It seems like the furor over cholesterol has been going on for a couple of decades now. The experts told us to eat margarine instead of butter, give up eggs and avoid any kind of saturated fat. Physicians had decided that by reducing cholesterol we might finally turn the corner on the rising rate of heart disease. Then we were told that there was “good” and “bad” cholesterol as their battle against the evils of saturated fat containing foods went on. I’ve been suspicious of the whole thing for years wondering if our bodies aren’t actually designed to consume naturally derived foods like butter. Furthermore I have a growing skepticism about artificial foods and it occurs to me that foods designed in a laboratory are much more likely to be bad for us than the foods created through the wisdom of nature. 
This was all reinforced this morning when I was listening to National Public Radio while driving to the office. Joe and Terry Graedon on the show, “The People’s Pharmacy” were talking about research involving a huge number of people (600,000). The investigators concluded that saturated fat is not associated with heart disease. It made me want to ask this question: if substitute products like margarine, with all the artificial ingredients don’t help and we know that many chemical food additives found in such products are linked to cancer and other problems, then why should we buy them at all?
When I arrived at the office I visited the radio show’s website to see what else they had to say about it and saw this interesting statement, “Worldwide attention has been riveted on the fate of a Malaysian Airlines jet with 239 people on board. Since flight 370 disappeared 2 weeks ago (March 8), more than 16,000 people have died as a result of health care harm. Why aren’t we paying more attention?” You know what’s most startling about that statistic? These 16,000 deaths weren’t people who were destined to die because they were ill; no, they died because of medical care. For more information this links to their site: http://www.peoplespharmacy.com/2014/03/22/940-patient-safety-lessons-from-the-skies/
So the question comes to mind, if we can’t trust the experts, then who can we trust? There’s no easy answer except to say that these kinds of facts should serve as a wakeup call. We can’t blindly listen to drug commercials on TV then go to physicians, ask for those drugs and think that some great safety net will protect us from becoming another statistic. Perhaps it would help to remember to trust our own body. Ultimately the best way to avoid sickness is to actually improve the health of our body. No matter how many times the television ads lie to us, we already know that drugs don’t make us healthier. On the contrary, we’ve all learned the building blocks of good health and known them since kindergarten: adequate rest; exercise; pure foods (not the artificial stuff) clean air and water; and good hygiene, including a good nerve supply (that’s what chiropractors help with).