Health and disease information: Are you getting the whole story?

Is your health provider telling you
the whole story? Photo.

Recently, I have been intensely frustrated with big business, my health care community, and our government.

Since when is it considered to be wrongful to share the facts about health and disease?

In some settings, my hands are tied when it comes to giving people the whole story about health and disease, and because they do not hear life-saving advice, they continue to live a life that is burdened.

My approach is simple and straight-forward. I encourage people to eat a diet that is based on foods that grow from the ground. I encourage them to exercise regularly. I advise them not to smoke and to use stress management techniques when necessary.

The research is not new. Research that supports vegan nutrition, regular exercise, abstinence from tobacco, and stress management has existed in the scientific literature for decades.

My hands are often tied when it comes
to giving out health information.
Photo.

Judging by the way that individuals and many large institutions react when I give recommendations based on these findings, you'd think that I was asking them to consider some sort of inhumane, witch-like ritual.

Shouldn't the people who pay for the research -- taxpayers -- be given this potentially life-saving information? After hearing and understanding the facts, they could then digest the information and decide for themselves what recommendations they will and will not adopt.

T. Colin Campbell, in his book The China Study, said it best:

"Consumers have the ultimate choice of whether to integrate our findings [research data and recommendations] into their lifestyles, but we owe it to them to give them the best information possible with which to make that decision and not decide for them. It is they who paid for this research and it is only they who have the right to decide what to do with it."

You might also enjoy these:

• Stent placement or medication therapy: which will you choose?
• Is your blood pressure good or does your doctor just tell you that?
• Food pyramid in favor of government not people
• Being in good health requires self-discipline
• Vegan diet for lasting weight loss