Read full transcript here: https://psychologyofeating.com/what-is-a-phytochemical-video-with-marc-david

Eating a plant-based diet is a concept that’s been trending for a few years now. Plants and whole foods have been gaining momentum as celebrities promote a dietary philosophy that says “Green is God.” Mainstream media is now catching on to what ancient, indigenous cultures have known for eons: plants make up an important part of a healthy healthy diet. The catchall term for the active chemicals that make up all plants across the entire plant kingdom is “phytochemicals.” What makes phytochemicals particularly unique is that they interact with our DNA in a way that can turn on and off gene expression. In this eye-opening new video from IPEtv, Marc David, Founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating, divulges the new science that supports how ingesting plants can literally change the course of your health. You are no longer a slave to your genetic makeup. Plants are here to help you take your power back and create a sustainable, healthy future.

Want a sneak peek? Read part of the transcript below:

Greetings, friends. I’m Marc David, founder of the Institute for the Psychology of Eating. Today’s topic: what is a phytochemical?

Now, phytochemicals, that’s a big word these days in the nutritional field. Maybe you’ve heard of the term. Maybe not. But if not, it’s worth knowing about. And if you have heard it, I want to demystify the term phytochemical, figure out what it truly means, and see why we are at the dawn of a new understanding of the healing power of herbs and plants.

Now, what’s happening these days is there’s an explosion of scientific research in the healing power of plants.

Now, in a weird way this is nothing new because so many traditional cultures for eons of times, whether it’s from traditional Chinese medicine, Ayurveda, the ancient traditions of Europe, so many Shamanic and traditional cultures, they understood the power of plants. Now science is starting to prove it.

“Phyto” means plant. Phytochemical is simply a catchall term for plant chemicals. That’s it. Phytochemicals is a big catchall term for all the plant chemicals that exist across all of the plant kingdom. I was so lucky to be raised in the sciences because when I was raised, I was taught that science was mystical and magic and exciting.

So science has identified perhaps several thousand phytochemicals. And there may be tens of thousands more. Nobody truly knows the exact number. So when it comes to phytochemicals, you’re going to hear names like ginsenosides in ginseng, silymarin in milk thistle, curcuminoids in turmeric, allicin in garlic, ginger oil in ginger. The list goes on.

By the way, chlorophyll is a phytochemical, probably the most important one in human history. So, again, it’s a catchall term for any possible chemical that one can identify in a plant. Now, here’s the catch.

Plants have evolved alongside humans over eons of time.

And there’s no doubt that they are a treasure trove of healing agents for a vast number of symptoms and diseases that impact us.

There’s an ancient Native American tale that said at one point humans were starting to get a little bit mean to the creatures and the animals. So the animals all got together and they decided, “We’re going to bring disease to humans.” And then the great Spirit looked at all the humans starting to suffer and said, “Wow, we’ve got to do these guys a favor,” and spoke to the plants. And the plants said, “We’re going to produce healing medicines.” So I find that interesting.

So these days, by the way, about 40% of all prescription drugs are plant derived or plant based. That’s where we got the original idea for the molecule. And in earlier days of the pharmaceutical industry, that percentage was even higher…