Vegan for Health? So Much Evidence Supports a “Change We Can Believe In” for Many Medical Problems

Modern medicine kicked out Hippocrates as Father of Medicine--“Let your food be your medicine.” Doctors promote DuPont's slogan, “Better Living Through Chemistry.” But if you know anyone taking a bag of pills, you know it's not so. Studies often report benefit from a vegetarian or vegan diet.

A good example is this study reporting improvement in pain from diabetic neuropathy in Type II diabetics on a plant-based diet. http://www.medpagetoday.com/MeetingCoverage/AADE/47120

While the study was small, this author has had patients with similar experiences, and the testimonials at http://RichardRuhling.com support benefit, not just for diabetes, but high blood pressure and a wide range of medical problems, including some cancers.

Hardly a day goes by without some effort at commercializing on nature that has benefits without the adverse effects of prescription drugs. This is because, in most cases, the drug does not address the underlying cause, but does help our symtpom. However, sooner or later, our liver or kidneys or some other part of our body says, Enough of this chemical and now we have two problems—the drug and the symptom that was supposed to be cured by it.

At some point, we have to decide whether we can live with our diet and the symptoms it causes, or opt for something different. Doing yearly physicals on executives, I had one tell me that sugar bothered his joints. Another said meat made his joints ache. A third one said cheese gave him arthritis. These were smart men who had figured it out and made a change.

Here's a suggestion for those who are struggling with health issues. Make a 10-day trial of foods that you don't usually eat and leave off the things might be causing the problem because you eat them often. You might be surprised to see yourself get worse for 3 or 4 days as your body detoxifies from meat, cheese or sugar, but by days 5-7, you should be feeling better.

Then, if you want to prove it to yourself, add the usual foods back, one at a time so you can recognize the problem when you get your symptoms back.

One of the most common causes of a wide range of symptoms is caffeine in coffee or colas. If you suffer from nervous or sleep problems, or headaches, get rid of this (though you may have a withdrawal headache for a few days—take a Tylenol). Caffeine lowers the threshhold for ventricular fibrillation—a fatal arrhythmia, so that it's not allowed in the coronary care unit. Caffeine also cause breast lumps—fibrocystic disease, which is also a risk factor for cancer of the breast. Caffeine turns the stomach acid on and creates GERD—Gastro-Esophageal Reflux Disease. Caffeine lends to urinary infection and chromosomal damage. We've all seen ads asking for donation for little children to have surgery when they mouth is deformed. Doctors would rather do surgery ($$$) than to tell pregnant women not to use caffeine like we understand about alcohol during pregnancy.

If something like exercise is good for the body, it's good many ways. The converse is also true. Caffeine is bad and it's bad many ways. Why not say goodbye and tolerate the headache withdrawal or other symptoms for a few days—you'll be glad you did.