Thursday, October 9, 2008

Modern Medicine

While staying with my parents to help out I have found some medical practice things that frustrate me. I'm going to try to respect my mom's privacy and stay about from specifics pertaining to her situation....think of this more of an overall frustration(s) with Mainstream thinking.

Sam is 99.9% breastfed. Yes, I know he's nearly 11 months old but he seems to be doing just fine without "solid" food. I'm offended by the baby food companies that try to tell me otherwise. I'm equally offended by the formula companies that send samples of formula for "the next step." Cow's milk wouldn't be lacking if they quit mistreating animals and treated the milk gently. Let the cows out into the pasture to feed freely on the nice green grasses and stop treating cows like machinery. Unsafe, unclean conditions are what makes for unsafe meats and dairy products. Mistreating the milk is just their answer to covering their butts and saving money. Pasteurizing and homogenizing ruins the milk...but formula made with science and chemicals is certainly not the answer. Human milk is best, then unfooled-around-with milk from a farm that you trust would be next. We need to stop mistreating our animals and children.

I am grateful for the parade of volunteers, nurses and lab techs that come through our door. However I feel that instead of sending nurses to take vitals 2-3 times a week, healing would be much better if they sent Whole Food chefs to make nutrient dense mini-meals. Have them come in a couple of times a week, make up easy meals with lots of good foods and toss them in the fridge or freezer. Sick people don't seem to be motivated to feed themselves and those taking care of them get so busy it's hard to make really good food. Please send us a chef that knows about healing foods!

Also I am frustrated with the way Mainstream Medicine approaches care. They seem quick to medicate the symptoms and not deal with the deeper problems. If there is sickness, it's because something in the body is out of balance. If there is infection it's because something allowed the bad bacteria to defeat the good ones. Now, with a life threatening, out of control infection I'm sure some anti-biotics is the first thing to do...but this does not deal with the original problem. You have now killed of all the bacteria, friendly and otherwise. When are doctors going to prescribe pro-biotics to help restore balance? When are they going to analyze their patients diet to see that their dependency on fast carbs and denatured foods has made their body the perfect place for chronic disease and infection? If you are sick, even just a little there is a reason and it isn't always as obvious as taking something over the counter for your runny nose. Your body is talking to you, listen.

I'm frustrated also by the FDA. I believe there are many very helpful remedies for acute and chronic disease out there that the FDA doesn't approve because of pressure from the drug industry. I've heard that the extract of mistletoe is perfect for cancer patients...but to get this therapy you have to either go to Europe or search for a USA doctor who will get it for you...and even then I think it would be a challenge. Mistletoe is said to fight the cancer cells (without damaging the rest of the body, a claim that Chemo can't make) and build up the immune system. Sounds like a good option to me.

We need to take care of the whole person. We need to realize that, just like unleaded cars dying on leaded fuel we need to take care and pay attention to what we put in and near our bodies. The government isn't going to help with this...they are driven by money. The food and drug industries are running things right now and this needs to be changed. I am outraged by the new commercials on TV that are trying to say that high fructose corn syrup is nutritionally the same as sugar and okay in moderation. 1. I do not believe it is the same but much, much worse for you and 2. there is no such thing as moderation when HFCS is the main ingredient in almost all packaged foods, sweet or otherwise. Have you noticed that most soda (pop for those back in WI) contains no sugar anymore and just HFCS? These lies are paid for by the corn refiners industry.

Okay, now that I have these thoughts out on my head, perhaps I'll rest tonight. They have been bouncing around up there long enough. Time to get my Weston A Price Foundation books out and do some more reading on nutritionally dense eating. "Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats" by Sally Fallon and "The Fourfold Path to Healing: Working with the Laws of Nutrition, Therapeutics, Movement and Meditation in the Art of Medicine" by Thomas S. Cowan are my reads these days. Both available at Amazon.com for much less than their list price. Happy reading! :)