I graduated from Chiropractic College forty years ago this year, and in the intervening years I have had some interesting insights. Perhaps the greatest insight has been that, as a nation, we are eating foods so deficient in nutrients that we are creating chronic disease and early death. Consider this:
- In 2005, 133 million people, almost half of all Americans, lived with at least one chronic condition.
- Chronic diseases account for 70% of all deaths in the USA.
- Chronic diseases account for 1/3 of the years of potential life lost before age 65.
- Fifty percent of the estimated 1.1 billion visits to physician offices and hospital outpatient and emergency departments were for chronic conditions. Hypertension was the most frequent condition, followed by arthritis, high cholesterol, diabetes, and depression.
- Between 1996 and 2006, the percentage of visits to hospital outpatient departments by adults 18 years old and older with chronic diabetes increased by 43%, and visits with chronic hypertension increased by 51%.
If we look at the research it becomes evident that many third world countries suffer, by comparison, almost no chronic disease at all. How come? Amazingly, the answer to that question is a simple one. After the Second World War this nation embarked on a number of unproven paths that have been frighteningly unsuccessful.
First and foremost was the takeover of the family farm by big agribusiness interests, the idea being that the university/industrial complex could do it better for less. Unfortunately, we have found that the small naturally/organically oriented farmer produces crops that are as much as 50% higher in the essential micronutrients (genuine replacement parts) than the produce from the bigger “high tech” agribusiness mega farms which have been selling the consumer, that’s you and I, nutritionally devalued foods for over fifty years.
Secondly, at the same time, our government accepted the idea that manufactured foods could be consumed with impunity. Manufactured foods have flooded the market and occupy most of the middle aisles of all major supermarkets. The foods around the perimeter have remained about the same since I was a boy, but the aisles have gotten bigger and bigger. This tells me that our consumption of packaged items masquerading as healthy food have become the big sellers. The point I want to make is this, if the body isn’t given genuine replacement parts it will become chronically diseased and die before its’ time.
Few people know that the cells of the body replace themselves at least once every 24 months. Therefore, if I shake your hand in 24 months I’m shaking the hand of someone completely new. That means that every cell in your body is replaced every two years, and some cells as often as every two weeks, for example, the lining of the digestive tract replaces itself every ten to fourteen days.
Let’s say you don’t get sufficient fat in your diet to provide the brain with sufficient genuine replacement parts. The brain, being 60% fat by weight, will replicate itself at a level somewhat less than what was there before. Because the body has incredible organ reserve, this is generally not immediately noticeable. However, if for twenty years the brain replaces itself every two years without the genuine replacement parts needed for healthy replacement/healing, it is reasonable and understandable that sooner or later noticeable dysfunction will result. You see, IN ORDER TO CONTINUE TO REPRODUCE HEALTHY CELLS AND TISSUES AND ORGANS YOUR BODY MUST HAVE A READY SUPPLY OF GENUINE REPLACEMENT PARTS AT ITS DISPOSAL.
Nutritionally deficient produce and manufactured foods do not constitute genuine replacement parts. Most chronic disease is the result of replacing foods replete with genuine replacement parts with deficient foods and packaged non-foods. Drugs will not take the place of genuine replacement parts. Drugs disguise symptoms until the underlying problems just get worse, and that requires more drugs, etc.
In our busy society, Moms are so busy that they are looking for shortcuts anywhere they can find them. We have been educated by the media and big business that deficient produce and packaged foods are acceptable and healthy and convenient. Well, they are convenient until we reach the ranks of the diseased. Disease is not so convenient.
I’ve had patients tell me that they couldn’t afford to “shop healthy.” Unfortunately, we can’t afford not to. Most chronic disease is caused by the removal of genuine replacement parts from our foods, and the proof is simple. When you put genuine replacement parts back, health improves, and often complete healing ensues. The so called “miracles” that happen weekly in my office are the result of first removing the barriers to healing and then supplying genuine replacement parts. A wonderful example of that can be found in the Patient Stories section — Chronic Fatigue Syndrome: A Journey To Wellness.
You will be rewarded with improved health when you shop at Farmers Markets and places like Skyview Farms, which is listed in our Referral Network.
