33 replies to this topic

[maineman]

Here are some quotes from COOKING FOR LIFE, "A guide for the well-being of Man", written by Michael Abehsera in 1970. He was a student of Georges Ohsawa, the "father" of modern macrobiotics. The recipes in this book are fabulous, by the way. His statements, however, speak volumes: (every thing from here on should be in quotes:)

Headaches follow a chaotic life. High acidity often produces small hemorrages, which then produce pain.

A swollen lip is a sign of bad intestines. Such a person is prone to constipation. Crossing the arms indicates an ill-functioning stomach and crossing the legs when sitting is another sign of bad intestines.

Stomach cramps result from either eating too fast or too far on the acid side. In any event, eating too fast produces acidity. Good chewers never have stomach problems.

Insomnia is caused by bad kidneys, lungs or liver, or sometimes by a great accumulation of food in the stomach.

Sore throat comes from eating rich food in excess and drinking cold liquids - especially beer.

Deafness is caused by bad kidneys or gall bladder.

Menstruation occurs naturally at the time of the new moon. Moon-time is Yin and blood is Yang. Yin attracts Yang outside!

The heavy meat eater is a slave whose burden is as great as his ignorance.

Russian athletes who eat kasha (buckwheat) are clearly superior long-distance runners.

A man of war and violence does not eat grain before battle. War demands meat and swords require blood.

Unfit food produces split, schizophrenic thought that fluctuates between extreme and extreme, between wisdom and violence, hatred and love. Unfit foods change the history of Man. they are his biochemical determinants. Man cannot help but open and close his mouth according to the expansive and contractive commands of his food. Whoever resists such movement possesses a distorted mouth and utters the speech of a retarded child. The polluted currents pouring into the bloodstream already seek to empty into the ocean of death.

When our stomach or intestines are upset we drink KUZU, which is a white powder resembling arrow root in texture. When our children develop runny noses, we give them a little KUZU, and that takes care of it. It is perfucet for colds, excess acidity, stomach cramps, etc. (etc? my question mark).

The flu is not caused by a virus! Flu results from internal weakness. A cold is the accumulation of mucus formed by an over-acid condition.

enjoy!!

maineman

[calmcookie]

MM, I agree with you - these quotes are ridiculous. Some are also quite funny. I don't know how this has turned into such extremes of science verses "alternative medicine." I am well aware of the scientific method and I DO respect it. But that doesn't mean I believe every research result, just because it's published in The New England Journal of Medicine. Bottom line is - I look for reasonable evidence ... and sensible intervention that makes logical sense ... whether that comes from a journal or my grandmothers kitchen. Intelligent evidence. That is what I seek. Best, C.C.

Edited by calmcookie, 13 February 2006 - 11:20 PM.

[Echo]

Well moderately perturbed cookie, Glad I missed the fireworks today. All I can say is that while there is a great role for preventive medicine with proper diet and exercise and other lifestyle interventions, when and if you fall ill with a significant illness, be it acute or chronic, you want all the benefits of modern medicine at your disposal, PERIOD. Anything less is just plain stupid. You want your doctor to chose from the universe of available treatments and offer you reasonable options and then you as the patient may chose to not utilize certain drugs or procedures. Your far reaching comments limiting the usefulness of modern medicine to emergency trauma care is ridiculous and insulting to the medical profession. I can see why MM was upset. No doubt mistakes are made and unnecessary procedures are done, but such is the case with any professional. There are good ones and bad ones, and you need to seek out the good ones. Buyer beware. Let's start a sequence shall we? You suddenly are stricken with crushing chest pain and shortness of breath and get sweaty all over. You nearly collapse calling 911. You are having a massive heart attack. Paramedics arrive as you are turning blue. Your pulse is thready and you are going into shock. After giving you oxygen the sequence starts. They want to give you aspirin. That is acetylsalicylic ACID. Do you take it and cut your mortality down by 25% or do you refuse and ask for something alkaline????? Shaking their heads in disbelief, they try to start an IV. Do you allow it or tell them you take your stuff naturally? They want to give you IV normal saline to boost you blood pressure up a bit. Do you tell them you prefer to drink water instead? Your pressure is 70/40 and you need dopamine--or you will die. Do you allow it? You start throwing PVC's and they want to give you Lidocaine. While you debate the side effects of medicines, you go into VTach and lose consciousness. They need to shock you. Is that OK? Oh well, you can't say anything, so they bring you back. In the ER, the team explains you need immediate treatment to open your clogged artery. Every minute that goes by, you lose heart muscle. They recommend emergent heart cath and angioplasty. You ponder about the countless unnecessary surgeries you've read about. They say fine, we'll give you the clot busting drug, Retavase or TNKase, but you suspect foul play with those scheming pharmaceutical companies. Finally you go with the angioplasty and sign the consents. Then come more drugs like clopidogrel, abciximab, nitroglycerin, metoprolol, and enalapril. Blasphemy you say, but by now, your loved ones batter you into cooperating with the local authorities. In the cath lab, they balloon open your clogged artery and place a metal stent. What!?, you cry out, despite the sedation. More modern technology, rats. Afterwards, the dietician recommends that you stay on a low fat, low chol diet as your LDL is 180, but you refuse, citing the benefits of fats in the diet. Shaking their heads, the poor doctors prescribe atorvastatin, but you rip up the script ranting about the risks of liver damage and severe muscle injury even leading to kidney failure. They tell you that those things are extremely rare, but you kick them out of the room, declaring that it is all a conspiracy by the drug companies, brainwashing even the honest doctors for their multi-million dollar schemes. At discharge, you are told to thin your blood by taking a daily dose of ACETYLSALICYCLIC ACID and clopidogrel and you laugh at them telling them you want to thin your blood naturally by taking vitamin E which is also an antioxidant. You do and your stent clots off 6 weeks later and you are back with another heart attack........ So CC, what's it going to be? When the chips are down, trust me, you want real medicine, modern medicine, evidence-based medicine, delivered efficiently and thoughtfully by competent medical teams. This isn't trauma, so it wouldn't be included in your list of useful medical applications, yet heart attacks are the number one cause of death in civilized nations. Please don't come back with how you would prevent clogged arteries in the first place with proper diets, etc, cuz I agree with that. This scenario applies only to the actual heart attacks as they occur and will continue to occur every day. Calm and collect Echo trying to have a sense of humor about this whole discussion.

