American Health

[Guest guest]

American Health

 

 

There are fundamental problems

with America's disease-care system (for it certainly is not a health care

system).  The quality of emergency care in this country is superb. 

But chronic disease care? Preventive medicine?  Nutrition and wellness

education?  Delivery of these services is so pathetic that we are

all too often better off without them.  Here are some reasons: 

1. FINANCIAL CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 

  a. Doctors and hospitals and pharmacies

make the big money only when you are sick.  The end result is obvious. 

  b. There is virtually no funding

from pharmaceutical companies to support vitamin research.  Why? 

Because there is no money for them in a cheap, non-prescription cure that

already exists and cannot be patented. 

 2. GOVERNMENT OUT-OF-TOUCH WITH

THE PEOPLE 

 Government may change the way it

funds our failing " health " system, but the system itself continues on,

fundamentally unchanged, with its drug-and-surgery orientation.  Only

voters can stop this. 

 3. AVOIDANCE OF INDIVIDUAL RESPONSIBILITY

FOR HEALTH 

  a. The elderly are the main users

of the disease-care system, and are by far the chief taxpayer-supported

users.  This age group is often strikingly resistant to diet and lifestyle

change.  What preventive health education the elderly are offered

is as bland as a nursing home diet and just as useless. 

  b. The poor are treated for diseases

but not educated for health.  The poor all too willingly accept this,

and stay dependent on dispensary-style medical " care. "   

Don't tell me that it is different, because

I've seen it.  I've worked with street people and the homeless. 

Some so drunk that they couldn't stand straight, some children so hungry

that they ate more food at one sitting than I ever saw go into any body

of any size.  Drugs, especially alcohol and cigarettes, eat into the

wallets and purses of poverty so much more than those of the middle and

upper classes.  For 10 cents a day they each could have vitamin supplements,

and I've seen first hand how much sickness that will end.  I've also

seen how difficult it is to motivate the recipient to want to use vitamins

and good diet when they are handed pharmaceuticals instead.  You see,

we've taught people to hold out their hand, receive a

prescription, and go away. 

  c. Real health demands real lifestyle

change for almost all Americans.  Young    or old;

rich, poor or middle class: all ages, classes and races have to move   

towards a low sugar, near-vegetarian, chemical additive-free diet. 

The middle class and the well-to-do frequently have the attitude that " If

I don't want to live healthfully and eat right, you must still treat me,

and some insurance company has to pay for the treatment, too. "  

 4. COMPLACENCY AND MISINFORMATION

FROM HEALTH PROFESSIONALS 

 For decades, nutritionists and dietitians

have preached that vitamin and mineral supplements are not needed if you

just eat a balanced diet.  It is a nice story, but it is only a story. 

Daily supplements are the only way that Americans can possibly get 800

I.U. of vitamin E daily, the amount that    prevents most

cardiovascular disease, our #1 killer.  Daily supplements are the

only way that we can get between 500 and 3,000 milligrams of vitamin C

daily, the amount that is protective against many forms of cancer. 

Magnesium, calcium and chromium deficiency

are the rule, not the exception, in the U.S.  It's simply not enough

to keep cholesterol and saturated fat out of your diet.  We

have to put something good IN. 

It is time to wake up and smell the herbal

tea.  A house built on  a crooked foundation will never have

a straight roof.  We're spending the better part of one TRILLION dollars

each year on disease care. 

It's not working.  A careful shopper

would demand their money back. 

Nobody likes a naysayer or a prophet of

doom, especially when the subject hits as close to home as this one. 

So here's the way out: 

 1. Health care for every person requires

every person to take responsibility for their own   health. 

This starts at the dinner table. 

Overweight and undernourished: that's us. 

 2. A country that manages to get

Tax Form 1040s to everyone can get a good daily multiple vitamin

to everyone.  Cost?  Ten cents a day per person times 291 million

Americans (2003) equals 29 million dollars a day times 365 days for a total

of 10.6 billion annually.  That is about one percent of what we spend

on " health " each year in this country. 

 3. The US RDAs must be raised to

be effective in actually preventing disease.  Vitamin  

C should be increased by at least 20 times (from 60 milligrams to 1,200

mg daily, which is still less than half what any other animal

our size obtains).  Vitamin E should be increased by at

least 40 times (from a ridiculous 10 to 15 International Units) to 400

to 600 I.U.)  This means supplements, so let's take them. 

 4. If you want to improve our nation's

health, greatly increase the tax on alcohol and cigarettes.  Two thirds

of all elderly hospital admissions are alcohol related. Our number

one single cause of death, still, is cigarette smoking.  You may well

object to paying for these habits with your taxes, but users are paying

with their lives. 

Copyright C 2005 and prior years Andrew W. Saul. From the books DOCTOR YOURSELF and FIRE YOUR DOCTOR, available from Andrew Saul, 23 Greenridge Crescent, Hamlin, NY 14464 USA.

Blessings,

Kandy

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Choose you this day whom ye will serve...as for me and my house, we will serve the LORD.