DIETARY CRACKHEADS, ANTI-VAXXER WHACK-JOBS, AND THE PALEO DIET
“Don’t be mad at me for speaking the truth about vaccines…… You didn’t ask once about those vaccines. You didn’t ask about the chemicals in them. You didn’t ask about all the harmful things in those vaccines…. People need to learn the facts.” Arizona Cardiologist Jack Wolfson from The Washington Post, as per a recent story in the Chicago Tribune (As Measles Outbreak grows, Arizona Doctor Wages Campaign Against Vaccines).
Learning facts is great. But face it; facts are funny things. And when it comes to the “facts” that make up what we call ‘Medical Science,’ we see that they are whatever those with the most money say they are. Think I’m exaggerating? I would challenge you to skim over some of our posts on EVIDENCE-BASED MEDICINE and argue the opposite (HERE’S an interesting one). Speaking of evidence……
I subscribe to MedPage Today’s “Morning Break” feature. Each morning I get the latest medical news via my inbox. Like the rest of the media, MedPage has been featuring all sorts of stories about those crazy “Anti-Vaxxers” — the people who are supposedly against vaccination. I use the word “supposedly” because I’m not sure most of the folks labeled as such are really against vaccinations. Allow me to explain.
As a red-blooded American, I am all about freedom. Freedom of religion, freedom to carry my Beretta, and freedom to chose what healthcare I want or don’t want for my family. In other words, while you might label me an Anti-Vaxxer, I completely support your right to get your shots. Just don’t try to force me or my to get ours.
If you’ve been following the discussion on our latest “epidemic” (the CDC said there were 102 US cases of measles in January), you have likely seen how this story is being politicized. In other words, Forced Vaccinations are shaping up to be a major issue for next year’s elections. This is not surprising.
Due to our nation’s increasingly socialistic policies as well as our passage of the Orwellianlly-named Affordable Care Act, we have elected officials who increasingly want to dictate healthcare policy to their constituency. Their thought process is that since they (“The Government”) will be increasingly paying for your healthcare, they’ve somehow earned the right to make increasing numbers of your family’s healthcare decisions.
One of our nation’s Founding Fathers and signer of the Declaration of Independence —– Dr. Benjamin Rush; a prominent Philadelphia physician, statesman, author, humanitarian, and university founder (not to mention our nation’s first Surgeon General) — had something to say concerning this topic back in the day. No, he certainly wasn’t specifically addressing things like MANDATORY FLU SHOTS here.
He was talking about protecting our freedom in every area of our lives — including our healthcare. It’s amazing what he foresaw almost two and a half centuries ago. “Unless we put medical freedom into the Constitution, the time will come when medicine will organize itself into an undercover dictatorship.“
The word “dictatorship” is certainly harsh. But let’s look at how Daniel Webster defined it back in the 1828 version of his dictionary: “Authority; Imperiousness; Dogmatism; Absolute Power“. It would not be difficult to argue that this describes where we are increasingly headed with government-run healthcare. And although the medical discussions on TV largely center around people who believe that a “Forced Vaccination” policy is best for America, there are a significant number of physicians with an opposite point of view.
One such person is Phoenix, Arizona Cardiologist, Dr Jack Wolfson of Wolfson Integrative Cardiology. Wolfson is one of many prominent physicians (Joseph Mercola is another that comes immediately to mind, as does Suzanne Humphries, and AMY DAVIS WRIGHT) who has become an outspoken critic of our nation’s vaccination policies.
Among other things that Wolfson himself has been criticized for — as you can imagine; the list is quite long — is saying that a PALEO-LIKE DIET has the power to help protect against infectious diseases like the Measles. Could this possibly be true? Or is it yet another example of poppycock and full-blown hype? Let’s take a look.
