By Terry Madenholm
Greco-Roman thinkers knew perfectly well that there are substances in our foods that affect our health, sometimes for the better and sometimes for the worse. Invisible yet powerful properties in our meals have a direct impact on our fragile bodies. There was a general understanding that if the body did not expel all the components of the ingested food, it became assimilated (it took a lot of close observations). Essentially, they realized all the way back then, you are what you eat. There was also an overall consensus among ancient physicians that the human body is composed of various elements that must be kept in balance for it to remain healthy and perform at its optimal level. Thus, from the early days, diet was regarded as the central pillar of health. A healthy diet was not only viewed as crucial in preventing illnesses but was also critical in treating diseases. “When prophylactics failed and disease set in, diet was equally on the front lines of medical treatment. In addition to these regimens for health, there were countless regimens for illness, each needing to be calibrated to the specific combination of disease and patient. In these situations, food was not merely nourishment but effectively a medication”, explains Claire Bubb, professor of Classical Literature and Science at New York University and a leading specialist in medical history and author of “How to Eat: An Ancient Guide for Healthy Living.” Indeed, the Hippocratic Corpus of medical books and texts, written between the 5th and 3rd centuries B.C.E. by various authors, places medicine and nutrition on the same pedestal. It turns out that our ancestors were just as preoccupied with taking care of themselves as we are today. A “personalized diet” may seem like a recent invention. It wasn’t. The inhabitants of the ancient world were often seeking tailored regimes. The reasoning behind it sounds very modern: foremost, listen to your body. According to Greco-Roman thinkers, the first step to a healthy diet is getting to know oneself. Since we are unique human beings, we should approach our diets in the same way. A diet should, therefore, reflect one’s unique nutritional needs. “The most important thing of all, though, is that everyone should be familiar with the nature of their own body,” wrote the 1st-century Roman medical writer Celsus. As the savant puts it, pretty much everyone has a physical weakness, and “whichever part is the most problematic should always get the most attention.” Similarly, the Greek philosopher Plutarch points out that we are the ones with a front-row seat to our own digestion. He remarks that we all have an intimate relationship with food, and our senses are here to guide us toward finding our optimal diet. “It would be just as ridiculous to ask a doctor which foods are difficult or easy for you personally to digest, or which go through your bowels with difficulty and which easily, as it would be for you to inquire which are sweet and which are bitter or sour” Plutarch explains. For those who were nevertheless seeking confirmation or were unsure of their conclusions, doctors were there to help. The ancient physicians believed that an optimal diet and exercise regimen depended on the individual’s gender, age, occupation, environment, and season – a lot of factors to consider and all of which is true. For instance, an athlete or a gladiator was advised to eat “fortifying” foods, such as meat (mostly pork), whole grain, and legumes. Someone who had limited use of their muscles and was performing administrative tasks would do better with lighter food, such as fish and vegetables. However, as the Greek physician Galen, whose theories dominated European medicine for 1,500 years, notes, some people find it easier to digest red meat than fish and, therefore, should not follow the rule. In other words, exactly like today, in the classic world, little involving nutrition was truly black or white. They did have an understanding was that an appropriately constructed diet would not only improve general health, decrease the risk of chronic diseases, but above all, prolong life expectancy. One key prevailing belief was that the body exists on a spectrum of hot, cold, wet, and dry. A deficit or surplus in one of the above would lead to pain and, eventually, to an illness. The first step in regulating the body was through exercise. Celsus was not wrong in declaring that “where laziness weakens the body, exertion firms it up: laziness makes you an old man before your time, but exertion keeps you teen-fit for years.” Of course, maintaining healthy physical activity would not be possible without a fitting diet, which, according to common belief, could either cool or warm the body from within. For example, according to ancient medics, women’s bodies are predisposed to be wet, while those of young men are considered hotter and drier (not perfect either). Hence, ancient physicians advised following two key principles, one of which was eating seasonally (adjusting one’s diet to the weather and season). As Bubb points out, the