Medical Opposites

Medical Opposites

            There is an interesting trend that I have noticed from our many years of clinical practice which I call medical opposites. What I mean by this term is that the mainstream medical advice we hear seems to be the opposite of what the human body actually needs nutritionally or diet wise. There are many of these and I will try to explain them as sensibly as possible. Let’s start with a simple one.

            For decades now, the mainstream medical wisdom has told us not to eat salt because it supposedly causes high blood pressure. I would agree that the use, or overuse, of refined salt can cause problems. Our bodies need sea salt or mineral salt to work correctly and that distinction is never made. Sea salt is necessary for our kidneys to work correctly, for good adrenal function to handle stress, for lymphatic fluid drainage and cerebral spinal fluid flow, to keep the proper acid/base balance in the body, and many other functions. Many of us older people will remember salt pills at the water fountains in school. Salt helps you to sweat so you can cool your body and helps you retain fluid to keep you hydrated. By just telling people to not eat salt at all, causes many symptoms and problems in the patient population. An example of this is people who pass out from being overheated. What did they do? They take you to the hospital and put in an IV to give you salt water. And then send you the bill. Humans have used salt for millennia for preserving food, for health issues as we describe, and even as money in certain civilizations. Telling people not to have any because of blood pressure issues is an oversimplification.

            Another simple opposite is that of refined sugar. Mainstream medical opinion is that refined carbs are no different than the sugar found in fruit or vegetables and are therefore safe to indulge in. While the body does use glucose, a simple sugar, as an energy source, our bodies were never meant to use refined sugar taken out of food context. This refined sugar has no minerals or fiber to slow the body’s use of it. It is addictive and the continued use is a major reason behind all other degenerative diseases that we are plagued with. Everyone knows that diabetes patient numbers are on the rise but no one seems to want to know why. I don’t know how many patients that I have seen that were taking diabetic drugs or insulin, that were still eating loads of refined sugar as this was allowed by their doctors. As refined sugar is addictive, like cocaine, it is hard to get patients off of this substance but it can be done if done on a gradient level. There are 60 different names for sugar that the manufacturers put into our foods. It’s no wonder that the numbers of diabetes patients are rising. Just good business?

            The next opposite is a little more complex. The mainstream medical war against fats has claimed many lives. There are essential fatty acids and essential amino acids that we must get from the diet. Essential means that the body cannot make them so they must be gotten from our food intake. Vitamins A, D, E, and K are all oil soluble vitamins and come from the consumption of good fats and oils. The manufacturers have processed oils so they will not go rancid on the store shelves and this processing makes the oils worthless as a nutritional source, that’s why they won’t go rancid. We’ve heard over and over how saturated fat causes heart disease and this is not true. Our bodies have handled the natural sources of fats and oils for millennia and it’s the introduction of refined sugar that actually is underlying the cause of why fats are not used correctly by the body. This leads us to a quick discussion on cholesterol treatment, a huge source of income for Big Medical and Big Pharma. The body needs cholesterol to work correctly and using Staten drugs to stop the liver from making them answers no question as to why the cholesterol number is up. Lowering cholesterol too far can also cause issues like Alzheimer’s and dementia as the brain is around 60% cholesterol by weight.

            Another opposite would be the use of the purple pill, or a proton pump inhibitor, to stop acid production and reduce stomach pain. The big problem with this is that most people that have reflux problems need more of the correct kind of stomach acid to digest their food correctly, not less. This reduction of stomach acid causes all kinds of problems with absorption of nutrients in the person and they develop nutritional deficiencies and age faster.

            I could go on and on but you get the point. My main question here is that is this information given to us from ignorance on their part or are they telling us this misinformation on purpose? The high cost of medical care and the high cost of insurance is a result of all this misinformation. If people would only realize that they can help themselves by correcting their diet and lifestyle, mainstream medicine would lose its power over us. Get Healthy, Stay Healthy, and Live Well - Dr. Mark