Why I Stay Open-Minded and Interested in What “Crazy Health Nuts” Have to Say

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A blog just isn’t sufficient to cover ALL the reasons I follow natural, alternative, and holistic health subjects; in fact, I do believe I could write a book on this.

In short, I can see where—in too many cases—allopathic or traditional medicine has fallen very short of its intention to heal.

While traditionally trained doctors have (thankfully) amazed us with their ever-increasing skills at caring for broken body parts and many urgent concerns, they have not always been as effective in dealing with disease processes—and prevention of disease.

The reasons for this far exceed my space and ability to cover here, but I would like to say that there is a strong pattern that I have witnessed over my adult lifetime of changes and reversals of medical advice.

Of course, that could be a positive thing, but the real point I would like to make on that is:  more holistically-trained healers, and even “new age-y health nuts” have been warning of the “errors” in traditional advice—long before the allopathic healing community discovered they were doling out poor information.

Let me give you just a few examples from my own life and experience:

1.  In dentistry, I became aware of the concerns over mercury fillings as a young adult.  I would ask my dentists over the years about that, and as expected, they’d parrot the old line that “there was no data to support or warrant the concerns about mercury.” It didn’t take a rocket scientist to know that putting mercury in your mouth could be problematic over time.  I think we all know now that they reversed that stance, in a big way.  (By the way, due to my own health problems, I had a zillion and one silver/mercury fillings removed many years after I stupidly let them put them in by the bucket.)

2. In college, as I was taking my early courses for an eventual hoped-for degree in nutritional sciences, I became uncomfortably aware of my instructors’ lack of knowledge of more current or progressive considerations.  I kid you not when I tell you that much emphasis for my hospital dietetics courses was upon making the food presentation on a plate (for a hospital patient or nursing home patient) look attractive with a colorful selection from the old four food groups.  (Sigh.)  I actually had to cut out pictures of foods from magazines to put on plates, as a homework assignment!!  That should scare the pants off of you. (In all fairness, we also learned much about food handling safety, etc., so it wasn’t a total waste.) Anyway, whenever I raised my hand to ask any specific questions regarding vitamin and mineral requirements set by the FDA, etc., the instructors were shockingly clueless.  And I think we all know how great hospital food is for you when you are most in need of extremely nutritious food!

3. Let’s talk about my dad.  After his heart attack when I was just 17, I remember my mother learning to cook differently, per doctor’s orders.  MARGARINE was a biggie on the list of switcheroos, moving away from real butter.  I’ll spare you a scientific lecture on margarine, simply saying that the oils used then were pretty inferior, and hydrogenation was another issue of concern (early 1970s).  Again, I think we all know by today that pure, virgin olive oil would be considered a better option for cooking. The point is: So-called health nuts figured that one out loooooong ago—like most such things.

4. And speaking of heart attacks, only recently have we seen mainstream articles revealing that eating fats has gotten a bad rap and is not so deeply implicated in heart disease as once thought.  (Unfortunately, this may give some people the mistaken impression that they can now eat boxes of Krispy Kreme Donuts.)  In reality, the newer sciences prove out that eating fats from good sources such as raw nuts (no, not the crappy cans of beer peanuts!!) and avocados, for example, is a GOOD plan for the heart.  Who woulda thunk it?  Yes, the many health nuts thunk it long ago.

5. I once recommended to my dad that he consider taking Vitamin E daily, having read a good deal (at that time) about emerging news concerning E’s potential heart health benefits.  My parents said they’d have to ask Dad’s cardiologist first.  As I expected, the cardiologist said there was “no proof it helped,” etc., so my parents decided to go with his almighty authoritarian advice.  (Aren’t we all brainwashed to assume that our highly esteemed doctors hold all knowledge about our bodies?) About 10 years later, many physicians were recommending Vitamin E to their patients! So this was simply another example of the lag time between new ideas . . . and when docs finally find out and get with the program.  (Note: Today, other antioxidants are recommended—if the docs are even open to suggesting them.)

6. I’m not intending to pick on cardiologists here, but another good current example of ever-changing traditional advice came into awareness quite recently (2012-2013).  My own mother-in-law had been told to take calcium supplements for many years, but her cardiologist just had her significantly reduce that amount, now that news emerged that calcium could increase heart attack risk!  I think we all know what I’m about to say:  Yes, health nuts knew more about this, years ago.

7. Dare I mention the advice on mammograms?  Women (and men) have been thoroughly indoctrinated to believe that early detection is so important that it would outweigh any risks associated with yearly mammograms.  I’m going to leave you, dear reader, with the task of reading up on this controversy.  Just take note that frequency guidelines have shifted a great deal in recent years (less frequent mammos), which of course, is just what those crazy health nuts have been discussing for a long while.  (I guess they were not a bunch of boobs, after all.)

These examples are just a tiny fraction of such instances, so imagine the bigger picture!

The attitude of the average person toward “alternative health” disciplines and ideas has been, thank God, changing for the better. Most folks know that our docs simply aren’t trained to know everything, least of all concerning nutritional considerations.

 

There was a time not so long ago when chiropractors were considered total quacks, but most people are open to using one today.  And drinking a green smoothie, even just 30 years ago, would have been considered a fanatical, hippie ritual; yet, today we commonly see green smoothie recipes all over the TV and Internet.

Maybe modern science and its dogmatic advocates would be wise to tone down any arrogance and close-mindedness and take note of the long-term pattern here?

I am certainly not suggesting that all those natural disciplines and ideas are superior, all the time! Discernment is mandatory.   It’s just that it becomes painfully obvious that many of these folks have been RIGHT about many things, and have done a lot of good for people—long enough to be listened to and treated with some true respect.

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