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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