1. Story I heard this week…
A patient was telling me about severe inflammation and arthritis that he was suffering from years ago. He had gone to a doctor, where he was told to take an anti-inflammatory. While eating lunch that day, and sharing his story with an older co-worker, the older gentlemen pointed to the Diet Coke he was drinking and said, “That’s your problem.” My patient asked what he was talking about. The co-worker asked him what sweetener was in that drink. He looked and saw that it was the artificial sweetener aspartame. To make a long story short… he stopped drinking Diet Coke, and his joint pain went away. Two quick things about this story… first, he suffered with sharp, shooting pains for years that adversely affected his life, which WERE CAUSED by that artificial sweetener. Therefore, the only true solution was to eliminate that sweetener. Second, when he was told to take that anti-inflammatory, he asked the doctor how long he would have to take it. The doctor told him for the rest of his life. Yikes! After all these years, his organs would have been a mess. The moral of the story… make sure you address the CAUSE of your health problems… not the effect. And I have had numerous patients cut artificial sweeteners and do remarkably better health-wise.
2. Documentary worth watching…
Speaking of the artificial sweetener aspartame… there is an older documentary about this terrible sweetener called “Sweet Misery.” I haven’t watched it for a long time, but I remember being moved by how damaging it really is, being amazed at how it was ever approved (despite studies showing it caused tumors), and being educated on how corrupt our system is and how much money and power play a role in how things get done in this country. If you watch the documentary, note how they cut tumors out of dead mice, then reported that the mice did not have any tumors!?! And how they suspended the FDA commissioner for one week, at which time they pushed the approval for aspartame through. (If I remember correctly, I think that’s how it went down.) If you have Amazon Prime, you can watch the trailer for Sweet Misery here. If you’re a patient at my office, you can borrow the DVD I have at the office.
3. Something that entertains me…
Since I was little, I loved flip books. If you are not sure what a flip book is, Wikipedia describes it as “a book with a series of pictures that vary gradually from one page to the next, so that when the pages are turned rapidly, the pictures appear to animate by simulating motion or some other change.” I used to try to make them, usually stick figures lifting something, throwing a ball, or something like that. My daughter recently sent me a link to a flipbook that was incredible. I think I’m going to play around with making a couple for fun. Here is a link to a short video with a simple flip book. Google “flip book 3D” to see some really cool flip books.