The Healthcare System
The healthcare system in the US is not set up to prevent disease but only to diagnose those that are already sick. “Today, most medical schools in the United States teach less than 25 hours of nutrition over four years…… less than 20 percent of medical schools (in the US) have a single required course in nutrition, it’s a scandal”, said David Eisenberg, adjunct associate professor of nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health.
Unfortunately most doctors, during their education are only taught how to diagnose a disease not prevent it. Once the diagnosis is reached, in most cases, prescription drugs are prescribed. What’s sad, some doctors get kickbacks from the pharmaceutical company for promoting their drug, WHAT?!!! Have you ever had a friend that was taking one drug to counteract the side effects of another, red flag!! I’m sure you have seen pharmaceutical advertisements where a large portion is devoted to the side effects. Prevention would blow up the operating model of Big Pharma! Why doesn’t Big Pharma use natural products? Answer, they can not patent a natural product so they use chemicals, formulated in a lab, able to patent and thus make huge profits. Don’t get me wrong there are times that the pharma path is the only option. There are so many natural paths that our healthcare providers need to explore and point us down to be healthy and stay healthy. Prevention starts with a healthy lifestyle and feeding your body the nutrients it needs to fight off disease. Prevention over just diagnosis! Find an MD (Medical Doctor) that has also trained in the holistic field involving natural nutrients and their positive effects on our bodies. Go to www.ifm.org/find-a-practitioner/ and look for the MD designation behind their name. In the search it will tell you what they specialize in nd help you find the right doctor for you.
Decline of Nutrient Rich Food in the U.S.
Compounding the problem of our healthcare system is the decline of nutrient rich food. Artificial ingredients, fortification with synthetic vitamins and poorer farming practices all lead to lower nutritional content. Fruits and vegetables from industrial farms have declined 20% to 50% in nutritional value in the last 50 years and that is exasperated by the use of toxic ingredients in processed foods. The U.S. is ranked 39th out of 169 countries for being the healthiest in a Bloomberg report that came out just prior to the pandemic. One of the main reasons cited for our low ranking was poor diet.
Back in the day I remember going to my grandfather’s farm and seeing big sections of the farm empty with nothing growing. He explained that it was important to allow the soil to rest and rejuvenate so that it maintained it’s healthy nutrients. The conventional farming practices today use more and more synthetic chemical fertilizers, pesticides and herbicides with a detrimental effect on the soil of our farms, increased pollution, decreased bee population and worst of all the decline of the nutrients in our food. If you don’t think those pesticides are making it into our bodies from the industrial farm, think again! Through the food itself but also from the run off, ground water and air pollution are side effects. I’m afraid that our population’s health is going to get worse if we don’t continue to support our “Organic” farmers. Through organic farming, nutrient levels in our food are maintained, soil quality is supported and there is a reduction in pollution in the air and the water. The argument for conventional farming is that it yields higher quantity but that has been refuted in studies that have shown that with proper organic farming management yields can be the same and even higher in drought years and most importantly the nutritional quality of the food is superior. For those that want to protect our planet, organic farming has the added benefits of producing 35% less fossil fuel pollution and conserves water!
It seems that those (residents of the US) that the FDA and USDA are suppose to be protecting have been overlooked because of the blinding power of money. I was hoping the new administration would get rid of Glyphosate. Unfortunately with the new USDA appointment it seems that our hopes are dashed. Some 26 countries have banned the use of GMOs and Glyphosate why haven’t we? If the health of our people continues to weaken it will continue to put stress on the fragile financial well being of our country. I appreciate the discussion of taking care of our planet, by the administration, but don’t understand that that conversation does not include the ecological and financial destruction that pesticides pose.
If you oppose the use of GMOs and pesticides go to www.organicconsumers.org to help the cause. Don’t Risk Your Health to the Uncertainty of Synthetic Vitamins! Or Glyphosate!!
Cheers! Live long, exercise, hydrate and get your nutrients!
Oly, Founder of Mountain Rescue Nutrients, www.MrNutrients.com
Sources:
(1) Educating Future Physicians in Nutritional Science and Practice: The Time Is Now. Cresci G, Beidelschies M, Tebo J, Hull A.J Am Coll Nutr. 2019 Jul;38(5):387-394. doi: 10.1080/07315724.2018.1551158. Epub 2019 Feb 6
(2) https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/doctors-nutrition-education/
(3) DOLLARS FOR DOCTORS by Charles Ornstein, Tracy Weber and Ryann Grochowski Jones Oct. 17, 2019, 12 p.m. EDT ProPublica https://www.propublica.org/article/we-found-over-700-doctors-who-were-paid-more-than-a-million-dollars-by-drug-and-medical-device-companies
(4) “Environmental, Energetic, and Economic Comparisons of Organic and Conventional Farming Systems” BioScience • July 2005 / Vol. 55 No. 7 573-582 DAVID PIMENTEL, PAUL HEPPERLY, JAMES HANSON, DAVID DOUDS, AND RITA SEIDEL BANR/NRC 2003 Pimentel et al .2005 Pimentel 2005
(5) Organic Farming: A Path to Healthy Food and Environment by P. P. Patel and D. D. Champaneri International Journal of Current Microbiology and Applied Sciences ISSN: 2319-7706 Volume 9 Number 3 (2020) pg 637-644
(6) “These Are the World’s Healthiest Nations” By Lee J Miller and Wei Lu Bloomberg.com, February 24, 2019, 7:00 AM MST
(7) “Declining Fruit and Vegetable Nutrient Composition,” HortScience, 2009; 44:15,