Apparently, you really are what you eat.
At least according to Preston Maring, a visiting lecturer who stressed Monday the importance of eating organic and locally grown food.
"What you eat is one of the most important determinants of your health," Maring, a California obstetrician and gynecologist, told nearly 30 people in Schaeffer Hall.
A doctor for 38 years, he said he's dedicated to limiting the onset of illnesses by promoting healthy, organic eating - which doesn't seem to be happening enough, he said.
"Preventing illness is the future of health care," said Maring, who founded a farmers' market at his hospital. "Treating illness is the past."
Soon after Maring introduced the farmer's market in the California facility, 28 hospitals across the nation followed suit. But this trend hasn't yet spread to Iowa City medical centers.
Cathy Scanlon, a clinical dietitian at the UI Hospitals and Clinics, agrees that people's diets can influence their susceptibility to disease, saying it would be a "good idea" if the hospital allowed farmers to sell their goods at the facility. "You can actually prevent yourself from getting cancer with a plant-based diet," Scanlon said. "You might even have cancer, and your body can fight it, and you don't even know you ever had it."
Still, Scanlon hasn't completely fallen in love with organic foods.
