Many physicians today, faced with the latest scientific literature and continued education classes, use the excuse of being just too busy to keep up, and are therefore stuck with the bias studies from big pharma doling out the information they want the docs to know. So doctors continue prescribing medication and dispensing outdated and incorrect information about how we should eat, in part by handing out U.S. guideline pamphlets that do more harm than good. What do I mean? Well, if you eat according to the food pyramid you’ll look like the food pyramid. But that talk we’ll save for another time.
The physician, who thinks for him or herself, recognizes treating chronic conditions the way they have (for cholesterol in particular) is not working. The physician who asks questions, or goes outside the medical model, may actually be helping their patients to become healthier. The accepted therapy and mindset is to prescribe medications to lower cholesterol, and, as I stated earlier, hand out a pamphlet of a diet passed down from the U.S. government to restrict fat intake, and consume more fruits, grains and veggies. But why would you add carbohydrates like fruit and grains, which give us energy, when we have enough stored energy already (fat) that we’re trying to lose? Because of these guidelines, fat was taken off the market, so-to-speak, from hundreds of food products with the belief that it would lower cholesterol. Well, how did that work for us?
Why You Shouldn’t Get Rid of Fat in Diet
You don’t need to be a doctor with an array of studies to show ridding our diet of fat not only didn’t work, but has actually made us more unhealthy and fatter. I have stated this for years on my radio show on The Ticket, “Doctors don’t know medicine, they practice it.”
Fact: 25% of the American population takes statin drugs.
Another Fact: Fat has been reduced in hundreds of packaged foods and our diet.
Yet Another Fact: More Americans will die this year of heart disease than ever before.
The American Heart Association shows 75 million Americans suffer from heart disease, and 77 million have diabetes. Some are classified as prediabetic, but guess what? There is no such thing. That’s like being a little pregnant. The numbers are growing higher each year despite the fact we have more drugs prescribed to us than we ever have in our history.
The Role Doctors Play in All This
Now I know it seems like I’m blaming doctors for creating more havoc with our health. First let me state that at least half of all of my friends are doctors; from chiropractors and research scientists to MDs and doctors of nutrition. But doctors do have a role in what they choose to apply in their practice, and whether or not to be persuaded by studies paid for by drug makers. I want to take time to praise those who go outside of the traditional medical model and learn the truth about preventative care, as well as how to impact a patient’s health without the use of medicine or traditional measures for every case.
More and more today MD’s are going back to school for a couple of very good reasons. One, to learn more about nutrition as to actually make a positive, preventative long lasting impact on their patients’ lives, and two, to add another protocol of treatment to help them monetize their practice and cover the costs of the long arduous hours and years it took to become a doctor. Doctors are being forced to find new ways to survive financially due to insurance companies withholding some (or most) of their hard earned dollars for procedures
they deserve to be paid in full for. Yet again, health care and insurance companies are another topic altogether.
It’s Time to Think for Yourself
So are you tired of being a guinea pig? Instead of putting every MD on a pedestal, maybe it’s time to think for yourself and do your own research, then actually present it to your doctor. Better yet, find a doctor who is fit, with real nutrition background, or with a degree in nutrition who will give you information that can actually help you, without scaring or pressuring you into taking a statin drug to lower your .
You’ll also be properly informed about the truth of what your cholesterol level should be, versus what a traditional doctor and U.S. guidelines might say. For example, you may have heard a traditional doctor say “You cannot have cholesterol that is too low.” That is one of the dumbest, most dangerous statements a doctor can make about cholesterol level, especially with the over-whelming amount of information available today that flies in the face of studies purported by and/or paid for by big pharma that support such an idea.
Business Week had a cover story a few years ago in which it broke the truth about omitted information on statins by the pharmaceutical companies.
You may remember after this article came out. There was a flood of TV and radio commercials and full-page pharmaceutical ads in newspapers stating the so-called “positive effects of statin drugs”. The discovery a few years ago that inflammation in the artery wall is the real cause of heart disease is slowly leading to a paradigm shift in how heart disease and other chronic ailments will be treated.
The Truth Behind Diseases: Inflammation
A good friend of mine, Dr. John Hache, made a profound statement on my radio show. He said, “George there are no diseases, only inflammation”. Referring to Dr Hache’s statement about inflammation – without inflammation, cholesterol would move freely throughout the body. There is no way cholesterol would accumulate in the wall of the blood vessel and cause heart disease and strokes if we didn’t have chronic inflammation. Ask your doctor for a CRP test (C-Reactive Protein). A CRP test can also be used to evaluate your risk of developing coronary artery disease, a condition in which the arteries of your heart are narrowed, which can eventually lead to a heart attack.
