Column #132

Is medical malpractice a common practice? The medical industry rakes in 18% of the GNP which makes for really deep pockets. That’s why attorneys beat the bushes for victims of various drugs and medical procedures. Every so often they strike it rich. Some years ago a team of attorneys in Texas sued the tobacco companies and struck it rich after splitting $3.3 billion. Obviously there’s big money in suing.

I don’t watch a lot of television, but when I do I’m amazed by how many ads promote prescription drugs, medical devices, and various medical procedures. The ads are surprisingly effective in spite of a long list of warnings (including death). Of course, they portray images of really happy people using their drugs. On the same channel, and often during the same program, there are attorney ads asking if you’ve been harmed by this or that drug or medical procedure. What a world!

Seventy years ago attorneys were not considered professional if they advertised beyond a modest listing in the Yellow Pages. Advertising was considered a form of ambulance chasing. Back then the television advertising that I remember promoted cars, aspirin, vitamin pills, Geritol, cars, soap, razors, beer, washing machines, and cigarettes.

Today’s televison advertising is for prescription and generic drugs, medical procedures, medical insurance, and attorneys boasting about how much money they’ll get you. Cars still remain big advertisers and in the past 15 years new movies are advertisers. Cigarettes are banned and beer and razor blades aren’t as big as they once were.

The number of unhealthy people is amazing. People believe their chronic diseases are normal as are taking pills for ills. Few realize that 70 years ago folks were not perfectly healthy, but they were way healthier.

A lot has changed in the way people live starting with the move from rural to urban living.

From the 1600s until the end of WWII, most Americans lived on small farms and raised some or most of their food. Grain was a luxury. People ate grass-fed meats, some chicken and pork raised mostly on pastures, wild game, and garden vegetables. Fruit and nuts were very seasonal. Until today’s dry-cereal-for-breakfast fad commenced in 1910, sugar and carbohydrate consumption was nothing like today. Consequently the American diet used to be much lower in Omega-6 essential fatty acids (EFAs) and higher in Omega-3 EFAs. People weighed about 17% less. Obesity was rare.

Coupled with the old-fashion diet, the “old ways” tended to improve quality of life in spite of life spans being shorter because of exposure, diseases, accidents, and childbirth. People were more physically active back then because they didn’t have modern conveniences. They walked more, did less sitting, and used hand tools. Before television they got more sleep. There were more face-to-face social interactions often with games that involved mental agility (bridge nights).

Those differences with today helped our early ancestors maintain a higher quality of life well into old age. I do not have the data, but I’m sure they had less pain from inflammation. Today pain is a growing problem for many people as the reach their forties and most elder citizens live with considerable pain and have one or more serious chronic diseases that require ongoing treatments.

All drugs are chemicals with side effects. Even medical procedures can have side effects. Drug companies tell us this and attorneys confirm it. History shows us how things have changed. For more than 40 years nutritional and biological research have been showing us that the lifestyles of the old timers works better for us than what we’re doing today.

This is why I try to avoid sugar, carbohydrates, and excessive levels of Omega-6 to Omega-3 EFAs in my diet. If I deviate even a little with sugar and/or carbohydrates, I can feel the inflammation for several days. That tells me what so many other people must be dealing with and why there is an opioid crisis. I can also see why so many elderly people are nearly paralyzed with pain these days.

I do not take drugs for chronic diseases. I very rarely even feel ill much less get sick. My diet is grass-fed meats, Omega-3 meats, wild-caught seafood, and vegetables with an emphasis on the green leafy. Fruit and macadamia nuts are eaten sparingly. I do mental and physical exercise, get proper sleep, and work in social events. Yes, I work at all this in order to avoid the need for an attorney.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

For additional reading:

A Surgeon Interviews a Medical Malpractice Attorney: Read and Decide

5 Lawyers Agree to $3.3 Billion for Work on Texas Tobacco Suit

Can I Sue Over a Prescribed Medication?

1800-1990: Changes In Urban/Rural U.S. Population

Population of the United States, Urban and Rural, by States

The First Colony Was Founded at Jamestown, Virginia, in 1607

Spooky Traditions about the history of sugar and carbs by Ted Slanker

Big Nutritional Changes in Recent History about the history of cereals by Ted Slanker

Designer Foods and Drugs about drug side effects by Ted Slanker

Get Your Marijuana Here! about dealing with pain by Ted Slanker

Can Food Compete with Pills? about why 20% of Oregonians are in pain by Ted Slanker