The Doctrine of Signatures is an approach to healing the body through drawing an association with the foods found in nature resembling individual parts of the body. This concept has been adopted by herbalists and nature-based healers for centuries using simple discernment to apply food-based remedies. The modern day allopathic approach considers this to be pure superstition with little to no scientific data to support it. The fact of the matter is that those who study raw food nutrition will soon find that this approach is scientifically validated through identifying basic foods and studying their nutritional properties. Theologians found this idea useful and assumed the position that the creator must have set up signs in nature upon the various means of curing disease. In the early 1500’s, the alchemist Paracelsus developed the idea of this doctrine and published writings on it.
This Doctrine of Signatures is a profound wisdom that calls for innocent perception and a reconnection to simplicity that the ancients understood. Natural foods such as vegetables, fruits, herbs, nuts, and seeds express patterns that seem to resemble a particular human organ. This concept extends beyond the physical attributes of food, associating the smell and environment the plant is grown in to identity its health-giving qualities.
Let’s take a look at some interesting examples of the Doctrine of Signatures:
Kidney Beans: The name is given to this bean because it looks anatomically identical to our kidneys. Kidney beans are known to lower cholesterol levels and aid in preventing heart disease as well as chronic kidney disease. If you consume a high raw diet but not entirely raw, kidney beans are a great addition.
Walnuts: Walnuts are perhaps the most obvious example. Their outer shell resembles a skull, and within the shell is the edible walnut which looks identical to our physical brain by resembling the right and left hemispheres and even the wrinkled folds! It is no shocking discovery that we find walnuts to be a great brain food, containing omega 3 fatty acids (important brain nutrient).
Carrots: Raw carrots have been heralded for being a great food for eye health because of their concentration in beta-carotene. You will notice the cross sections of a carrot look just like the pupils, iris, and outer lines of our eyes.
Figs: This delicious fruit hangs in twos and is full of viable seeds which look similar to male testicles. Figs are known to increase male sperm counts and are an excellent aid in male fertility.
Sweet Potatoes: Sweet potatoes seem to resemble the shape of our pancreas and are excellent for balancing blood sugar levels. Sweet potatoes are much preferred over the conventional potatoes because they are low on the glycemic index whereas conventional potatoes are very high in sugar and can imbalance individuals with sugar sensitivities.
Maca: Maca is a cruciferious vegetable that is known as a potent adaptogen. Maca is the highest altitude crop grown in the world which seems to grown in areas where the temperature can fluctuate rapidly from forty degrees up or down, making it adaptable to extreme climates. Maca is known to improve the adaptability of people who consume it, including regulating bodily temperature. It improves one’s ability to adapt to an extreme environment, especially in cold climates.
Olives: Olives are one of the great longevity substances in the food realm that look like a women's ovaries. An Italian study found that women whose diets included generous amounts of olive oil had a 30% lower risk of ovarian cancer. It is suggested that the oil of olives may suppress cancer promoting cells. The longest recorded living women in the western world (122 years), Jeanne Calment, attributed her longevity to three foods: chocolate, port wine(grapes), and copious amounts of olive oil, which she consumed and rubbed all over her skin. Black olives are related to the Chinese understanding of longevity known as our Jing essence. Dark black foods seem to have an affinity to our kidneys and adrenal glands and supports core energy which promotes long life.
Tomatoes: A tomato has four chambers, resembling the heart, which has four chambers as well. The shape and color of a red tomato has a resemblance to the heart. It is known in nutrition that tomatoes are indeed a heart and blood supporting food.
