SOME THOUGHTS ON HEALTH & MEDICINE. (27 APR 2016)

It doesn’t take long in life to realize that some people just don’t care about their health, just as some people don’t mind servitude rather than the responsibility of liberty. In fact in terms of health, collectively as a nation we are edging very close to servitude, as Ron Paul said, “When we give government the power to make medical decisions for us, we in essence accept that the state owns our bodies.” I would have health schools & better health classes so that people would learn better how to take care of their bodies. I would grade students on their health projects…i.e. projects in actually improving their health…forget all that silly academic stuff like memorizing the (bogus) food pyramid. And while people naturally discover that love, hope & faith encourage the body to be healthy, I think people may not be consciously aware of how powerful they are. And of course, laughter & music are really strong medicines also.

THE OLD WAYS. Many cultures around the world, after generations of private research, learned what to eat in their locality to be healthy. Food was their primary medicine. As the Father of medical profession, Hippocrates, said, “Let food be thy medicine, & medicine thy food.” Some of the traditional healthy herbs (foods) like Echinacea are bottled up & available at some store like Vitamin Shoppe. What many are not aware of, is that many modern medicines are simply these old herbs refined into a drug. Willow bark, for instance, was made into aspirin. And while the old natural form of the herb is not as powerful as the refined pharma drug, they often don’t have the side effects either. But don’t think that because they are an herb they don’t have interactions with other things, incl. other herbs. If you take the herb Ginko biloba while taking the pharma drug Warfarin, it could be lethal. I find that one of the weaker awarenesses of people are how the herb(s) or drug(s) they take are interacting with other things. Vitamin E and Vitamin C should not be taken at the same time. Something as simple as an aspirin may badly interact with a medicine or herb. I also find that people are way too credulous with doctors; doctors are not infallible, so don’t take anything for granted. Check out & research things for yourself. That is part of the responsibility that comes with being a free person.

THE ACTIONS OF WHAT WE TAKE. Words like absorption & distribution are used to describe how an herb or manufactured drug comes in & spreads in the body. People would be shocked to learn that only a very small percent of what a pill contains actually ends up at the cellular level where they work. The word bioavailability is used for how much gets into the bloodstream. The bioavailability of what you just took may only be 5%. It is also important to realize how long the healing element stays in the body, & how quickly it is eliminated. The term MEC refers the minimum effective concentration, the level where it will actually cause the benefit that one wants. Do you know the difference between enteric aspirin and plain aspirin? Enteric means it is coated to prevent it from harming the stomach lining.

FINAL THOUGHTS. I have no intention of this article being a course in medicine. What I hope I have done is to cause the reader think about his or her health and certain areas of investigation that you can take to be responsible within the liberty that you have. The days of health liberty (& liberty in general) are drawing to a close, use them while you can for health. And share what you know with others. We need each other. And know that God loves you, and I love you, and that’s the way it should be. Have a great day.