Thinking Outside The Box

 For many people, health is a field best left to the professionals.  Why worry about something when someone else has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars on special training and education?

I mean, it makes sense, right?

Maybe but, then again, there's something fundamentally wrong with this thinking.

It's not the doctors who are the problem, so please don't get me wrong.  This isn't a post bashing them.  I'm not anti-doctor, by any means.

But we ARE facing a problem, and the problem isn't one that can be fixed overnight.

It's a multi-level, complicated web of intricately woven threads that has entangled our whole country.

And it's making us sick.

Autism, cancer, obesity, and diabetes are on the rise.

http://www.behaviorismandmentalhealth.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/Autism-Prevalence-Graph.jpg

 https://antinuclear.net/2015/07/27/cancer-incidence-has-risen-in-tandem-with-increased-ionising-radiation/

https://bernadettekeefemd.com/2016/04/04/ultraprocessed-food-too-sexy-for-our-own-good/obesity-graphic/

https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/statistics/prev/national/figpersons.htm

Does anyone else see a pattern here?

The sad thing is, most doctors are helpless to do anything because they are trapped in the system.  The U.S. health care system governs their education, what they tell their patients, and which medications they prescribe or don't prescribe.  Most doctors want to help people.  They truly care about their patients but, because of all the strings to which they are attached, the treatment options they can recommend or administer are limited.  In essence, they can't think outside the box.  The system won't let them. 

The system has become focused on making money, and having more sick people means the system can make more money.

So what caused this sticky web of sickness-driven money making?

For starters, and primarily, the publication of the low fat dietary guidelines.  

https://authoritynutrition.com/11-graphs-that-show-what-is-wrong-with-modern-diet/

The Standard American Diet (SAD) was introduced in 1977.  It completely demonized many heart healthy foods, such as eggs, butter, and olive oil, and advocated for an increased consumption of sugar, processed foods, and overall calories.   

The typical American diet is about 50% carbohydrate, 15% protein, and 35% fat.
Compare that to the Ketogenic diet, which I follow, containing 5% carbohydrate, 20% protein, and 75% fat.

We have a lot of evidence to look at that supports the detrimental effect the SAD is having on our health.  Health begins at the nutrition level.  What we put into our bodies affects EVERYTHING in our bodies.  If we don't start scrutinizing and re-evaluating our diet, our bodies are slowly (or quickly) going to suffer for it.

In the case of autism, vaccines have been found to play a huge part in the developmental regression in children.  They are pushed by doctors, who receive large monetary incentives, which are in fact the main source of their income (and the very thing which allows them to stay in practice).  Vaccines are not safety tested, and their manufacturers have full immunity from any sort of lawsuit.  This means that they are not liable for any injuries or deaths which occur from them.  Vaccines are full of toxins, chemicals, heavy metals, and endocrine and reproductive disruptors which keep our bodies from functioning correctly.  Their introduction and heavy prevalence in our society have been contributing to numerous health concerns over the past several decades, yet we've been told that they are safe.

Doctors are NOT trained in the field of nutrition.  That's why you get referred to a nutritionist or a dietician.  They're the ones who are the nutrition experts.  However, their education is just as tied into the system as doctors'.  If your health issue is nutrition-based, a doctor is only going to look at your symptoms and prescribe a medication that treats those symptoms, NOT the underlying cause.  In order to really address the issue, you have to treat the root cause, NOT the symptom. 
 
It's time we took back our health care system and focused on the importance of living long, healthy lives.  No one wants to be told they have a lifelong disease that has no cure, or that will kill them in a few years.  No one wants to live in constant misery, even though it doesn't always feel that way.  Our body is, if we are saved and in Christ, the temple of His Holy Spirit.  We are charged with being good stewards of our body, and caring for it in a way that is honoring to God.  Do you really think God wants you to eat unhealthy foods?  Do you really think He wants you to treat it as a vessel that only serves to bring you pleasure?  You were made for HIS glory and HIS pleasure.  A life change starts with a belief change. 

Isn't your health worth it?  Don't you want to live a long, healthy life?  Are you ready to start thinking outside the box?  Are you ready to take your health back?

Before I started thinking outside the box, I suffered tremendously without really caring.  I just wanted to live "normally," like everyone else.  But inside my body, everything was a train wreck.  The most noticeable issue?   My blood sugars. 

And that graph shows my blood sugars over the course of 3 days.  3 days!  Up and down and up and down...no rhyme or reason, just spike after plummet after spike...how depressing!  How hopeless!  I was absolutely miserable.  I felt out of control.  I didn't know I could think outside of the box, until I put my health and quality of life FIRST.  What the doctors were telling me, with their limited knowledge of diabetes and nutritional care, wasn't working.  I KNEW I had to do something different.

I had to take my health care into MY OWN hands, which is right where it belongs.  NO ONE else knows your body like you do.  You have to step up and take charge yourself.  You have to advocate for yourself.  You have to do your own research.  I say this to encourage you.  To empower you.  To show you that there is another way, a better way.  There's always another option.  There is hope.

Here's the ending to my story.  I spent HOURS researching, combing health and nutrition websites for ways to lower my blood sugars.  I found out about a product called a Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM), a device that monitors blood sugars 24/7.  With some very generous help, I was able to get one for myself and used it to help me see how bad things really were.  I started realizing that food affects my numbers way more than my insulin could handle.  I started cutting out those unhelpful foods, and slowly started to improve my blood sugars.  It wasn't an overnight fix.  In fact, it took me 2 years to get the results I wanted.

BUT I GOT THEM!!

Here's me, thinking outside the box:    

           
This was yesterday.
And this could be you.
Think outside the box, my friend.
Your health depends on it.