ancient eaters had to be much more attuned to the seasonality of food than the modern consumer. The lack of effective refrigeration techniques limited the availability of fresh fruits and perishable vegetables to the periods when each one was ripe for picking. In the summer, people were advised to drink plenty of water, eat light, and opt for watery and cooling foods, such as raw vegetables and the beloved cucumber and lettuce. Pliny the Elder writes that the Emperor Tiberius had a remarkable passion for cucumbers, which he had grown in all seasons. “On no day were they not available to him: his gardeners had movable beds of them, which they rolled on wheels into the sun, and on winter days they brought them back under glass-paned frames.” Were these the first glasshouses?). In winter, it was all about a warm diet with a focus on roasted meat, lentils, and bread, essentially comfort food. If one was sick, there was the good old chicken broth- “Chicken soup is very often given to those in poor health in order to set them right”, writes Dioscorides the Greek “father of pharmacognosy”, in his “Medical Substances”. (It bears adding that there is no scientific backing for the medical merit of chicken soup.) Of course, not everyone was able to follow the established food guidelines; a person’s diet was largely shaped by socioeconomic status, just as it is today. The ancient writers also counseled considering the quality of the food. Similar products were not necessarily equal in nutritional value, and some were harmful. As the 4th-century Greek physician Diocles of Carystus notes, “People are no less likely to be troubled by the quantity of the food they eat than by its sometimes being of poor quality.” Food quality was a concern, especially for urban dwellers, Bubb explains. “Galen’s advice to avoid fish caught at the mouths of contaminated rivers reminds us that pollution is not a uniquely postindustrial problem,” she says. “The adulteration of shelf-stable items like grain and spices was also a known issue, and various legal and regulatory provisions emerged in an attempt to protect consumers from fraudulent food. More luridly, even centuries before Sweeney Todd, there were alarming rumors about the mystery meat served by unscrupulous innkeepers.” The mystery meat served as pork was, in fact, human flesh. Neither the smell nor taste raised suspicions among the customers, according to the historic account. Galen, in his work “On the Properties of Foodstuffs,” writes that from those incidents, we know how similar the two are in taste. That is good to know. Another rule to follow was avoiding drastic changes, especially when it came to physical activity. Celsus warns, “You can’t go from overexertion to sudden rest, nor from extended rest straight to exertion without seriously bad effects.” Even when switching from season to season and increasing exercise, wrote Diocles in his “Regimen for Health”, you should “ramp it up slowly and be cautious of overdoing it.” Timing, for the Greeks, was (already) everything. Celsus writes that”Anyone who has a job that keeps them busy during the day, whether in the private or the public sector, must still set aside some time for the care of their body. The most important aspect of this care is exercise, which should always be done before food: if you’ve had a light day and have digested well, push yourself more; if you’re tired and haven’t digested as well, go easier.” He, however, warns that “If for whatever reason you foresee a period of fasting, every exertion must be avoided.” The Greco-Roman medical texts make it clear that the order in which food is consumed and exertion is undertaken has a significant impact on the body’s outcome; accordingly, advice in this regard will differ depending on whether one is trying to gain muscles or lose weight. “As for walking, it is better for you to do it on terrain that is not completely level because going uphill and downhill offers some variety and moves the body in a better way,” writes Celsus. “For the most part, you know you’ve come to the end of your exercise when you are sweaty or at least tired, but not so tired that you’re exhausted: sometimes you need to do more, sometimes less. People in this category should absolutely not try to model themselves after athletes and do strict training programs or an immoderate amount of exertion.” For those very active, the Hippocratic texts recommend cross-training through activities such as sailing, hunting, and walking on varied terrain and consuming a high-fat diet, which was also good for losing weight and overall improving one’s appearance. Hippocrates, the number one authority in the Greek world, was convinced that “Dishes should be high in fat” so that the eater “feels satiated after the smallest amount”, which today is backed by science. But above all, one should relax and avoid stress. A truly healthy person doesn’t inhabit an anxious body, they nail down. And one last piece of advice from Celsus: “Get plenty of sleep, but don’t sleep for too long at a time; use a soft mattress. No stress.” .