General Wellness

MORE MARKETING?

Is it my imagination or does there seem to be more TV advertising for medications and unhealthy garbage like Boost and Papa John’s Pizza? I saw an commercial for Pedialyte this morning. This is a fluid replacement for children with dehydration from mostly GI problems like diarrhea. It was being advertised as a healthy beverage for adults. You should read the ingredient list. Might as well drink a Coke. If you are dehydrated, I’d consider it, but for daily use, it’s ridiculous.

It may just be a function of watching a little more news but it is pathetic how much pharmaceutical marketing Americans are exposed to. As it is, the US and oddly New Zealand are the only 2 developed countries which even allow pharmaceutical direct marketing to consumers on TV and other forms of media. The US and Syria are the only 2 countries which allow direct marketing to children. The average American child is exposed to more than 10,000 candy, soda, breakfast cereal and junk food commercials a year!

Although we rely on pharmaceutical companies to make vaccines and drugs which do save lives, for the most part, medications do NOT cure diseases. They treat symptoms and manage diseases. Taking a statin may lower cholesterol levels (a good thing) but they don’t address why your cholesterol is high to begin with, and before you say it’s genetic, less than 1 % of people with elevated cholesterol have a true genetic component, unless you are talking about Lipoprotein a, Lp(a), a rarely tested cholesterol molecule thought to affect at least 25% of humans and account for many heart attacks in otherwise healthy people and I will post something about this later – check out the “Cholesterol” section on my website if you want to read about this now. 

This is our moment to focus on lifestyle changes, which improve health, not medications which only manage disease. With all the violence and protests we are seeing and experiencing, now is the time to also focus on love and compassion.

With all the conflicting information we are getting about how this virus behaves, how to treat it and how to reopen safely, the only thing we do know is that the healthier you are, the better you will weather the storm of Covid-19. Sleep, movement, stress management, love and support and YES, most importantly, nutrition are all more important than taking another drug, supplementing with garbage like Boost rather than just making a healthy smoothie or having more “comfort” junk food.

Stay safe and be well. 

AC 😎✌️🌱❤🐖🏃🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🌎😷

DoctorChuma.com

WEAR YOUR MASK!

Hello,

I’ve not posted for a while. Lots going on but always moving forward.

I’ve also written a few new items for my website, mostly about environmental and animal compassion issues (the nutrition issue is clear – the path to health is to eat more whole plants, avoid sugar and processed foods and don’t eat animals or animal products) and it was nice to get away from constantly writing about Covid.

With the exception of the amazing and historic docking of the Space X ship with the space station over the weekend, there are lots of stressful events going on out there in the world, not the least of which is this persistent, pesky virus. The violence seen in the streets is undoubtedly magnified by the stress, frustration and fear people are feeling because of social isolation and our unknown future with this virus. We’ll see what the numbers are like a week or two from now given the opening up of many states and these mass gatherings and protests.

I heard and saw something today which I just have to comment on however.

There is a growing movement of people who are not wearing masks because they don’t think they help and unfortunately, there are some misguided healthcare “authorities” who are promoting the futility of masks.

This is simply wrong.

We know the virus is airborne and studies have shown that even quite breathing expels the virus into the air around you if you’re infected. The harder you expel, the more and farther the virus goes. Coughing is the worst. Singing, sneezing, screaming, huffing and puffing while exercising… and yes, even just talking.

It’s estimated that 40-50% of people who are sick with covid were infected by asymptomatic people (those who are infected but have no symptoms). This could come from inhaling particles those people exhaled or from touching a contaminated surface and then touching their nose or face.

It is well established that, although not perfect, masks decrease both the amount of particles the “wearer” exhales and how many particles the “inhaler” takes in. No mask is perfect but they do help prevent spread and infection.

Actually, originally, surgical masks were not developed to protect healthcare workers from patients, but to protect patients from healthcare workers! They helped minimize spread of infection. The same is true of gloves and gowns.

Masks do not absolutely prevent you from getting sick or result in you infecting someone else but it’s all about slowing the spread. We WILL all get this, we just need to slow it down so we don;t overwhelm the medical system. In addition, with more time, we learn more about how it spreads and how to treat it, not to mention the potential for developing a vaccine.

We need to open up or our economy will collapse, but we need to do so intelligently and in a measured manner.

SO, stay home if you can, but if you must and need, and eventually will go out, continue to be careful.

Wear your mask. Even the cloth ones have benefits.
Don’t touch your face.
Socially distance (6 feet). Actually there is some evidence that 6 feet may not be enough in some cases.
Wash your hands and use sanitizers.
Eat a healthy plant-based diet.

Stay safe and be well.

AC 😎✌️🌱❤🐖🏃🏻🧘🏻‍♂️🌎😷

DoctorChuma.com