I just watched two documentaries on health and nutrition. Stop it. I can hear you already: "borrrrrrrrrrring". If you're willing to stay with me for just a moment, it could change your life.
For those who need a scientific approach to determining whether the nutritional information you're getting is valid, there's Forks Over Knives about two pioneering doctors who realized that conventional medical treatments for heart disease were not producing cures or preventing heart attacks.
The other documentary is for those who find experiential information more to their liking. It's called Fat, Sick and Nearly Dead. This documentary was shot by an Australian businessman who was suffering from all the side effects of the good life that came along with financial success. He takes us along as he travels across the US and juices for sixty days.
The first documentary is serious and speaks to the changes in the eating habits of Americans of the last sixty years and what has happened to the health and waistlines of the population in the process. They make a compelling argument for a plant-based diet for good health and disease prevention and for the treatment of disease. It also explains the relationship between processed food and the food addiction that has gripped the country.
What is surprising is that most people completely accept the nutritional information they get from food manufacturers. They don't realize that this information is coming to them through advertisements designed to make them want to buy the food. Also, most people also believe their fat is completely their fault, convinced they cold lose it if they could only control themselves and just stop eating so much. They don't realize that processed foods are designed to fool the body's mechanism for recognizing that it has consumed enough calories.
In both documentaries, you can watch people naturally reverse the conditions for which doctors have prescribed them medication. The conditions reversed include heart disease, diabetes, and cancer -- the big three -- as well as autoimmune diseases, arthritis, migraines and allergies.
I always wonder why people would prefer to keep their discomforts. I can't tell you how many people say to me, "It runs in my family." It never occurs to them that their family generally eats the same way, so they eventually suffer from the same diseases. My mother became a diabetic in her fifties. She and my father were both diagnosed with high blood pressure. My mother has had two different kinds of cancer and my father had heart disease and died of Alzheimer's. My oldest brother didn't heed the warnings either and he has been diagnosed with diabetes too.
I've changed my eating habits over the years. The first changes came in my late twenties when a doctor told me my blood pressure was high. He gave me a month to change my diet and lose weight. If I didn't, he said he would have to put me on medication. At the time I thought, I don't want to have to start taking pills for the rest of my life this early. So I lost twenty pounds through diet and exercise. When I returned to the doctor's office he was shocked. He said no one ever listened. They always opted for the pills.
Today we have become far too reliant on science to get us out of the messes we create. We expect the magic pill will be developed to reverse the course of all of our bad behavior. When someone advises a plant based diet, the usual response is that it seems extreme. Having to give oneself a shot every morning, open heart surgery and gastric banding are considered reasonable.
Please, get your hands on one of these documentaries or any of the others out there that talk about the relationship between food and health. Don't wait until you need open heart surgery.
Former President Clinton has access to the best health care this country can provide. For him, all that resulted in was repeated episodes of chest pain and cardiac procedures. Clinton is now a vegan. He finally had enough of conventional health care and decided to do something extreme to get healthy.
Don't assume you're healthy because you're thin and continue to ply yourself with cheeseburgers and 16 oz coffee drinks either. One of the biggest myths is that just being thin will save you. One of my best friends is fighting cancer right now. She turned to me when we last spoke and said, "How did this happen? I did everything right."
All of us process food differently. Just because the food doesn't make you fat doesn't mean you're getting the nutrients you need or expelling the things in food that will make you sick.
Obamacare is not about health; it's about whether or not you will be able to get some kind of treatment for the disease you'll eventually contract. Come on people, let's not be the fat nation. Let's be the fit, healthy nation. What do you say?