[calmcookie]

Hello Dr. Echo, I am fond of you. At least your arguments are logical and I appreciate your light hearted approach. I don't disagree with you ... there are certainly MANY benefits to modern medicine. I could list hundreds of life saving interventions ... everything from the discovery of insulin injections, to kidney transplants. However, your specific example will not apply to me (my low blood pressure, LDL cholesterol, triglycerides, fasting insulin levels and low stress lifestyle ... the ability to laugh at life, make an MI extremely unlikely) ... and health is all about probabilities ... just like the stock market. Medical "care" can certainly be of value. I still work part time in a hospital and have great respect for my co-workers. I am only saying that, whenever possible, prevention is preferred to treatment. While it is true that most people are unwilling to change their lifestyle (daily habits) ... for those who have motivation to do so ... I offer some complementary, evidence based solutions. That is all. Kind thoughts, C.C.

Edited by calmcookie, 14 February 2006 - 09:20 AM.

[Echo]

CC See, we see more eye to eye than you'd expect on initial reaction. Currently, patients/the public is only doing on average a tiny fraction of what it could to have good health and prevention. You are an eternal optimist and want to push good lifestyle choices to the max. Good for you. I too am an optimist, but unfortunately, day to day experience forces upon us a good dose of realism. The vast majority of patients don't change their bad habits or do so temporarily only to lapse back during times of stress/conflict/lack of time/you name it. For those patients coming in with illness, Maineman and I are simply stating that sound medical care with the full armament of our technological abilities and knowledge is what they need at that moment. For some reason, you come off as trashing that necessary aspect of their care. Finally, I firmly believe that the resposibility for teaching good lifestyle choices and diet/exercise cannot lay with doctors and their brief visits with patients. I think that burden is on society to implement and the grade school level and reinforced through high school and by parents themselves teaching their kids. Only then can we reach out to the millions who need to learn. We have a mandatory test of the constitution in high school which is fine and dandy, but why not a mandatory health/lifestyle test for the betterment of our society. Doctors certainly can do focused teaching and reinforce. So can dieticians and other support personel. But for a far reaching global effect, ya hafta start early in life at the school level and continue. Keep up the fight. Echo

[Rogerdodger]

Echo, I would say that "education" is not the big problem in health. It is MOTIVATION.
Most often motivation does not occur until much damage has been done and people get scared.

Do people smoke cigarettes because they have not heard of the dangers?

Do they buy lottery tickets because they don't know the odds?

Do they charge their credit cards to the limit because they don't know the interest rates?

These "unrelated" questions are all one in the same.
People are making a choice but they ignore and deny the consequences until they are forced to choose differently.

Most people refused to wear seat belts until laws and fines forced them.
I do believe that growing up "buckled in" will help the next generation do it by habit without thinking.
But do we want a food police?
Do you want politicians choosing your dinner?

I think most people "know" what's healthy to eat.
Many restaurants have offered "heart healthy" choices but they are not popular choices.

Figure out how to fix the motivation problem, then education will have a chance.

Edited by Rogerdodger, 14 February 2006 - 11:34 PM.

[PorkLoin]

Roger, right on.

I mean dead on target, spot on, (hopefully not literally "dead" anything), and just about every point you made hit home with me. I smoke only very occasionally and feel "naked" without seat belts, but I'm a poster child, nevertheless, for much of what you speak of.

It all comes down to what I feel is the real definition of maturity -- being able to sacrifice transient or immediate perceived gains for gain in the long term. Often there is a real trade-off.

What do we really want? Where are we going, and why are we here?


Doug (likely an adolescent).


Only three animals were harmed in the making of this film.

