Well, this being a weekend, the news is pretty empty, and that's a good thing because today has been long day of sit around and then rush. So I thought of something I've meant to rant on.
This is a meme that has appeared in dozens of places.
First off, I really don't think that's the way the comic first appeared back in '06 (according to the upper right hand corner). The obvious place to start is that the text on the blackboard is nothing like any other text in the cartoon. It's not that it's not a good cartoon, it's just that it doesn't look like a Bizarro.com. But that's not important.
The point of the meme is obvious: if big pharma and big medicine cure you,
they make a small number of sales. One visit or a dozen? It doesn't matter. If
you're not going back for treatment, whether it's doctor visits, drugs, or
hospitalizations, they all make more money if you're treated regularly and not
cured. To use the analogy that I'm sure lots of people are thinking of: why cure a disease if they can just vaccinate you for it or sell you pills for it for the rest of your life. Better yet, what if they can sell massive quantities to governments and maybe put it in the water supply or something? Guaranted sales for decades to come!
The first time I saw this cartoon, I thought, "and you think that doesn't apply to vitamins, supplements and all the other stuff that's being aimed at you?" If you're good at your research and testing, you may find a certain supplement takes care of some symptom you're having. Without fooling yourself with the placebo effect. Congratulations. Now, do you need to take that pill For The Rest Of Your Life? Did you get the dose right and does it change as you get older? The only thing that can be said in favor of fixing issues with whole foods is that you have to buy food anyway and even expensive food might be cheaper than a lot of those vitamin, mineral and whatnot pills.
OTOH
ReplyDeleteI'm not a physician, but...
A patient cured is a happy patient/customer/client who will refer his/her/its friends by the score.
works just as well in dentistry (even root canal work) ; ask me how I know.
There is more than a bit of truth to that cartoon....the bean counters who ACTUALLY control the practice of medicine don't want people cured. They want forever customers. The other part of the equation is a society that believes they don't need to take care of themselves...starting when they are YOUNG. They expect to be able to abuse their bodies for decades then magically have some people in white lab coats undo all the damage they self inflicted. Doesn't work that way. People who eat a proper diet, control their weight, exercise regularly and don't abuse alcohol, drugs or tobacco rarely need regular healthcare visits till they are quite old.
ReplyDeleteGrew up eating out of a home garden and a steady diet from the woods and brooks, i can tell from times i get to eating more commercial foods when i was working far from home i just do not feel as well. Get back home and in days i feel better all around.
ReplyDeleteThe last few years began making a variety of fermented food, Kimchi being a favorite, even make the salted fermented shrimp ingredient, fermented beans, sourkraut, been experimenting with an everything from the garden and woods "Kimchi" style fermented medli, point is aside from these tastiness, right off the bat they seem to add to the simple feeling of wellbeing. Its a super simple process too. Ball sells a widemouth airlock cap, comes in a set of two with a SST spring, (which i found is not needed, ymmv). At first used hot asian hot pepper flakes, then experimented with paprika powder and settled on smoked Hungarian and plain Spanish paprika, makes a no heat but highly spicy Kimchi. We have Kimchi on the side, over noodles or rice, its really great in a sammich too as garnishing. It seems really Kimchi is anything you care to create. My wife made a five gallon crock of kraut, all the surplus bumper crop sweet peppers we got last year, a little bit of everything from carrots to spinach shallots to green beans, came out spectacular, but the peppers where the best part, great thing is pretty easy to do, it gets better with time and long as you keep it covered with a piece of stretch plastic over the top of the crock and a "wieght", basicaly a set of half circle ceramic "stones" so the kruat remains submerged in the "liqiour", which is all the tasty juice, keeps till you eat it all, or you can fill mason jars, leave lifs slightly loose and store in the fridge, as the cold temps pretty well stops the fermentation.
Its said and we attest to it, no better food exists for the body. Which makes good sense, as it seems up till the advent of WWII, in America anyways, and the introduction of refrigeration in the home, for thousands of years people consumed a lot of fermented food, it was one of the prime forms of preserving fresh vegetables, and so supposedly we evolved a gut biome from centuries of ferment bacteria and its suspected it kept us very healthy from many ailments.
I believe it wholeheartedly from personal results. Its gotten to the point we have constant cravings for Kimchi dishes, Kimchi over noodles or home made garlic toast or home made sourdough is our favorite tasty treat. Great thing about it it is so darn easy to make. I like to put it on top a big ol bowl of pinto beans been simmering all day. Its disgusting how good it tastes, like major guilt something can be tasty like it.
Mom always had a 5-gallon crock pot under the stairs for the sauerkraut we ate, it was NOTHING like the crap you buy in the stores. The commercial stuff is so much pablum because it's tasteless thanks to FDA requirements. No more nutrition in what is sold commercially. Which is why nutritionals are sold like hotcakes.
DeleteEat out of the garden, folks. Not only is it good for ya, it's also a survival tactic When The Balloon Goes Up!!