Don't believe a word I say until you evaluate it.

byhmasters

1.3K followers

Updated 10 years ago

This will likely be my longest blog ever, and maybe my last if Kyle and Carson give me the boot.

The only reason I am writing this is that I am becoming seriously concerned about a number of people I have become fond of during my time here. Since I have spent 55 yrs. studying in the medical field and about our bodies I feel sure I am biased and probably overly protective.

I realize that this is a site designed to help people reach their financial goals and that is a great way to help people improve the quality of the life of a family. However, if you reach that goal and do not have reasonably good health it will not have a lot of meaning. You will spend the money you have worked so hard and long for trying to get your health back.

My sincere urging to each of you is this. Whatever your goal is, be sure to be careful about from whom you get your advice and guidance. If after studying medicine all of my life I tire of it or lose my license or fail to make a living in the field I might go on the internet for a few months, weeks or days, read some books, etc. and feel that I am a financial guru. If, with my new found expertise, I build a web site to give advice and guidance and want to teach you how to become financially independent would you consider me an expert? I think not because you are so much more aware of what all that entails you would not be impressed. If I was adamant about my expertise and had no doubt or question about my advice I was giving freely it would even make you more aware that my level of expertise was not all that I thought it to be.

Maintaining or recouping your health is at least as complex as developing good financial health. Our body is an unbelievably complex group of cells and organs with such complex regulating systems that no living human understands fully very much of the overall functioning and the healing and repairing and minute by minute functioning.

With our rapidly declining quality of our health care system it is absolutely crucial that you develop the knowledge and the skill to be the director of your own quest to achieve optimum health.

To be successful you must learn what to study, how to evaluate advice and be willing to devote some time and energy to the process. There is NO shallow and superficial advice that will make you a healthy person. It is not about a particular diet, a special vitamin or supplement, a special exercise or piece of equipment or any other single thing.

I used to think that anything written in a book or that was in a library was gospel. I didn't even question it's accuracy or validity. While in Medical School I learned that very learned people can get fascinated by the sound of their voice or their name in print and write and publish articles right and left. No matter what you write or profess you will collect a number of believers, especially if it knocks some widely recognized entity like "Big Pharma" or Allopathic Medicine, neither of which I am now or will defend. What we must realize is that just because someone is coming down hard on something that we respond to emotionally does not mean that their is any accuracy to what they are saying.

So, how can we evaluate what we read or hear on T.V. or see in an ad? The answer is that it is very difficult and sometimes we cannot be sure. At least consider the following:

• If it is a study or a report the first thing you want to know is who funded it. Once you know that you will have a good clue as to the real reason it was even published.

• What is the background education and credentials of the person making a statement or giving you advice. If their expertise has been recently acquired they are probably a work in process. Without some years of experience they may not yet be ready to be directing or prescribing to others.

• If their thoughts and opinions are based on research they should list the sources from which they obtained their information.

• If their information comes with multiple products for sale be sure to evaluate carefully the basis for the claims made for the product. Nothing we say about a product can make it so unless there is data to back up the claims. Know what the data says.
• If the adviser makes definite black and white statements that are opinions expressed as statements be very cautious. The more people know about a subject the more clearly they know that their opinion could be incorrect.

• If you are reading "an unbiased review" and it winds up as an attempt to get you switched to a competitive product that is dishonest. So how could you believe anything else they say?
• Maybe the most reliable of all is this. Does what this person says really seem reasonable after I think about it? Does it pass the smell test? Does it seem likely?

The most common area of misinformation.

Diets, fasts, detox, vitamins, supplements,pro-biotics and weight loss and cravings.

I am only going to say a few words about these because each one could require a chapter in a good book.

Weight Loss and Cravings:

In my opinion if you have a problem in this area it is most likely from not eating enough. It is my belief that cravings are most often caused by a deficiency of something your body is not getting. This leads to more eating of starchy foods or sweets because they most quickly raise the blood sugar and give temporary relief.....for an hour or so. Very few people who eat 5-8 helpings a day of green leafy vegetables and fruits have cravings if they also eat enough protein in the form of legumes, beans, etc. We have known for years that "diets" do not work and that ultimately we must accept that we must live sensibly to be healthy. If we journal each time we want to eat and give some thought to what we are actually feeling it is frequently not hunger. There are 15-17 very common feelings we can identify with a desire to eat other than hunger.

Fasting and Detox:

So far,the only proven way to extend the life span of an animal is calorie restriction and not feeding the animal all it wants. If our goal is to achieve optimum health we can do that and also improve the quality of our life with feeling better. In regard to fasting: we know that our 70 to 100 trillion cells are working and functioning every minute of every hour of every day to sustain our life and provide our good health. So how does it make good sense to fast for days at a time and not provide our body the nutrients that it must have to heal and repair and generate new cells? Our body can convert some foods to other things it must have but there are some essential things it must have that MUST come from our diet. So how many days to you want your body not to have those? And why??

Vitamins and Supplements:

Do you need them? This is usually easily answered. Do you consistently eat a well balanced diet? If not then you need them. I personally prefer a liquid supplement extracted from foods instead of all synthetic chemicals. It should have a very high ORAC value for maximum help. Our body gets a lot more benefits from the natural foods than from supplements but they are much more help than neither the foods nor the supplements. If you eat a good and well balanced diet and drink plenty of good water and exercise you will rarely if ever have a need to detox, in my opinion. I am aware others do not agree.

In Summary:

• Don't take what I say as gospel, or what any one else says. Evaluate the information thoughtfully. Do some research in credible places and sources. Get a lot of opinions and compare and evaluate them. Trust your judgment and common sense. Then observe what results you are getting and change course when needed.
• Be aware that just because we may be a self professed guru does not mean we have great knowledge and should be advising you regarding something so precious as your health. A great deal of what we thought was gospel 30 and 40 yrs. ago we now know to be inaccurate based on new data and new research.
• Be aware that Dr. McCauley, Dr. Mercola, Dr. Weil and others have all created a big following by criticizing Big Pharma and Conventional Medicine as just money hungry vultures and then each has created marketing machines for their own products which are expensive and lucrative. So as always, learn to follow the money!

I am no fan of the FDA who gets over 60% of their budget from Pharmaceutical Companies, or of "Big Pharma" or of the Cancer Industry or even the AMA. There is a revolving door between Big Pharma and Monsanto, who is more profit hungry and unscrupulous, in my opinion, than any of the others mentioned and 6 or7 highly paid folks who have gone from one to the other and been influential in promoting vested interests. On the other hand, I saw a Naturopath as a patient last year which required only 2 days to get an appointment with. After over $4,000 in lab work and fees it would be 6-7 weeks before I could get an appointment to go over my results. All the big money was in getting new people in. But I heard several remarks about the Big Pharma which looked like their supply of "Natural Products".

I hope as each of you pursue your financial goals in this great setting you will also learn to focus your intelligence on how best to achieve optimum health also and do your due diligence with any opinions or advice you get regarding your health.

Best Wishes to each of you.

I am not interested in launching into debates or making an attempt to change any minds. These statements are my opinion only and I respect yours if different.

Harold