[Echo]

RogerD,

You make very reasonable and rational points. However, I'll see you and raise you one. The very motivation problem you describe comes after years of repetitive bad habits, sometimes addicting habits. The BEST chance we have, IMHO, is to do a full court press/power play jam/blitz the quarterback campaign in grade school, teaching our young kids about these serious health issues and healthy lifestyle choices. Get them young while they are impressionable, open-minded, and don't have to break bad habits they haven't formed yet.

You don't need to worry much about MOTIVATING to stop/change, if you don't go down the wrong path to begin with. That is my point.

Your point is well taken. You need major motivation to stop/change harmful habits in an adult who's been doing it that way for years.

Case in point. By the time I was in school, the evils of smoking were well known and taught. My generation of americans has a far lower smoking rate than the previous 2 generations.
How do we motivate the folks who already smoke to quit? If it were up to me, I would tax the hll out of cigarettes--say to make the total cost of a pack of cigarettes say $60, or $3 a cigarette. Use that tax to fund the cost of treating all cigarette related illnesses in uninsured patients. Talk about motivation. That should motivate many to quit or better yet, not to start.

Here's a link: http://medicolegal.tripod.com/cost.htm
I've only scanned the site and don't endorse it, but looks interesting anyway.

Roger, our points are complimentary, not mutually exclusive.
Best,

Echo

[maineman]

In Maine we have an excellent state-wide program to help people quit smoking. There is an 800 help line, tons of material, 24 hot line, and many TV commercials. There are GUT wrenching commercials of teenage or younger kids talking about what it was like to watch their parents die from lung cancer and emphysema. Yet when we analyze the results, there is a sense that the bulk of the decline in cigarrete smoking has come from the rising cost per pack. We considered this idea last week in the Obesity Task Force I am on - we brainstormed about shifting the cost of food related illness to those who are responsible. Some ideas we tossed around were higher insurance premiums for those who were over the established BMI ( body mass index - a better measure than weight alone), higher insurance Co-pays at the time of a visit, and taxes on so-called junk food. Since our task force is designed to brainstorm in order to come up with a new paradigm, you can imagine the outrage and opinion! Still,,, the idea is intriguing until you begin to see the problem with the "food police". There would have to be a consensus about "healthy food" and there in lies the rub. While science has excellent data, as we've seen here in the past few days there are many who choose to ignore science and would prefer to self-medicate with food. As for motivation here's a little something from 20 years of private practice. Every day I tell each of my patients what we know re: preventive medicine, diet and lifestyle. We talk, I listen, answer questions and advise. In spite of cigarette warnings, cholesterol warnings, diabetes warnings, high blood pressure warnings, weight warnings, etc. etc. people only choose to get better or not WHEN THEY DECIDE TO. When someone comes to the office to show off that they have stopped smoking, lost weight, stayed on an exercise program I always bring them in and ask them to "teach me" how and why they did it. Want to know what they all say? "I was just ready". What is amazing is that in every case it was not the result of some new information. The smokers had always known they needed to quit. The fatties always knew they were overweight, etc. They all had simply reached a point, somewhere within, and set to it. Now, if we only knew how to turn on that "I'm ready" button, we'd be all set. (maybe the "evil" drug companies are working on that right now ). I'm just glad that when real people reach the point of "I'm ready" I can offer them honest answers about what they ought to be doing with that enthusiasm, so they can spend that new energy properly, rather than on false assumptions. just some "ides of February" ramblings maineman

[Rogerdodger]

Echo,

Your point: The BEST chance we have, IMHO, is to do a full court press/power play jam/blitz the quarterback campaign in grade school, teaching our young kids about these serious health issues and healthy lifestyle choices.

That is what I had in mind when I mentioned seat belt use.
Babies are required to be "buckled up" when the leave the hospital.
As they grow up, and with the help of the police, they may actually feel uncomfortable not being buckled.

I began wearing my seatbelt after I saw a truck exactly like mine with the driver's head smashed thru the windshield. That was motivation for me.
My wife would not wear a seat belt until she rolled our car 3 times down an embankment.
That was motivation for her. (a little late)

I never liked wearing a helmet on a motorcycle until I watched my sister in law go thru rehab after a motorcycle head injury.
She spent a month in a coma, months more in rehab facilities.
Her 30th birthday was spent peeing on herself in a nursing home.
She lives on her own now but is still not "right."
THAT was motivation for me. (And education)

As to food, my overweight grandson tells me that his school has "healthy" food selections.
But without the police and government involvement I think most select pizza over Tofu.
When I was a kid we didn't have special "healthy" menu choices in school but we did have physical education EVERYDAY.
I can remember actually sweating!
When school was out I played hard and fast. Football, baseball, basketball, skates, bicycles.
I was not overweight.
Now, even playing "tag" has been outlawed in some schools. Phys ed has been eliminated.
Kids watch dvd's in the car on the way home, turn on the big-screen TV or video games as soon as they're in the house and their bodies begin producing hugh amounts of adrenaline but with no physical outlet.


Health Education has a lot of powerful competition and it's an uphill battle.