The average American is living large (no pun intended) on a HIGH CARB LIFESTYLE. This is problematic because the current peer-reviewed scientific literature is tying BLOOD SUGAR DYSREGULATION ISSUES back to nearly every health problem you can think of. For instance, did you know that sugar consumption is directly linked to Cancer (HERE)? Not only that, it’s tied to an increased propensity for developing infections (HERE) and Dysbiosis (HERE). Not surprisingly, our latest government -recommended diet (DASH) is, like ANTIBIOTICS, failing us in the war against infectious illness (not to mention OBESITY) — something that most doctors FAIL TO GRASP.
I would take Wolfson’s side and argue that Paleo is the best dietary approach for helping prevent infectious diseases, not to mention aiding people who have CHRONIC DEGENERATIVE INFLAMMATORY ILLNESSES and AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES. Enter David Seaman.
Dr. Seaman is a FUNCTIONAL NEUROLOGIST from Florida who is arguably the Chiropractic profession’s preeminent educator on the topic of INFLAMMATION — something most people feel they have a handle on, even though they don’t. I’ve not only written about Dr. Seaman’s ANTI-INFLAMMATORY diet, but I’ve discussed his use of the term ‘DIETARY CRACKHEADS‘ as well. In Dr. Seaman’s lectures (I’ve sat through a few) he talks extensively about the link between Chronic Systemic Inflammation and sugar (HERE).
I bring this up because the latest issue of Dynamic Chiropractic carries yet another one of his articles on the topic called, Medication Use Among Most DC’s is Popular — For Many It’s a Daily Event.
Seeing this title, I can visualize most DC’s being immediately taken aback — offended, yet intrigued at the same time (as a profession, chiros are not real hip on using DRUGS as the first line of defense for most health problems). What are the drugs (he calls refers to them as “Dietary Crack“) that huge numbers of Americans, including large numbers of chiros, are indulging in daily? They are “Refined Calories” from things like SODA, processed GRAINS, JUNK FOOD, and any number of others. Although Seaman is honest when he tells us that he himself occasionally takes a “hit” of the stuff, he also provides us with some great advice — advice I myself have given out any number of times.
“Because I am against dietary crack, it would be unprincipled of me to buy it or store it in my house, regularly eat it, or feed it to others. Stop giving it to the people you love the most. Stop giving it to your patients. Stop giving it to friends and colleagues. Stop giving it to little children…. [If I indulge], I typically only have a little because there is no useful purpose to push the reward response and drive the addiction centers any more than needed.”
Chiropractors need to be leading from the front in all health-related arenas, but particularly in anything that has to do with natural health — GUT HEALTH, WEIGHT MANAGEMENT, BLOOD SUGAR REGULATION, EXERCISE, NUTRITION, etc, etc, etc. Great leaders aren’t afraid to buck the system, swim upstream, or go against the grain (or use redundant cliches) — and they certainly aren’t afraid to take risks. Life is all about figuring out what the reward for something is and then cutting, leveraging, or managing the risk(s) associated with it.
Let’s face it — life is dangerous; and whichever side of an issue you come down on has the potential to wreck your life. Or even kill you. As an avid GOLDWINGER, I can assure you that there are no failsafes. You take your chances and roll with them.
This means that if you choose not to vaccinate, your family may end up with measles, WHOOPING COUGH, Chicken Pox, FLU, etc, etc, etc. But don’t kid yourself. Just because you choose to vaccinate doesn’t provide you or your children a free pass regarding serious health problems. If you’ve studied the VACCINE / AUTISM debate, you know exactly what I’m talking about. The truth about the MMR Vaccine is being suppressed in many different ways; (HERE is one of them, but there are many).
Unfortunately, we are captivated by sensationalism and sugar (why do you think the checkout line at the grocery store always has the National Enquirer and Snickers Bars displayed so prominently?). We should be discussing the fact that three of the five leading causes of death in the United States (CANCER, DIABETES, and CARDIOVASCULAR DISEASE), not to mention infectious diseases and overall health, are intimately related to our NATIONAL ADDICTION to “Dietary Crack“. But face it, talking about the measles “epidemic” is sure to garner higher much TV ratings than talking about Obesity.
