Figs, meat – and not too much sex. A good diet in ancient times was more than what you ate

In the modern world, we know good nutrition is essential for our health.

Doctors in ancient Greece and Rome knew this too – in fact diet advice was a mainstay of medical practice and health routines. There were extensive and intricate discussions of how to regulate food and drink to stay healthy.

Some of their ideas – such as eating fish and vegetables as a healthy way to lose weight – make sense today. But others may raise eyebrows, such a fig-only diet for Olympic athletes.

So, what did diet and nutrition look like in ancient times? And is there anything we can learn today?

An expansive diet

In modern times, diet refers to food and drink. In ancient times, however, the idea of diet was more expansive.

Our word “diet” comes from the ancient Greek word diaita. This could refer to what we eat and drink, but it could also refer to our lifestyle as a whole – including exercise, sleep, sex and other activities.

When prescribing a diaita, ancient doctors did not just tell patients what to eat and drink. They also advised them on what sorts of other activities they should be doing, like exercising or even going to the theatre.

For instance, in the sixth book of the Epidemics, a medical text written in the late fifth century BC, the author calls for moderation not just in what we eat and drink, but also in exercise, sleep and sex.

Ancient doctors believed balance was important for health.

Extreme dieting

However, not all ancient texts advocate moderation. There are some extreme cases of dieting. For example, the historian Hegesander of Delphi (2nd century BC) wrote:

Anchimolus and Moschus, who were sophistic teachers in Elis, drank nothing but water all their lives and ate nothing but figs, but were no less physically vigorous than anyone else. Their sweat, however, smelled so bad that everyone tried to avoid them in the baths.

In the seventh century BC, athletic trainers also focused on diet as a way to improve their athletes’ physical condition. Trainers such as Iccus of Tarentum introduced strict diets for their athletes to try and gain a competitive edge.

However, their methods were often questionable, according to today’s standards and our knowledge about nutrition.

For example, the Olympic runner Chionis of Laconia apparently also had a strict diet of figs when he was training for his competitions. He won in his event at the Olympics in 668, 664, 660, and 656BC, a remarkable record. Other athletes, such as Eurymenes of Samos (sixth century BC), opted for a diet entirely comprised of meat.

However, there is no evidence to show these restricted diets would have improved athletic performance – and would not be recommended today.

An ancient doctor’s perspective

Greek and Roman doctors could not conduct controlled trials as scientists do today.

Nevertheless, they were keen observers of the effects of certain foods on their patients – and saw with their own eyes that a bad diet is not good for us.

For example, the physician Galen of Pergamum (129-216AD) in his work Hygiene attributes his patients’ ill health to poor diet.

He observed

some who are continuously diseased, not due to the intrinsic constitution of the body, but through a bad regimen, or living an idle life, or working too hard, or being in error regarding the qualities, quantities or times of foods, or practicing some exercise that is harmful, or erring in regard to the amount of sleep, or excessive indulgence in sex, or needlessly tormenting themselves with grief and anxiety. Every year I see very many who are sick through such a cause.

Galen thought hard about how certain foods and drinks affect our health and wrote various books on the subject, such as On the Powers of Foods.

This work contains many anecdotes. For instance, one young man drank the juice of the scammony plant, “to cleanse his system” (presumably as a laxative). However

five hours after the dose no evacuation had taken place, and he complained that his stomach felt compressed, his belly was heavy and swollen, consequently he was pale and anxious.

Galen also recognised different diets affect people in different ways:

some people are harmed and some are benefited by the same things and similarly with opposites. […] I know of some who immediately become sick, if they remain three days without exercise, and others who continue indefinitely without exercise and yet are healthy.

Nutrition and balance

Galen’s advice for overweight or obese patients may sound familiar: a “thinning” diet and a lot of fast running. So, exercise, combined with foods that fill you up but don’t make you gain weight.

According to Galen this meant eating vegetables and fish and avoiding wheat, red meat, fruit and wine.

A lot has changed in the world of diet and nutrition. We now have professional dietiticians and empirical methods to measure the nutritional values of foods.

However in their broader definition of “diet”, ancient doctors identified something that remains as true today: the importance of eating well as part of a healthy lifestyle, one that takes care of body and mind and includes exercise, sleep and pleasure.