Saturday, August 22, 2009

Watch Out I Am Learning.

Where do you bury dead computers? The mother board is gone. We brought home my still shiny very pretty 17 inch 3 year old HP laptop with the hard drive removed and some plans for making it a paperweight. This is disgusting.

On a brighter note I am reading some very good books. My new copy of "Nourishing Traditions" by Sally Fallon arrived today. I am already enthralled by the evidence she is laying out, the relationship between dietary practices and disease. Twelve years of nursing and watching people die of cancers and other chronic diseases has taught me a great deal. I can't help but notice that almost all of these sick people are hopelessly addicted to diet soft drinks and sugar. They eat a large amount of processed junk foods even while they are in the hospital. It is so hard for me to watch them continue to poison themselves, and add to it with chemical drugs dripped directly into their veins. These are the fruits of the beliefs that we are just a composite of chemical interactions.

We are taught in the universities courses on chemistry, biology, and physiology that we are just the end product of chemical reactions. The premise of our medicine simply stated, is that we measure the values from lab work data and adjust the findings. The main components in critical care medicine are calcium, magnesium, sodium, potassium, and pH balance. Every day we draw the patients blood and check these values and adjust their Iv drips to regulate what is not in the normal range.

The problem is that people can feel very ill and have normal values. The people in the ICU are people who are dying and we are usually too late. So why is it that we don't look harder at the relationship between what we take in and how we are feeling?

The current recommendations for a healthy diet are not right. In fact a lot of what we are doing is flat wrong. Americans are desperate to feel better and are trying on their own to figure it out. Parents are totally freaked out about the rise in autism. They aren't vaccinating their children for fear that immunizations are the cause. But even with the rise of children who are not immunized we have skyrocketing cases of autism. The research doesn't lay the blame there. So where is the blame? What is killing our kids? What is making them sick? I cringe every time I see a baby bottle of coke or chocolate milk. How about kids that grow up on Happy Meals? How about the breakfast table of sugar cereals and a soda? Something has to give.

For a long time I have thought that society paid a big price to take the mother and the father from the home. We were told that the professionals could do a better job. The clothing manufactures could clothe us better. The food processors could feed us better. The school system could educate us better, and the government could make our decisions for us better. If we would just abandon our homes and join the work force our lives would be great. We would be less stressed and wealthier, we would be the products of the technological age.

Well, jury, what do you think? Are you less stressed? Are you healthy? Is your family better off in the hands of the professionals? Has the convenience of fast food been paid for by doctor bills? Are you suffering from chronic fatigue? Is your brain fuzzy?

I would suggest that we need to take a good look at the whole picture. We are sick, and the changes we need have to strike at the very fundamental attitudes we have adopted into our culture. We have been riding along in the age of science and technology, abandoning all the ways of our forefathers. But guess what? Our great grandparents were much healthier than we are and they were right, cod liver oil and sunshine are good for you!

If you are still here then I commend you for getting through my treatise. I have a lot of passion about the relationship between diet and disease and you may just be in for a few of these while I am studying this book. Remember my motto, this is where you get Fresh Fixins and you never do know what your going to get.

16 comments:

Becky said...

I love how you lay it all out there. You are right of course. In trying to take the easy way out we have made things harder on ourselves.

Tricia said...

I agree. What goes in effects the quallity of our health. FigNewTon's blood work was better when we ate organic foods that I cooked from scratch. I am no longer able to buy organic, but we still don't eat processed foods or at restaraunts. It is a compromise in the middle, but it is what I can do. :)

Heidi said...

Go GIRL!!! LOVE this little fact sheet of yours! We are alos very careful of what we eat and where it comes from. Beef raised on growth hormones is NOT GOOD.. that is why we dont put those inour beefe.....

Michelle said...

I agree with the link between diet and disease. Processed foods and soda are the norm in a lot of diets for both kids and adults. School cafeteria's are chock full of processes foods.

farmlady said...

I'm on your side. Autism, hyperactivity, attention deficit disorders..., all on the rise. But so are bad diets, bad behavior, and not listening. The child becomes the man and life moves on...
We will see our children die before us if something doesn't change. I'm very pessimistic about this, but I don't think much will change. It's all about money and blaming others these days.

joanne said...

I can feel your passion and will be back to 'hear' much more of it. I couldn't agree with you more but I am of the belief that it is too late to turn back, the damage is done. I have never been a slave to the fast food/sugar/soda craze but I suffer many maladies..I agree with you that we must start somewhere and do what we can to make better lives for our families. Thanks KD

Stickhorsecowgirls said...

Great post. I have an 89 year old law partner who works every single day, looks so much younger, and is a hoot. She has always been a vegetarion--not of philosophy, but of taste. When we go out to eat, she asks for a "to go" box when her food is served and at the beginning of the meal cuts each item in half, stowing it for tomorrow's lunch. She does all things in moderation: eating well moderately, stopping with one cup of coffee in the morning or one glass of wine occasionally at dinner. What she does NOT do in moderatoin is LIVE...she ballroom dances each weekend and is a social butterfly.

So, the evidence piles up, your honor--we are what we eat...

Thanks. Loved your post. It has inspired me to return to my blog and post about my senior partner!! C

WudWerkr said...

These facts are dead on right , people today consume waaaaayy to much refined sugar, On thing i didnt see mentioned was "adhd" this problem IS a DIRECT result of to much processed sugars. People think im nuts , but when my son was diagnosed adhd we cut out processed sugars and were able to control it WITHOUT meds.

Unknown said...

You are so right about diet and disease. Processed foods and pesticides are two culprits I try to avoid.

Congratulations on having a boss who recognizes your true potential and station in the nursing profession.

Kudos to your college coed!! Really, $1,500 is a bargain per semester even for a JC nowadays. I wish her the best...and a happy birthday to your husband! :)

LDF said...

Well said! I so totally agree with you! People think I'm weird cuz I still bake my own bread and make my own soup ... "you live by yourself, buy a can of soup and save yourself the effort already!" ... and live without a microwave and a tv. I firmly believe we were healthier and happier when life was slower and simpler, and do what I can to maintain that for myself. Keep posting this kind of stuff ... more of us need to take this kind of stand!

Grandma Tillie's Bakery said...

I agree totally--but then you knew that already, didn't you? LOL

Everything in this house is made from scratch, all the way down to sauces and dressings. Flour is organic and ground by hand.

I go to great lengths to avoid preservatives--I think they are one of the many culprits of our society's health problems.

We are a healthy bunch in this house, rarely getting sick at all. None of us has had the flu that I can ever remember and we don't get the flu shot.

A good naturopath can be one of your greatest assets--do you have one yet??

Chris H said...

*sigh* seems I am doomed then. I only Drink Diet Coke.
My kids do not though, so at least I'm not killing them.

Government Funded Blogger said...

I was born during the Great Depression and grew up during wartime food rationing.Those to things alone ensured that our family ate frugally yet healthily. Good post!!

Khris said...

I made it to the end...lol...and the old saying is so true "we are what we eat"....sooooo true...hugs Khris in Oz

Debbie in CA : ) said...

Love this book! Have learned oodles of new things and confirmed other ideas that I have employed here in my own home, which go contrary to the "latest" info. Just bought "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" by Weston A. Price -- good rainy day reading.

Keep reading, keep learning, keep changing, and by all means keep on blogging. : D

Twisted Fencepost said...

I totally agree with you! And don't forget about all the preservatives put into our food. Which is why, here on the farm, we are working to preserve as much food as we can, ourselves. We know what's put in the food. And it's completely healthy.
Keep on posting all that you learn. And I, for one, will keep on reading!