The fallacy of eating for specific nutrients ... MORE: Fallacy of diagnosis; Shopping for diagnoses; Messages From Within

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Erin

Tue Jul 3, 2007 3:46 am

 

Nevertheless, when people have either tested or found through nutrition

analysis that their diet is low in a certain nutrient about which we do have

knowledge, it is advisable to learn which foods might help. You'll notice I

made lists of vegetables, so I'm not suggesting anything unhealthy to obtain

them.

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Erin,

 

I understand this idea. I recognize that this idea is widely held. And if

one is going to engage in treatment based upon some diagnosis, then far

better to use foods than anything else.

 

My issue with this approach lies not in the details, but in the whole way of

thinking. Here are a few notes as to why:

 

1. The most healthful way to eat is by consuming whole foods. Whole foods

contain thousands ... tens of thousands ... of nutrients. It is quite

impossible to eat for individual nutrients. Whenever we try to use our

conscious mind to distort our intake of one nutrient, we distort our intake

of untold other nutrients at the same time.

 

2. All " nutrition analysis " is predicated upon norms determined through

studies on sick people. Modern medicine has the wrong norms for the most

basic of measures ... body temperature, pulse/heart rate, blood pressure,

respiration ... why would we pay much attention to their norms for anything

else?

 

3. If a person is genuinely deficient in one nutrient, then that person is

concurrently deficient in other nutrients ... probably thousands of

nutrients. The idea that we can be deficient in one nutrient arises from the

limited nature of testing technology and economics. It has nothing to do

with, and is counterproductive to, health. And any solution arising from a

singular focus upon one nutrient can only alleviate symptoms, at the very

best. More likely, that solution will merely replace one imbalance with

another.

 

4. If a person is feeling symptoms, the understanding of the symptoms almost

never lies in any diagnostic process. I have worked with many, many people,

and when they finish telling me about their " diagnoses " , we usually move on

and never refer to that information again. (There are a few exceptions.) A

study was done a number of years ago, looking for correlations that would

explain why different doctors arrived at the diagnoses they chose. The #1

correlation was the medical school they attended. In other words, what they

were diagnosing was primarily a product of what they had studied and had

relatively little to do with anything about their patients!!!

 

Where does this lead us? ... Away from the entire world of diagnosis. When

we go shopping for diagnoses ( " go to the doctor " ), we relinquish--at least

to a degree--responsibility for our own well-being and self-care. Many

people claim to listen to their bodies, but then when their symptoms become

even mildly uncomfortable, they abandon all such listening and run to a

priest (practitioner). This process is absolutely no different than running

to a medicine man ... and at least the medicine man is likely to do less

harm.

 

The real solution lies in coming face to face with ourselves. We must learn

to notice, and then to comprehend, the messages our subconscious mind sends

almost continually to inform our conscious awareness. And almost all

attempts to substitute the process of diagnosis in place of the process of

self-awareness lead us away from ourselves, back into our self-defeating

habits, and away from healthful living.

 

Stop going to practitioners for explanations of physical conditions. They

will almost invariably " diagnose " and " treat " you based upon what they have

learned, not based upon you. IF they thought and practiced from a genuinely

holistic place, then this might work well, at least some of the time. But

almost invariably, even those who claim to be " holistic practitioners "

cannot even correctly define the word. (The term arises in physics, and it

has a meaning.)

 

Please see also an extra post following this one, a repost of PathOfHealth

post #6736, entitled " Shopping for diagnoses, medical model " .

 

Best,

Elchanan

 

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