The story below is a common story. I see cases like this all the time. A person comes into my office with multiple unresolved medical issues. Typically many of my patients are on 5 or more medications and have been to a multitude of specialists to no avail. My focus is food. It is not rocket science or brain surgery. To a large extent, we are what we eat.
Too frequently, people are put into a victim role by their doctors. They are told – “you have ________.” (fill in the blank with diabetes, cancer, heart disease, celiac disease, or any disease you want).
The sad part is that people are not told why the disease exists in the first place. They are simply medicated, and when a question comes up, the doctor often times will say – “You just need to accept it and take the medication for the rest of your life.” No meaningful dialogue about diet or the quality of food is offered. I actually had a patient last week who’s doctor told her that she could eat 1200 Calories of twinkies or 1200 Calories of any other food. He told her that a Calorie is a Calorie, and that it did not matter what foods provided it. This doctor was a prominent endocrinologist! (and in case you were wondering – Nutrition is not taught in medical school.)
How is it that the most fundamental science can be ignored as it relates to impacting health and disease? Great question! Look at what is taught in school – not in class – but in the cafeteria:
The menu can be summarized as such – grain, potatoes, and processed meat and cheese are healthy meals for our growing children.
That’s the message we teach regardless of the message being preached. Childhood obesity is a huge problem today, and the growing epidemic of autoimmune disease is central to food. By the way – did you know that there are more cases of autoimmune disease than there are cancer?
That brings us to another important point – The “Gluten Free Food Industry”. Product after product is being produced to cater to those on a gluten free diet. The up side to this is the recognition that gluten sensitivity is a real entity that requires dietary change to promote good health. The down side – it promotes the wide spread use of foods that are not healthy, that are cross contaminated with gluten, and in many cases, it promotes foods that contain gluten (just not the traditional gluten that is blamed for celiac disease). You see, there are thousands of different gluten proteins. Unfortunately, only a handful of them have been studied. So what do we do? We assume that they are safe despite the fact that the average person with celiac disease will go on to develop 8 more autoimmune diseases over a lifetime while ignorantly shoveling in gluten free substitute foods. Remember – gluten free does not mean healthy, and when someone is trying to recover from years of gluten induced damage, we are not doing them any favors by telling them that it is OK to eat a “gluten free” cookie.
Those who forget history are doomed to repeat it…
If we look at food processing history, in every instance we find a company telling us how much better for us a processed manipulated food item is than what God created. We inevitably find in the end that we made a mistake.
Margarine Vs. Butter
Nutrasweet Vs. Sugar
Sweet n Low Vs. Sugar
Splenda Vs. Sugar
Gluten Free Food Products (loaded with chemicals, preservatives, gluten in other forms, etc) Vs. Gluten containing products.
This is from Dr. Peter Osborne, AKA: The Gluten Free Warrior
http://www.glutenfreesociety.org/
Check out his website and sign up for his newsletter to learn more about how Gluten may be killing you.
If you've been hearing more about quinoa lately, it's not a surprise. Considered a "super food," quinoa, ("keen-wah") is a relative of beets, spinach and Swiss chard, but its seeds resemble a whole grain and are prepared and eaten in much the same way. Available in light brown, red and even black varieties, quinoa is light yet filling and has a mellow flavor.
