sympatico.ca