As we gather around our Thanksgiving tables this week, we’re reminded that this holiday has always been a celebration of bounty—of the land, of good food, and of the ties that hold families and communities together. But beneath those traditions lies a truth that’s easy to overlook: the quality of our food, our soil, and our social bonds have changed dramatically. These factors contribute to the people of our great nation being the sickest of any leading industrialized power, yet we spend more on healthcare than every other country on the planet.
The Soil Beneath Our Feet Has Changed
A growing body of peer-reviewed science is sounding the alarm: industrial agriculture has altered the soil microbiome, and with it, the nutritional quality of our food. Chemical inputs, overgrazing, and intensive monocropping have reduced soil biodiversity, weakened plant resilience, lowered nutrient density, and increased contamination with pesticide residues, heavy metals, and endocrine-disrupting chemicals.
Regenerative agriculture (RA) turns this around. RA-grown foods consistently show:
- higher vitamin and mineral content
- higher levels of antioxidants and phytochemicals
- lower pesticide residues
- higher quality plant amino acids and secondary metabolites
Healthy bodies need healthy food, and healthy food needs healthy, uncontaminated soil.
Regenerative Food: A Path Out of the Chronic Disease Crisis?
Non-communicable diseases (NCDs)—notably heart disease, cancers, chronic respiratory diseases, and metabolic disorders including diabetes—now account for over 70% of global deaths.
Many consumers and healthcare providers know that dietary choices matter profoundly for managing and preventing NCDs, but the way that food is grown may be just as important.
Research is showing that food grown using RA practices is of better nutritional quality and benefits the gut microbiome of plans, animals, and people. The importance and impact of the gut microbiome on human health cannot be overstated, as it is intricately connected to many physiological processes in the body as well as the development and progression of various disease states.
For these reasons, microbiome-supportive diets are linked to lower rates of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease, obesity, and premature mortality. Prebiotic and probiotic foods—abundant in regenerative, soil-diverse systems—help cultivate beneficial gut bacteria that lower risks for allergies, asthma, and inflammation. Conversely, processed foods and pesticide-laden conventional crops promote gut dysbiosis, weakening immune resilience.
Sourcing our food from regenerative, organic, or local farms, maximizes the health-enhancing aspects of food and allows us to take full advantage of Earth’s bounty.
A Different Kind of Hunger: The Health Crisis of Loneliness
But nutrition is only part of the Thanksgiving story.
This holiday isn’t just about food—it’s about connection. And connection is as essential to human health as nutrient-rich food.
A World Health Organization report found that loneliness contributes to an estimated 100 deaths every hour—over 871,000 deaths per year—making social disconnection one of the most powerful, overlooked drivers of poor health. Research shows that the longer people feel lonely, the worse their health becomes, including faster memory decline and an increased risk of dying.
Fragmentation, isolation, and the loss of connection are harming us profoundly. Meanwhile, powerful cultural forces, using the tools of digital technology and social media, are pushing us toward ever more screen time, often at the expense of real human and nature connection. As healthy soil depends on microbial diversity, our health depends on social diversity—on family, friendship, and community.
Thanksgiving is a perfect time to reconnect with each other, beyond screens and distractions, and celebrate the social bonds that have sustained our species over centuries.
This Thanksgiving, let’s return to the roots of health:
- If you can, choose foods grown in living soil—from regenerative or organic farms, CSAs, local markets, or direct farm purchases.
- Share meals with intention—reviving the cultural bonds that make us healthier, happier, and more resilient.
- Reconnect with the land, your community, and each other.
Wishing you and your loved ones a nourishing, regenerative Thanksgiving.Top of Form
With deep thanks for walking this path with us and helping advance our mission for natural health — from all of us at the Alliance for Natural Health.