Inflammation can actually benefit us, too. It is your body’s natural defense to a foreign invader, such as a bacteria, toxin or virus. HOWEVER, chronic inflammation due to mental stress, chronic pain, toxins from the environment, medication and poor food choices is not something the body can handle, nor was it designed to handle on a chronic level. This is when inflammation becomes harmful.
Acute Inflammation
Acute inflammation from things such as intense exercise called “burst training” is very beneficial. I wrote about burst training in an earlier Score Board article. Think back thousands of years ago when one’s body would recognize the need to run. This could be to catch food, or run to avoid being eaten by a tiger, a.k.a. “fight or flight”. But working against this system is what causes symptoms to show up that can lead to disease.
Those who live in fear are the ones who can be most surprised when it comes to the outcome of their health. These people are many of the older members of our population. Also be those not interested in knowing that drug makers could have ulterior motives. The rest of us have simply followed the recommended mainstream diet. It’s a diet low in fat and high in polyunsaturated fats and carbohydrates. We did so not knowing we were causing repeated injury to our blood vessels. This repeated injury creates chronic inflammation leading to heart disease, stroke, diabetes and obesity.
Chronic Inflammation
You may be like most of the population who fall prey to creating your own chronic inflammation and health problems. You’re most likely feeling sluggish, maybe even depressed, high in body fat, low sex drive, etc because:
- You overload on highly processed carbohydrates (sugar and all types of bread)
- consumption of omega-6 and fried foods as well as corn
Another thing I like to say is that your body speaks to you all day everyday. Not in English, rather it speaks in symptoms. You are not supposed to feel lousy as you get older. You are not supposed to be fat because you’re older. You’re not supposed get sick when the weather changes or be a lot of negative things due to aging. But we are conditioned to believe we are “supposed” to
be, or have a harder, more painful life as we age.
An explanation by Dr. Dwight Lundell
“Imagine spilling syrup on your keyboard and you have a visual of what occurs inside the cell. When we consume simple carbohydrates such as sugar, blood sugar rises rapidly. In response, your pancreas secretes insulin. Its primary purpose is to drive sugar into each cell where it is stored for energy. If the cell is full and does not need glucose, it is rejected to avoid extra sugar gumming up the works. When your full cells reject the extra glucose, blood sugar rises producing more insulin and the glucose converts to stored fat.”
“What does all this have to do with inflammation? Blood sugar is controlled in a very narrow range. Extra sugar molecules attach to a variety of proteins that in turn injure the blood vessel wall. This repeated injury to the blood vessel wall sets off inflammation. When you spike your blood sugar level several times a day, every day, it is exactly like taking sandpaper to the inside of your delicate blood vessels.”
“While you may not be able to see it, rest assured it is there. I saw it in over 5,000 surgical patients spanning 25 years who all shared one common denominator — inflammation in their arteries. To make matters worse, the excess weight you are carrying from eating these foods creates overloaded fat cells. These pour out large quantities of pro-inflammatory chemicals that add to high blood sugar-induced injuries. The process that began with a sweet roll turns into a vicious cycle over time that creates heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes and finally, Alzheimer’s disease, as the inflammatory process continues unabated.”
Take Your Health and Life Back
Okay, so now you should understand how we are becoming sicker in America. Why YOU must take your health and life back. Why you should stop being lazy, expecting a doctor or someone else to fix you.
Exercise daily, build muscle, and eat more protein. Eat your vegetables and minimal fruit. Try to stick with berries, cherries, green apples and plums. Do this at least until you get your blood sugar and health under control. Commit to eliminating fried foods, omega-6 fats like corn and soybean oil, and add in “virgin” coconut oil daily. This can be a life savor. Virgin coconut oil is high in fat but you will use it all for energy. It will NOT make you fatter, it will make you healthier. This is due to medium chain triglyceride’s (MCT’s) which the body uses for energy.
I’m not here to give you an eating plan since NOBODY can write a diet book that works for everyone. We all have different deficiencies that we need to address. How can anyone tell you how you should eat without first checking what you need? An eating protocol comes with my 21 Day Full Body Cleanse. It can help you lose fat, but it doesn’t mean it’s the best for YOUR deficiencies for life.
Before you take any supplement or medicine please get tested by a doctor who understands nutrition to find the deficiencies. Otherwise, you may, and most likely do damage by adding nutrients you do not need. Know this – chronic medicine does not make us healthy. It detracts from our health. If you’re on chronic meds, even over the counter ones, you must find out which nutrients the medicine is robbing from your body and replace it!
The message? Inflammation is the enemy – not cholesterol.
Start the Full Body Cleanse today!
