| Everywhere we turn today we are bombarded | | | | of their nutrients but many go through a |
| with news about the current health care crisis in | | | | processing plant where they are further stripped |
| the United States. We are inundated with the | | | | of nutrients. They are cooked, canned, frozen, |
| negative aspects of our medical system on TV, | | | | salted, preserved |
| the radio and newspapers. In Michael Moore's | | | | Then between the farm and the supermarket the |
| docudrama "Sicko" our health care system is | | | | little bit of nutritional value that the crops had are |
| portrayed as a beast worse than the antichrist. | | | | cooked or processed out of them to make them |
| Now I'll be the first to admit that there are | | | | more convenient for us to prepare and eat. |
| problems with our medical system. Let me | | | | That covers what has been taken out of our |
| highlight a couple. The US hospital system is | | | | food let's talk about what has been added to our |
| ranked 37th in the world by the World Health | | | | food. Chemicals like MSG monosodium glutamate |
| Organization (WHO). More than half of the | | | | whose only function is to increase the sensitivity |
| prescription drugs consumed in the world are | | | | of our taste buds with the side effect of causing |
| consumed in the US. Hospitals are the third leading | | | | our pancreas to inject large quantities of insulin |
| cause of death in the US. | | | | into our system simulating a sugar high that ends |
| With these and other facts taken into | | | | an hour later causing us to feel hungry again |
| consideration I believe that we as individuals have | | | | hence the old saying about being hungry an hour |
| the ability and the responsibility to correct the | | | | later after eating Chinese food. Then there are |
| true crisis in America today which is self induced | | | | nitrites and nitrates, preservatives like BHT, all |
| illness caused by the foods (I use the term | | | | things that our bodies do not need and would |
| loosely) we eat. We have turned over | | | | normally get rid of but in today's society we |
| responsibility for our health to the doctors, | | | | consume so much of the artificial and so little of |
| pharmaceutical companies, and food | | | | the natural that our bodies stop working the way |
| manufacturers who are regulated by the Food | | | | God designed them to work and we become ill |
| and Drug Administration (FDA). We have followed | | | | and turn to the medical system for help. |
| them blindly into the abyss that is the health care | | | | Let me begin this subject by saying that if you |
| crisis today. The good news is that there is a | | | | ever see me laying on the road after being hit by |
| way out of the abyss, read on. | | | | a car please call an ambulance and have them |
| Let's begin where the food begins. In the Garden | | | | take me to the emergency room. The US has |
| of Eden God gave us fruit to eat which grew on | | | | the best trauma care in the world and I have a |
| trees and took nutrients from the dirt which God | | | | degree in Emergency Medical Technology so I |
| made us. Today, thanks to pollution, chemical | | | | know from first hand experence from both sides |
| fertilization, pesticides and poor crop rotation the | | | | of the screening room. The weakness in the |
| dirt has been depleted of their nutrients. As a | | | | medical system comes in the area of wellness. |
| mater of fact the soil in the United States only | | | | We do not really have a health care system, we |
| has 15% of the nutrients it had in 1948. Farmers | | | | have a sick care system. My wife had to go to |
| fertilize the crops with high nitrogen man made | | | | the ER a couple of years ago because of |
| fertilizers that produce big beautiful plants, fruits | | | | dehydration. When the nurse checking her in she |
| and vegetables that have little if any nutritional | | | | asked if she was taking any prescription drugs |
| value. For example a woman could get her daily | | | | and got prepared to type the onslaught, my wife |
| requirement of vitamin A by eating two peaches | | | | told him no and he did a double take then told her |
| in 1951, today she would have to eat 53. | | | | that that was unusual. Four years ago I was 45 |
| Moving right along, let's talk about harvest. Prior to | | | | years old and taking Nexum for acid reflux and |
| the industrial revolution there where farms spread | | | | Celabrex for arthritis and I thought I was pretty |
| all across our nation and most everyone | | | | healthy. What I have discovered is that I was |
| consumed fresh fruits and vegetables that where | | | | pretty average and living in a box with a lot of |
| grown locally. Today there are fewer farms and | | | | other people. A box in which people believed that |
| the majority of fruits and vegetables are shipped | | | | as you age you would get sick and need to have |
| great distances to be sold. This is the reason that | | | | drugs prescribed by doctors to keep you |
| farmers green harvest their crops, ensuring they | | | | functioning. I saw a commercial the other day |
| don't bruise during the shipping process. It also | | | | that exemplifies that box. It was a commercial |
| reduces the nutrients that make it into the food. | | | | for Nexum and the guy said "When I take Nexum |
| Tomatoes are a good example; they are picked | | | | I can eat the food I love." The food I love was |
| green so and when they arrive at the market | | | | killing me and taking Nexum just masked the |
| they are sprayed with gas to turn them red. | | | | effect it did not remove it. Today like my wife I |
| Tomatoes get no nutrients until the final stage of | | | | take no prescription drugs and have not taken |
| ripening. | | | | any for over two years. |
| Next stop: the supermarket. Some of the crops | | | | The health care industry needs to stop focusing |
| make it to the market without further depletion | | | | on cures and start focusing on prevention. |