don's report archive

by Donald B. Ardell, Ph. D.

Wellness in the Headlines
(Don's Report to the World)

The Greek approach to gift horses is a good perspective for self-managers who want to beat the system. Don’t assume that statements asserted as facts really are. They might be, but as often as not in the health field, they are not. More frequently, especially in health food stores, in claims for alternative treatments, or ads regarding the appropriateness and efficacy of expensive drugs (are there any other kind?), facts are twisted, misrepresented and otherwise more apparent than real.

Here are a few principles to encourage you to look a gift fact in the mouth. These can be helpful in cases where facts are abused by drug advertisers, healers, vitamin and diet promoters and a long list of others who seek to sell you one kind of quick fix or another.

• There is no quick fix. Health problems do not lend themselves to quick remedies or miracle cures. Amazing recoveries happen, on occasions, but in most cases they would have occurred anyway without the hocus pocus or bogus solution misrepresented as fact. Alas, there are many ills and conditions which have no quick cures or no cures at all—that’s why such a high percentage of the population (100%) will die eventually.
• Fitness cannot be achieved easily, not can fat be lost without strenuous exercise and sensible nutritional changes, over time.
• Natural, organic and health food are three terms widely misunderstood and exploited by hucksters who twist the facts to sell you goods you don’t need and which won’t help. The three terms do have useful applications, but the tricky part is assessing whether the application is sensible in cases that affect you.
• You may or may not benefit from food supplements, but not because soil in which real foods is grown is depleted. When soils are depleted, farmers rotate crops, use fertilizers and grow less. What does grow in smaller quantities is as nutritious as crops grown in larger quantities—otherwise it would not grow at all or it would look terrible. The quality or nutritional value is the same in all healthy-looking plants. If you consumer a variety of foods, your nutrient needs will be met without vitamin supplements.
• Cutting carbohydrates is not a good way to lose weight, despite what the “facts” asserted by diet gurus might indicate to the contrary. Such low carbo diets will “work,” as would any low calorie diet, because they reduce the number of calories taken in, not because of carbo restrictions. Initial weight losses, however, will be from water losses and muscle losses, not fat reductions. Despite overall weight losses seen on a bathroom or other scale, carbo diets are unwise for long-term self-management and optimal fitness.
• Sweating is good for cooling the body, not losing weight. All you lose by wrapping yourself like a mummy during exercise is water, which you need more of, not less, especially when generating heat via exercise. The guideline is to ADD 24 ounces of water for every pound lost during exercise, not to lose these precious fluids needed for cooling and other vital bodily processes.
• Protein is not the key to strength, power and good health—a balanced diet and a great deal of other factors are keys to these and other advantages. It is NOT a fact, as many participants in multi-marketing schemes would have you believe, that since a little protein is good, a lot is better. The fact is that heavy protein intake is bad. Among other problems, it is linked with kidney overload and mineral deficiency diseases, such as osteoporosis. You want more iron, for example? Choose beans and leafy greens for a better bargain on a per-calorie basis than meat.

This is a miniscule list of myths that continue to bedevil the easily fooled. Don’t be taken--there are more fact imposters than Elvis impersonators, and the former are not engaged in seeking to entertain but to deceive, so be skeptical (and bemused rather than stressed) about claims. You don’t have to be Greek to look closely.

Be well. Look on the bright side and enjoy yourself while self-managing your way to a healthy lifestyle and a challenging, satisfying existence. All the best.

(Note: This essay will be filed in the archives in the PHYSICAL DOMAIN under the skill area of nutrition. Additional articles related to this theme may be found there.)

(Ed. Note: Views expressed in this and other columns are those of the author and not necessarily those of the SeekWellness Editorial Board.)

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