Another Big Pharma Warning…

“Let food be thy medicine and thy medicine be thy food.”  Hippocrates, the father of Western Medicine

I would love to sit down with Hippocrates and discuss what has happened since 377 BC!   Our western diets have changed everything.  Now people have to take drugs to combat a laundry list of diseases that mostly arise as a result of our dietary choices.  It might even be ok if the medicines were always the answer but more and more we know that is not the case.  Last week we heard warnings about the bone density drugs and later in the week the FDA added strong warnings to the label of Plavix, marketed by Sanofi-Aventis and Bristol-Myers Squibb.  Apparently there is a percentage of people who, due to a genetic variation, will not at all respond to it’s blood thinning properties.  The FDA will most likely push physicians to prescribe a different blood thinner.  If you know someone on Plavix, or one of the bone density medicines I mentioned last week, please tell them to discuss their particular meds with their own physician (and also to do some reading about the pills they are ingesting daily.)  Blood thinners are really, really important for people who need them.

For those of us who are young enough to ward off heart disease (and so many other illnesses) before they happen, be pro-active!  Don’t let a physician or the FDA govern your health.  Here and now in 2010 we all really know the best way to maintain wellness is through regular exercise and healthful eating.  While everyone’s opinion of what is “regular” and what is “healthful” varies, I urge you to do as much of your own research into what is right for your body and soul.  Dr. Dean Ornish came up with a great solution for managing heart disease, through food!  Hippocrates would be so proud of him.

I am totally enjoying The Kind Diet, by actress Alicia Silverstone.  Reading it is, for me, reassuring.  I am also finding some resolve to the meltdown I had late last week regarding food choices.  My body and my soul both feel MUCH better this Monday morning.  If you are interested in a more plant based diet, it’s a great read, but once you read it, it will make it difficult to eat animal products, so I issue that warning.

Watching a good amount of Change Your Brain, Change Your Body on PBS this past week has also helped me clear up some gray spots. Not too many years ago we talked about the possibility of the mind and the body being inseparable.  I certainly know I cannot have a sound either, without the other!

I wish you a sound mind in a sound body!