| ▲ Artist Peter Engels painted the portrait of Hippocrates (100 x 200cm), father of western medicine. He based his work on the few preserved sculptures made of Hippocrates. As medical symbol, he painted the Caduceus staff that in ancient Hellas stood for peace, protection, healing, unity, and reconciliation. www.peterengels.eu |
▲ Amanprana is inspired by Hippocrates’ words: ‘let your food be your medicine and your medicine be your food’. Here at Amanprana we believe in the “whole”, not in the individual parts. That’s why our products undergo as little processing as possible and we don’t use isolates. Our products are organic and vegetarian. Aand fair trade and fair world where possible. |
Bart Maes, founder of Amanprana:
How it all started
 In 1999, I sold my profitable share in a medium-sized company specialised in kerosene and kerosene heaters. I allowed myself seven sabbatical years, read 600 books on food, visited food conventions, turned vegetarian and wrote articles about food and vitality both at home and abroad. I started with Amanprana because my daughter had serious problems to concentrate at school and had also developed a cocoa allergy. After a hellish period of physical examinations, we managed to solve my daughter’s concentration problems and helped her overcome her cocoa allergy with omega oil, a cocoa-free diet and a full transition to organic food, in a period of six months. That was a true revelation. Armed with this experience and the nutritional knowledge I had accumulated, I set out to find an opportunity that would enable me to combine trade and giving back to society. The start of Amanprana began with Okinawa Omega oil. I improved the omega composition of the omega oil my daughter was taking, enriched the omega blend with herbs and spices and made sure that the oil mix naturally contained eight vitamins E and loads of carotenes. My wife and I started small-scale from the living room and the garage. Our house quickly proved too small and step by step we acquired more shelf space in the shops. At a certain point, a friend of mine handed me some information about saturated fatty acids and palm oil. My initial reaction was: ‘aren’t saturated fatty acids supposed to be unhealthy?’ I was very sceptical when I started reading, but my opinion changed after a few months. After an in-depth study of saturated fatty acids I came to the conclusion that they possess properties unknown to many people. I realised that saturated fatty acids are actually super healthy. This went totally against the existing nutritional dogmas. Still, I decided to transfer my knowledge to those who cared to listen. We started with coconut oil and palm oil. Soon many other products followed. Money seized to be the key ambition. Bringing healthy food became the target. Our action “Save the Sea” was a logical next step.
In Sanskrit, ‘aman’ means peace or rest, and ‘prana’ refers to vitality. Hence ‘serene vitality’. We were one of the first companies to use bio-degradable labels.
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Nutrition as medicine
Nutrition is the essence of health, this according to Hippocrates, philosopher and acknowledged father of western medicine. Before a physician starts his medical practice, he takes the Hippocratic Oath (modern version). Hippocrates separated science from the philosophy of nature. He emphasized hygiene amongst both patients and doctors. Healthy eating and drinking habits, the importance of fresh air, the body’s self-restorative ability, and ensuring the proper balance between things (state of homeostasis), these were the cornerstones of his therapy as Greek physician (ca. 460-370 before our modern era). Hippocrates proclaimed: “Let nutrition be your medicine”.
Nature herself provides us with foods possessed of vital and healthy properties, enabling us to fight off illness and disease and assuring us of good health. We now know that fewer than 15% of today’s ailments and disorders are rooted in hereditary causes; the primary causes of western illnesses are found rather in our nutritional habits and lifestyle. Refined foods are undoubtedly the main culprits of our western health problems and poor health. These foods no longer provide us with the restorative powers that once we received from unrefined, pure food stuffs. For instance, 80% of all minerals, 90% of all vitamins, and nearly all fibre is removed from whole-grain flour during its refinement to pure white flour. Likewise, in the removal of smells and the refinement of oils, the many essential nutrients are removed, bringing about unnatural compounds. White bread, white rice, white sugar, white pasta, refined and odourless oils have in the process been reduced to quasi ‘empty’ calories. Our bodies need to be able to absorb strong nutrients in order to manufacture saliva, stomach and intestinal juices, enzymes, etc. In the manufacturing of these substances, the body uses its own store of vitamins, enzymes, and minerals while it now receives these quasi empty calories in exchange! The result? Resistance, vitality, potency, our ability to think, concentration, hormonal balance, etc., all are being eroded and have started to gradually regress. In years to come, the known illnesses begin to manifest themselves. Our vitality, now much depleted, can no longer keep pace with the tempo of our daily existence.
Until the start of the 20th century, healthy nutrition formed the cornerstone of all therapy. The radical break that occurred during the 20th century between nutrition and health is the reason why we, in spite of our having access to advanced medical assistance, are no longer able to prevent 70% of all premature deaths due to our western illnesses and diseases. Let me close with the advice of 2-time Nobel Prize laureate Linus Pauling: “Optimal nutrition is the medicine of the future”.
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