Health Issues Rebuttal (Long)

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I have a brother who is 50 yrs old and is in nursing school. He is

becoming very much indoctrinated by *the system* I love him dearly,

but we butt heads when it comes to nutrition and health. I'm just

wondering if maybe you all have any wonderful rebuttal ideas to the

below email I received from him a few days ago. Here it is (names

have been changed on the off chance that the cousin in the message

just happens to be on this group - not likely, but you never know):

Joan is an example of someone who had done her

best to maintain her health thru cautious living. You

could say she is the Queen of organic holistic life

styles. She is extremely careful about everything she

eats, raising much of her own food on their land. When

she buys food it has to be organic. She is about 5.5

ft and weighs maybe 115-120 lbs. I admire her

determination and effort when it comes to healthy

living. However, for all of her discipline, she is not

at all healthy.

I spoke to Joan 2 days ago. Her blood pressure is

168/92 which has her upset because she has done

everything right to prevent this condition. She

exercises, eats like a bird and only organic. She has

also had 2 surgeries (female issues) and a

hysterectomy. Several years ago she was diagnosed with

chronic fatigue syndrome.

Joan is doing her best to maintain her highest level

of health. No one should criticize her efforts,

discipline and conviction.

After talking with her, unfortunately, what she

doesn't get is her family genetic pool. Her parents

had diabetes, cancer, asthma, and the list goes on and

on. All of Joan's sisters are experiencing varying

degrees of declining health similar the their parents.

Joan is under the illusion that if she can just

continue her disciplined life style she can prevent

disease and illness. I suspect she would be happier if

she would try to strike a balanced approach to her

health, knowing that there are health issues that we

can not control and simply accept that.

At conception, each of us receive 46 chromosomes, 23

from our father and 23 from mother. Locked up in these

46 chromosomes are 2 billion bits of chemical

information that determine everything we will be, from

our intelligence, eye color, life expectancy, and

often quality of health issues. What I am trying to

say is we do not have complete control over our

health. Each of us must decide to take care of our

bodies and get the most out of what we have to work

with, but at the cellular, tissue levels, we have

limited influence.

Well enough of that. Speaking of eating, I am hungry

and have not had breakfast.

Your brother

[Rhonda]

My thinking, though I have yet to bear it out in my own life, is that

somewhere along the line of lineage the cycle CAN be broken. Maybe

I'm wrong here. My maternal grandmother died of ALS, by mom has

sarcoidosis and my dad has polycythemia vera and high blood

pressure. I am 48 yrs old and am very healthy (LOL I'm home today

with the 1st cold I've had in over a year), don't have high blood

pressure, but I am about 60 lbs overweight. Anyway, I'm thinking

about how Dr Price saw a big difference in only one generation of

eating poorly making a huge decline in health. Later in the book he

talks about and shows dramatic pictures of the little boy who was so

sick and how within 6 mos or a year the child had good health

restored thru nutrition.

I agree with my brother about genetics, but I still think that a

person CAN restore their health, or at the least keep poor health at

bay for many years with good nutrition. In the case of the cousin

with the high blood pressure, what nutritionally speaking could

help? Maybe she's so *organic* that she's not doing healthy

saturated fats? I haven't seen her in maybe 25 years or more and I

think she's gotta be about 55 yrs old by now.

Part of a previous email he sent is below:

Rhonda, Rhonda, Rhonda,

Your emails are funny. Your big brother does not care

what you eat. If you have access to, and want to pay

extra money for higher quality foods that's great.

Just remember that nutrition is only part of healthy

living. I am sure that you are doing your very best

to stay healthy. I certainly could improve on what I

eat.

We are blessed with good genetic history. If we don't

abuse our bodies, we will probably live to

a ripe old age.

Just remember that a long life of good health is not

possible for some. Many factors beyond our control

determine health and longevity of life. Nutrition and

pure organic foods are one factor. It would be

extremely naive to believe everybody could live

without disease or illness or a body the does not age

or experience pain or fatigue by simply eating

ourselves to good health. I don't want to minimize

nutrition. It's important, and proper nutrition allows

us to live optimally. People experience disease and

illness for lots of reasons not connected to what they

eat.

The human body is extremely complex. Millions of

chemical reactions are taking place every second. It's

complexity does not allow a simple " fix all " to

address all of the many diseases and illnesses that

our bodies can experience. I say this will all

sincerity, Rhonda, I hope you live a long healthy life

free of disease. But I hope you do understand there is

no fountain of youth,or silver bullet, and that eating

God's intended foods will not guarantee or exempt you

from the possibly of experiencing serious health

issues. To believe that is to be living in a state of

denial.

[Rhonda]

So, I can understand much of his thinking, but sometimes it reeks of

just a little too *mainstream medicine indoctrination*.

Anyone have any thoughts on all of this?

Rhonda