The following began in a different thread. I left a little bit there, but will include all of it here.
No rational person enjoys being subjected to fear-based marketing. That doesn't mean that such marketing is void of truth, however. Are you ok with the concept that organic foods can be healthier for you, insofar as they've less toxic pesticide residues than foods in general? On another note, ever tried grass-fed beef? I don't know about the health benefits of it, but it's much tastier than stuff I normally buy at the supermarket!Originally Posted by Moose
As for organics, I'll buy them if they're comparable to the price of regular foods.
Moose's other statement, "unjustifiable pseudo-medical claims by non-medical 'practitioners'" troubles me, for several reasons. One, it indicates a bias that doctors are smarter than those of us who're well-learned but without an M.D. in front of our names. Second, it indicates a belief that simply because someone has an M.D., they're somehow an expert on all medical matters. Doctors, at the least the ones with whom I associate, are among the first to tell you their sheepskin doesn't magically confer medical omniscience, and that while they have a good general knowledge of medicine, their focus is on their specialty, often and undesirably to the exclusion of other specialties. One of my friends (and my own doctor) is a general practitioner (M.D.). He'll treat the sprains, breaks, warts, and other common ailments, but if a condition doesn't respond to his treatment, he won't hesitate to refer the individual to a specialist.
He's also the best M.D. I've ever met at preventative medicine. Like me, a bunch of years ago he found himself overweight and going downhill, said, "I'm too young for this," and embarked on a life-long journey of good nutrition and exercise. He's an organic nut, and he and his wife keep their own rather substantial garden at his home in Florida. He'll also relate how he began his path towards better health not on the advice of his fellow practitioners, but on the advice of his patients, including one knucklehead who kept pestering him to buy a bicycle and go cycling with him on the weekends until he finally did!
It's he who told me the kind of nutrition they teach in medical school is the kind which deals with the body's various metabolic processes and how various classes of foods support those processes. He said they never did touch on the idea of "food as medicine," and that is perhaps why most doctors in the U.S. never consider diet modification as part of their treatment program. Another factor, shared with me by my girlfriend, who's another kind of doctor, a Doctor of Psychology with a local practice here in Colorado Springs, is that it's easy to give a patient a pill and expect that they'll take it. It's very difficult to treat patients with a change in their cooking, as that's a complex change in several behaviors.
These aren't wacked-out concepts. Both Nutritionist and Physical Therapist are professions which are well-regulated here in the U.S. by the medical community and federal law.
Caveat: This thread is not about supplements. By "food" I mean the kind you'll find in your average supermarket, not the stuff more commonly found in a "health food" store.
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