We used to have doctors that actually liked people. They had a passion to help others, to heal the sick, to be of service.
No more.
Today’s doctors like money. They go to medical school because of money. They serve their internships because of money. They “stack” their patients because of money. If you insist on spending more than 20 minutes with one, he’ll become nervous and irritated because secretly he wants to get to his next patient.
And if he works out of an office, it’s jammed with people. This isn’t because he’s popular but because he “stacks’ his patients, causing a backlog. This way if there is a cancellation he can easily fill the hole in his schedule, and keep a continuous flow of patients helping him make his next Mercedes payment.
Doctors aren’t interested in cures or preventative medicine; they’re interested in the cash that comes from illness. For this reason you’ll seldom hear the word nutrition spoken with any real seriousness. Instead you’ll get pills to swallow. Lots of pills. Expensive pills.
But what astounds me is I keep bumping into people who are well acquainted with doctors and their drugs but know very little about nutrition.
The basics of nutrition are: vitamins, minerals / trace elements, and Omega fatty acids. Depending on who you read and listen to, it’s estimated that proper nutrition will prevent 80% of illnesses.
The principle: if given the proper materials, the body will always try to rebuild itself, to heal itself.
Nutrition builds health.
How To Begin
Vitamins. You get what you pay for in vitamins. Spend the money and get vegetable derived ones. For example, you want your calcium from broccoli, not clam shells, your vitamin C from rose hips, not ascorbic acid.
Whole Foods sells excellent vitamins. Go and ask. Study.
Minerals and trace elements. We need small amounts of chromium, zinc, selenium, etc. I buy kelp powder and make my own pills. Kelp (seaweed) contains all of the trace elements. Kelp tablets are available, but they aren’t nearly as good.
Omega fatty acids. I purchase fish oil pills at Costco and swallow one each day with food.
There is lots else, of course, such as getting enough fiber (vegetables) in your diet, cutting sugar, and spending time reducing stress. But if you begin with the three above, then get on the net and learn about nutrition, your doctor will have to find someone else to pay his golf course green fees.
Remember: the body will always try to heal itself; it needs the proper materials to do so. Nutrition builds health.
Grimgold
If you’re truly concerned about health care costs, then you should get behind the idea of universal coverage. The real culprits behind the money drain are the insurance companies – they have placed themelves squarely between doctors and patients, and their only function is to suck every last dime.
No one will argue that good nutrition is a good idea. But I’ve never visited a doctor who said otherwise. The people pushing the pills are the ones who manufacture them.
Your heart seems to be in the right place, but your solutions are, at best, misguided.
Comment by Peregrin — August 23, 2007 @ 12:37 am
Have your cholestrol checked. Fish oil can backfire resulting in an increase in your levels. You’re better off eating some fresh fish.
Comment by greyhawk — August 23, 2007 @ 7:29 am
I don’t mind the principle of health care for everyone, perhaps people’s health care whould not be involved with profit, sa it is with, say, the purchasing of an automobile. But I don’t want a federally run system because the fed govt has such a poor track record. Socialism doesn’t seem to work very well.
Comment by grimgold — August 24, 2007 @ 10:08 am