Column #291     April 2, 2021Caught in a Chronic Disease Quicksand Pit

Dependence is a powerful force that can be used for controlling those who are dependent. During the past 80 years a vast number of Americans have become totally dependent on the world’s most expensive medical system.

Both Medicaid and Medicare were created in 1965 and now they serve about 50% of the population. The Medicare program is a federally funded and administered health insurance program for retirees, disabled workers, and their spouses and dependents. Medicaid is a joint federal-state program through which states receive federal financial participation in their costs of furnishing health and long-term services to federally recognized groups of low-income families and individuals.

During the past 80 years the healthcare industry has grown so fast that it requires about 18 cents of every dollar of gross national product. But what has that done for the health of everyday Americans after all this growth? It’s been dismal.

In the past 80 years the prevalence of chronic disease has increased for obesity, diabetes, asthma, mental health conditions, neurodevelopmental disorders (impaired motor function, learning, or communication skills), and most other chronic ailments. In other words, Americans are sicker rather than healthier because as the population expanded, incidences of chronic disease grew even faster!1 2

Consequently, Americans are slowly sinking lower and lower into the chronic disease quicksand pit. They’re in so deep now, they’re desperate for help. Our government has taken notice and is using the power of dependancy as reasons for providing more help (more government) which always translates into less freedom?

In 1961 Ronald Reagan made an LP recording (a phonograph record) titled “Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine.” In the recording he said, "One of the traditional methods of imposing statism or socialism on a people has been by way of medicine. It's very easy to disguise a medical program as a humanitarian project, most people are a little reluctant to oppose anything that suggests medical care for people who possibly can't afford it."3

Obviously, being healthy is critically important if one wants to be free rather than dependent. So why aren’t more Americans choosing healthier lifestyles that will unequivocally reduce the incident rate of chronic disease? Are they being led astray?

The USDA's first nutrition guidelines were published in 1894 and they promoted variety, proportionality and moderation; measuring calories; and nutrient-rich foods and less fat, sugar and starch. That was before the discovery of individual vitamins in 1910. Over the years the USDA’s recommendations became more complex often following social norms, i.e., politics. Looking back we can see that the war on fat is more than 125 years old and was based on theories, not science. Today we know that the fear of animal fat is unwarranted.4 5 6

Of course, the medical community parrots the USDA’s dietary guidelines because that way they can’t be liable if they’re following the federal government’s recommendations. Therefore the government’s agricultural agency, which promotes all farm goods, has been setting the table for what’s best to eat for health. Maybe, because it’s a government agency, that’s why it’s tone deft when it comes to responding to the more than 40 years of complaints from scientists in biology and nutrition who have determined which foods are most nutritious and which are not.

Because the USDA’s recommend diet is little changed in 125 years, and is based somewhat on being economic (inexpensive), the consumption of carbohydrates and sugars increased significantly especially with the mechanization of grain and cane farming in the 1940s. Also, with the invention of modern feedlots (producing lots of grain-fed beef, chicken, and pork) in the early 1950s the ratio of Omega-6 to Omega-3 essential fatty acids (EFAs) in the total food supply increased mightily. That was all topped off by the inexpensive fast food industry where about 40% of the population dines at least once a day.

Commencing about sixty years ago, and especially in the past 40 years, scientists have determined that when the EFA ratio exceeded 4:1 chronic diseases of all kinds become more prevalent. Today, the EFA ratio for the average American is about 15:1 when it should be closer to 1:1. And still, after all these years, neither the USDA nor the medical community breathes a word about the importance of the EFA ratio.7

We’ve been told in the past that a reliance on central governments for our needs is a slippery slope. Governments are for making laws, providing courts to settle disputes, and the common defense. They are not efficient nor effective at administering to the needs of the people.

In Ronald Reagan’s Inaugural Address in 1981 he explained why this is so true. He said: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem. From time to time we've been tempted to believe that society has become too complex to be managed by self-rule, that government by an elite group is superior to government for, by, and of the people. Well, if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else? All of us together, in and out of government, must bear the burden. The solutions we seek must be equitable, with no one group singled out to pay a higher price."8

As individuals we are responsible for our own health. It is up to us to figure out what is best to eat and what we should avoid. That’s called personal responsibility. For more than 125 years the government has sold us out with a system that has failed miserably while protecting a medical community that prescribes their advice. Today, we see clearly that the CDC and the medical industrial system are the government’s instruments for controlling the masses. The recent pandemic is a stark reminder that “. . . if no one among us is capable of governing himself, then who among us has the capacity to govern someone else?” Yet many people, such as JP Sears, “worship” the bureaucrats and demand others to follow.9

The CDC and the mostly compliant medical industrial system have nearly destroyed our country with recommendations of insane shutdowns (businesses and schools) and ridiculous steps (quarantines, spacing, masks, double masking, and shields) for people who are almost invincible to the virus. They’ve even closed saltwater beaches! At the same time, while the government was crushing our freedoms, it did not emphasize the importance of improving personal immunity and changing one’s diet to make a case of COVID-19 far less deadly. Instead the CDC scaremongered, and continues to scaremonger to this very day, the entire country while encouraging bureaucrats and politicians to also scare the pants off everyone in order to continue controlling many aspects of life that do nothing to improve our lot.

Americans’ must wake up to the fact that when they are positive for COVID-19 their chronic diseases make the symptoms far worse than if they are healthy. In most cases their chronic diseases are caused by their lifestyles and what they eat tops the list of abuses. That’s why being really healthy is probably better than vaccines. That sounds outrageous, but it’s true because vaccines are far from being 100% effective and they can have serious side effects. A healthy lifestyle does not have side effects and makes most cases of the virus asymptomatic. If there are symptoms, they are very mild, short lived, and survivable.

To your health.

Ted Slanker

Ted Slanker has been reporting on the fundamentals of nutritional research in publications, television and radio appearances, and at conferences since 1999. He condenses complex studies into the basics required for health and well-being. His eBook, The Real Diet of Man, is available online.

Don’t miss these links for additional reading:

1. Chronic Disease in the United States: A Worsening Health and Economic Crisis by Tara O'Neill Hayes, Serena Gillian from American Action Forum

2. The Growing Crisis of Chronic Disease in the United States from FightChronicDisease.org

3. Ronald Reagan Speaks Out Against Socialized Medicine from Wikipedia

4. History of USDA Nutrition Guides from Wikipedia

5. The Cardiometabolic Consequences of Replacing Saturated Fats with Carbohydrates or Ù-6 Polyunsaturated Fats: Do the Dietary Guidelines Have it Wrong? by James J DiNicolantonio

6. Saturated Fat Is Not the Major Issue by Aseem Malhotra

7. Omega-3 Fatty Acids in Health and Disease and Growth and Development by Artemis Simopoulis, M.D.

8. Ronald Reagan Inaugural Address in 1981

9. Ten Reasons Why Freedom Is Dangerous by JP Sears