Medical Advise or Advice
Recently my email has been full of
medical advice. The good news
apparently is that you can cure diabetes by eating sugar. There is a cure for Alzheimer’s. There
is also a cure for Dementia. Unfortunately
email has no double-blind peer review. I remain skeptical.
I have received warnings about
water, salads and vegetables. One
message claimed drinking water could be worse for you than smoking a cigarette.
Another message urged me to eliminate salad from my diet entirely. According to various email senders all
three substances noted above could kill me. I was released from the hospital recently. My problem at admission was severe
diarrhea. I was kept off water and
food for about 2 ½ days. I had little to eat or drink the day before I was
admitted. I can attest that not drinking water not only could kill you, but definitely
will kill you. And if my
experience is any indication, it’s a painful way to die. The internet medical fact machine
reported death would take between several days to a few weeks. Before you ask, substituting beer or
wine for water drinking has consequences of its own.
One new post started, “A glass of
water at lunch can kill you.” I wonder H2O is deadly at lunch. Do the anti-water cells take a break
then? With proper positioning it
is possible to drown in a small amount of water. And how big a glass are we talking about anyway?
Another new post reported, “If you
avoid water for one month you can lose fifty pounds. I imagine the scavengers will have reduced your dead body to
little more than bones at that point.
I’m lucky my religion does not
require fasting. When I refrain
from food I get hungry. When I refrain from water I get thirsty.
I didn’t read the messages, just
the tag lines. The senders might
have been flogging water filters or a food preparation machines. Well I have drunk water and eaten
salads plus vegetables and I am perfectly fine.
(Note: this blog was found it the
author’s file of blogs. After
discussion, the executors decided to publish it without changes.)
Warren,I have to shake my head when I read all these nutritional do's and don'ts that keep changing. Now we need a little fat in our diet after hearing for years and years that it's a definite no no. Butter is now considered better than margarine which is taboo now. Today I just read in TIME that salt can be okay as long as you're using it at home and not getting it in a restaurant where food is more heavily salted. And wasn't it great news that dark chocolate is good for you? Like you I eat vegetables and other foods in moderation and drink water when I'm thirsty - water from my tap and not bottled water.
ReplyDeleteMedical advise, even genuine medical advise, changes all the time. I can remember choking down calve's liver because "It's good for you." And spreading oleo on my toast because "It's better for you than butter."
ReplyDeleteMy husband is waiting for the powers that be to decide the benefits of smoking actually outweigh the harmful effects. I have my doubts, but he maintains it will happen one day. And he will go back to his two pack a day Lucky Strike habit. If they still make Lucky Strikes.
Well, you may SAY you're perfectly fine, but ...
ReplyDeleteMedical advice is very confusing. I'm not sure who said "everything in moderation" but I think that's wise advice. Also, I choose to believe dark chocolate is good for me.
ReplyDeleteWell of course eating sugar can cure diabetes. Eat a bunch and it sends you into a diabetic coma and you die. No more diabetes.
ReplyDeleteDeath seems to cure most bodily ills.
I'll never forget Jim Fixx, who wrote a book about the positive benefits of jogging on longevity, and then died of a heart attack in his early 50s. People also forget that 65% of lung cancer and emphysema cases are nonsmokers. We read such garbage on the Internet, Email, and even in studies that are supposed to be academically valid, there is no way to determine the truth. At one time, I didn't realize how much "scientific" data was swayed by what PC public opinion.
ReplyDelete