More information from our 91-year-old LifeNut, Mike Fremont.
Training log for the week of August 25th:
Sun. Ran 5
Mon. Canoe race 3
Tue. Ran 10
Wed. Canoe 3
Thurs. Ran 5, walked 5 Fri. Canoed 3 Sat. Rest
Future week forecast: Run 30 to 35, canoe three 3-mile races( weather permitting)
PHYSICIANS OF THE FUTURE
There are some of them out there now. The entire thrust of their medical practice is preventive medicine. Some may mix it in with far eastern medicine, which seems less drastic, less invasive, simpler and maybe even ... less effective than our allopathic kind. Or in some cases it works where nothing else has. Mainly, though, preventive medicine is about what we eat. Diet is implicated in obesity, heart conditions, stroke, diabetes, some popular cancers, MS, some asthma, some arthritis and many, many diseases as listed in Nutrition Guide for Clinicians (a manual by Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine). All of these ailments are affected by diet and many cases are cured, of which I am an example - not just a reporter.
The only diet I trust is commonly known as vegan, which means no animal protein - no meat, poultry, fish, seafood, milk or milk products, and no eggs. It also suggests minimal sugar or refined grains and sensible salt intake. Several world-famous athletes use this diet. Doctors who treat patients with dietary advice include John McDougall, Dean Ornish and Joel Fuhrman. There are many more. By feeding their patients properly they are strengthening their immune systems – which, to my layman’s mind, is what preventive medicine is all about.
Had I undergone standard treatment for cancer (when I was 70) with radiation and chemotherapy in 1994, I seriously doubt I would be writing to you today. In my opinion, my newly-adopted vegan diet enabled my immune system to kill the metastases that was found in my diagnosis.
As said in a previous message, medical schools have not offered nutritional training worthy of mention, to this point. I believe they will. Too much is now known about how diets affect our own health, our national health, and our high incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and childhood
obesity. Witness our relatively short life expectancy! Physicians are the ones ideally suited to spread this gospel. Schools will have to require doctors-in-training to UNDERSTAND how to feed their patients. We expect them to comprehend the infinitely complex medicines they prescribe for us. Just because they didn't get this nutritional information in medical school is no longer an adequate excuse not to use the therapeutic value of healthful food in treating patients.
There is in effect a whole new market for this kind of physician! And these people are out there right now! Here's an example. I have a good friend in his sixties who has been treated by a leading local physician for 20 or 30 years. This doctor is on the board of a local hospital. My friend had a life-threatening heart attack, for which he had the usual drastic dangerous treatment. We are lucky he's alive and we give due credit to the surgeon. But I blame the attending physician for allowing my
friend to eat like a fool and shoveling medicines at him for years for blood pressure and cholesterol etc. The doctor had every opportunity to put pressure on him to change his diet, to read certain books, and to change his lifestyle. The standard excuse is that physicians weren't taught to do this.
As an engineer for 45 years, I started out with a slide rule and when I retired we were using computers to design machinery and computer-controlled machine tools to manufacture. Most fields of science don't stand still, but the medicalprofession has effectively remained stagnant in not adopting the principles of nutrition. What with the enormous cost of American medical care,
now $9000 per person per year and expected to go to $14,000 soon, this has to change. Some three-quarters of this cost could be avoided simply by following reasonable lifestyles, mainly diet.
Today the plea of innocence because
of ignorance is no longer compatible with the Hippocratic Oath. Changes are
coming and we should encourage them! Physician, heal thyself and others through
preventive medicine!
Training log for the week of August 25th:
Sun. Ran 5
Mon. Canoe race 3
Tue. Ran 10
Wed. Canoe 3
Thurs. Ran 5, walked 5 Fri. Canoed 3 Sat. Rest
Future week forecast: Run 30 to 35, canoe three 3-mile races( weather permitting)
PHYSICIANS OF THE FUTURE
There are some of them out there now. The entire thrust of their medical practice is preventive medicine. Some may mix it in with far eastern medicine, which seems less drastic, less invasive, simpler and maybe even ... less effective than our allopathic kind. Or in some cases it works where nothing else has. Mainly, though, preventive medicine is about what we eat. Diet is implicated in obesity, heart conditions, stroke, diabetes, some popular cancers, MS, some asthma, some arthritis and many, many diseases as listed in Nutrition Guide for Clinicians (a manual by Physicians' Committee for Responsible Medicine). All of these ailments are affected by diet and many cases are cured, of which I am an example - not just a reporter.
The only diet I trust is commonly known as vegan, which means no animal protein - no meat, poultry, fish, seafood, milk or milk products, and no eggs. It also suggests minimal sugar or refined grains and sensible salt intake. Several world-famous athletes use this diet. Doctors who treat patients with dietary advice include John McDougall, Dean Ornish and Joel Fuhrman. There are many more. By feeding their patients properly they are strengthening their immune systems – which, to my layman’s mind, is what preventive medicine is all about.
Had I undergone standard treatment for cancer (when I was 70) with radiation and chemotherapy in 1994, I seriously doubt I would be writing to you today. In my opinion, my newly-adopted vegan diet enabled my immune system to kill the metastases that was found in my diagnosis.
As said in a previous message, medical schools have not offered nutritional training worthy of mention, to this point. I believe they will. Too much is now known about how diets affect our own health, our national health, and our high incidence of heart disease, cancer, diabetes, and childhood
obesity. Witness our relatively short life expectancy! Physicians are the ones ideally suited to spread this gospel. Schools will have to require doctors-in-training to UNDERSTAND how to feed their patients. We expect them to comprehend the infinitely complex medicines they prescribe for us. Just because they didn't get this nutritional information in medical school is no longer an adequate excuse not to use the therapeutic value of healthful food in treating patients.
There is in effect a whole new market for this kind of physician! And these people are out there right now! Here's an example. I have a good friend in his sixties who has been treated by a leading local physician for 20 or 30 years. This doctor is on the board of a local hospital. My friend had a life-threatening heart attack, for which he had the usual drastic dangerous treatment. We are lucky he's alive and we give due credit to the surgeon. But I blame the attending physician for allowing my
friend to eat like a fool and shoveling medicines at him for years for blood pressure and cholesterol etc. The doctor had every opportunity to put pressure on him to change his diet, to read certain books, and to change his lifestyle. The standard excuse is that physicians weren't taught to do this.
As an engineer for 45 years, I started out with a slide rule and when I retired we were using computers to design machinery and computer-controlled machine tools to manufacture. Most fields of science don't stand still, but the medicalprofession has effectively remained stagnant in not adopting the principles of nutrition. What with the enormous cost of American medical care,
now $9000 per person per year and expected to go to $14,000 soon, this has to change. Some three-quarters of this cost could be avoided simply by following reasonable lifestyles, mainly diet.
Today the plea of innocence because
of ignorance is no longer compatible with the Hippocratic Oath. Changes are
coming and we should encourage them! Physician, heal thyself and others through
preventive medicine!
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