By Whatever Name,
“Complementary Medicine”
Must be Based on Truth.
As a retired Medical Doctor, and as The Amarillo American Correspondent’s resident contributing editor for health matters, I was asked by the Publisher to write an article about whether or not I support so-called “alternative medicine.”
I find that an interesting question.
(No doubt prompted by the advent of the 3rd annual Amarillo Health Initiative.)
My answer would not fit on a bumper sticker. Besides, it would serve little purpose for my readers to hear a simple “yes” or “no” from me, unless they were also well informed of my reasons.
So let me begin by saying this:
Much of what you may have learned from “mainstream medicine” or the government about Type II Diabetes, is simply wrong.
Much of what you've been told by those same sources about the relationship of cholesterol to
I know that sounds hard to believe, but it is, sadly, - terribly - true!
For example, most people have come to be convinced that heart disease and stroke result from a diet high in cholesterol and saturated fats. This notion is based on the flawed idea that cholesterol is the chief cause of atherosclerosis, or “hardening of the arteries.”
But the truth is, there is no direct cause-and-effect relationship between cholesterol levels and risk for stroke or heart attack.
And we've known this for decades!
When President
What's more, “Ike” then began having his cholesterol measured 10 times a year by his physicians. He eliminated all
What was true of Ike has been true of the general population as well. Americans have been eating so-called "heart-healthy" diets for more than 40 years now, and yet we've seen no reduction in heart disease, stroke, or atherosclerosis.
In fact, heart disease is worse today than it was 50 years ago!
People find it difficult to believe that so much of they have been told about cholesterol could be wrong. They especially have difficulty believing that their own doctors could be so wrong.
After all, these doctors went to medical school . . . and they use a lot of fancy medical jargon. That's proof that they must know what they are talking about, right?
Well, I went to medical school, too. I know all the jargon, too. In fact, I practiced cardiology for 35 years, at some of the most famous hospitals in the world.
During the early years of my practice, I also believed what the medical establishment said about cholesterol — and I prescribed a lot of pharmaceutical drugs.
But when I really began to examine the scientific evidence in greater detail, and to carefully analyze my own personal experiences successfully treating patients, that I discovered that I, like so many of my colleagues, had been misled. I was merely parroting a lie.
I discovered not only that cholesterol does NOT cause heart disease and stroke, but also that the "heart-healthy" diet that has been pushed on Americans for four decades has contributed to the cancer epidemic we've seen.
In fact, the
That's because the polyunsaturated vegetable oils that the government has been recommending are like powerful "fertilizers" for cancer tumors.
Some say that the increase in brain cancers and neurological illnesses, — even suicides, has resulted from the toxicity and nutritional deficiencies caused by more widespread use of various psychotropic and other “black box” medicines.
Likewise, the “food pyramid,” and recommendations by the AMA, FDA, ADA, TDC and PDC for Diabetics, promote a diet with very high carbohydrate content, which is sort of like throwing fuel on a fire.
These “official endorsements” of the practices of “conventional medicine” then perpetuate increases in the high costs of “Health Care,” as we continue to subsidize the generation of obesity, diabetes, renal failure, dialysis, heart surgery, angioplasty, stents, etc., - rather than support programs that have been proven effective in preventing and curing these conditions.
Many of these proven programs are considered “alternative” simply because “conventional” programs ignore entirely certain facts. Such as the fact that sugar and other high glycemic carbohydrates such as corn syrup and fructose are 100% toxic, and have no nutritional value.
Further, these pervasive poisons cause “energy storage syndrome.” That is my term for what is commonly known as “getting fat.” Obesity and its myriad complications, in turn aggravate and contribute to most of the chronic illnesses suffered in our country, from
We could probably send half the patients home from the hospitals if we could just outlaw sugar (including all the sugar they get in the hospital!)
I remember the fight I fought for years to try and get the hospitals to eliminate cigarette machines from the hallways, and then the sale of tobacco products across the counter in the cafeteria!
Can you imagine what it would be like today to try and get the hospitals to get rid of all the vending machines with sugary snacks and drinks? They’re everywhere!
It’s been hard enough convincing the schools to wake up to their complicity in creating sickness and disease and death among the youth of this country.
Don’t even get me started on
I think the Publisher of the Correspondent should begin a dialogue, with case examples, with the
At one time, I was part and parcel of the “medical establishment,” and for that very reason, I know the strengths and the weaknesses of “conventional medicine,” and I have seen its dark side, as currently practiced in the United States:
Giant pharmaceutical companies spewing out billion-dollar propaganda for drugs of dubious benefit — or, worse, for drugs they knew for a fact had dangerous side effects . . .
Medical students and doctors being "indoctrinated" merely for financial gain . . .
Unnecessary surgeries being done when more conservative, less dangerous options were available . . .
Expensive, invasive diagnostic tests being administered to patients who didn't really need them, merely for "liability" reasons . . .
Insurance companies telling doctors how to practice medicine . . .
For decades, so-called “alternative” and nutritionally-oriented physicians like myself have advocated the omega-3 (fish) oils as a proven preventive for cardiovascular disease, and as a vital component for neurological development in the young.
Yet for years many doctors dismissed such recommendations — and mainstream medical journals went out of their way to attack believers in fish oil supplements as misguided. (Now, of course, they all sing its praises as a preventive . . . yet it started out as an "alternative" treatment.)
The term "evidence-based medicine" was invented largely to discredit all alternative treatments, since it implies that everything outside traditional medicine is not "evidence-based."
In fact, most alternative treatments have a tremendous amount of scientific evidence for their mode of action
Is there any reason drug companies would NOT want ordinary people to know the REAL cause of diabetes and
In my opinion, Billions of Reasons!
As I have said, we've known for 50 years now what the real cause of heart disease is — and it's not cholesterol.
In the 1950s,
Dr. Gofman found that, in general, the triglyceride level, NOT cholesterol level, was linked most closely to heart disease and atherosclerosis.
By the 1960s, studies had shown this to be true, - yet the cholesterol proponents had already convinced the government and the media. The reason why the government resisted the idea that triglycerides were more important is simple:
The major regulator of triglycerides in the diet is not fat, but SUGAR! - and refined carbohydrates.
To admit this would be to admit that the high-carbohydrate diet the medical establishment had been pushing for half a century was actually killing people!
The bottom line is this: The "heart-healthy" diet the medical establishment still pushes to this day — one low in saturated (meat) fats and high in sugars and refined carbs — does indeed lower HDL cholesterol, just as its advocates say.
But it RAISES triglyceride and VLDL cholesterol levels — the very pattern most associated with obesity, diabetes, and risk for cardiovascular disease and stroke.
Worst of all, the big pharmaceutical companies now have a $15 billion industry — the manufacturing and marketing of cholesterol-lowering statin drugs — that has an enormous financial interest in covering up the truth about what really causes heart attacks and strokes, and what really causes obesity and Type II Diabetes. (And covering up what “alternative” treatments and cures are available.)
The truth is, I simply believe in good medicine. By whatever name it is called, “Complementary Medicine” must be based on Truth. That means results can be compared to the effectiveness of any other system of treatment.
My perspective is based upon an awareness developed by my experiences, of having worked with and practiced with (and trained) a series of doctors among whom were Nobel Laureates and world recognized leaders in the Healing Arts, such as John Wilson.
“Bud,” as he was known to me, taught me the basics of hemodynamic monitoring and the evaluation of
But most importantly, he taught me to recognize the “interconnectedness” among all the marvelously complex systems of the living, healthy human being, which formed the vital core of my lifelong success in the practice of the Healing Arts.
I believe in preventing disease if possible . . . and healing it whenever I can. And over the years, I've come to believe that one of the key reasons people get sick and suffer from disease is what they eat.
I am in favor of the individual taking responsibility for his / her own health.
That means LEARNING! Learning about yourself, and about nutrition. That means learning about your miraculous body and its ability to heal itself when properly respected and taken care of.
Then, DOING what you KNOW!
“Seek and ye shall find” … a doctor who is dedicated to help you stay healthy, not sick. How will you know? “By their fruits shall ye know them.” Look for results! Be diligent!
God Bless You! Get healthy!