Thursday, February 24, 2005

The needs and frailties of our mortal bodies spare no-one - not even the Pope. Frail Pope Back in Hospital with Flu Relapse It appears that Pope John Paul II is back in the hands of "medical specialists" who seem unable to provide him with any lasting relief from the effects of a "flu" that he has been suffering for several weeks. We would not presume to advise the "specialists" who are caring for this great man - we are certain that they include the best and brightest that conventional medicine has to offer. But we are hoping that somewhere in that team of medics there might be a holistically, naturally trained doctor to ensure that he is receiving optimal amounts of vitamins, minerals and other nutrients to strengthen his immune system and allow for a rapid and full recovery from his ailments. This leads us to an earlier news item, with some interesting, and heroic, thoughts from The Holy See... Vatican Decries 'Religion of Health' Thu Feb 17, 3:28 PM ET Vatican officials on Thursday held out Pope John Paul II's stoic suffering with Parkinson's disease as an antidote to the mentality that modern medicine must cure all, calling this a "religion of health" that is taking hold in affluent countries. Wow - what a tough act to follow! Pope John Paul II's fight with Parkinson's, a disease that robs many worldwide of the precious beauty of their productive lives, has indeed been heroic and valiant. But I have a tough time with the idea put forth by Vatican Officials who say "Precisely in the handicap, in the disease, in the pain, in old age, in dying and death one can, instead, perceive the truth of life in a clearer way". I entered Nursing, and Dr. Myatt entered Medicine to battle those things - the handicap, the disease, the the pain, the old age, the dying and death - not through the modern "Religion of Health" with "a pill for every ill" and "Big Surgery" for what cannot be dealt with by "Big Pharmacy", but by attention to those things that our bodies were meant to have in order to live and thrive. Our modern life has robbed us of many of those necessities - clean water, clean air, nutritious food, and given us a cornucopia of toxic insults in their place. Whether you believe in Darwin and evolution, or the Bible and Creation, the scientific evidence is solid that our human bodies are genetically "programmed" to live for about 120 years. Yet vanishingly few of us make it that far, and those of us who approach the century make generally do so "Precisely in the handicap, in the disease, in the pain, in old age" that Pope John Paul II is experiencing. Why must this be? Surely evolution, or The Great Architect, or The Holy Mother/Father, or whatever greater power you may believe in could not have programmed our genetic makeup with the potential for 120 years of life and then stripped us of that, leaving little more than the tantalizing evidence of our potential and the frustrating reality of our actual average three-score-and-ten lifespans. Perhaps there is a great deal of validity in the statements of the Vatican - there is indeed a "Religion of Health" which worships at the altar of Big Surgery and Big Pharmacy. This is the religion that seeks "health" at any cost. This is the religion that directs Big Science in it's quest for ever newer and more novel ways to cloak the evidence, the symptoms of our modern excesses and deficiencies. Rather than ensuring that people receive adequate nutrition - vitamins, minerals, trace minerals, adequate protein and essential fatty acids, we direct science to find us drugs to "cure" the problems, the diseases that deficiencies of these essentials to human life cause. Rather than ensuring that peoples needs are met with nutritious foods, we have Big Surgery offering gastric bypass and liposuction surgeries to deal with the effects of dietary excesses of refined sugars and flour - our "white trash" foods. The "Religion of Health" is blinding us with it's seductive promise of easy, effortless life without responsibility. Eat too much? We'll cut out most of your stomach. Drink too much? We'll give you a new liver. Stress too much? We'll give you a pill to sleep, then another pill to wake up. Eat a deficient diet and ruin your immune system? We'll give you pills to make your cough stop, and your nose dry up, and your aches and pains go away at least momentarily. We will never medicate ourselves into good health, despite the promises of our Pharmaceutical Scientists. Our finest surgeons cannot cut us longer lives with their skill. Only by ensuring that our bodies - those bodies that evolution, or God, intended to have about 120 years worth of useful life - are properly given all the raw materials that are necessary for good health will we see any improvement in our human condition. There can be no doubt - we must stop fouling our water, polluting our air, stripping our fields of the nutrients needed to grow healthful crops and livestock. We must ensure that there is a global effort to do these things, for we are all neighbors on a very small and fragile planet. Perhaps if we humans could stop bickering and squabbling about who has the most direct line to God, or Allah, or Jehovah, or The Great Hubba-Hubba we might be able to re-invest all that "fighting money" to a better purpose as "nutrition money." Think of the "disease" that could be conquered globally by ensuring all peoples of the world have access to complete nutrition. Until that shining day arrives though, you can be assured that Dr. Myatt and I will be doing what we can to give our bodies what they need to live long and well. Daily optimal dose multivitamins, to make up for what is lost in the processing of our food. Daily supplements of green foods, phytonutrients, and flavonoids to make up for what is lacking in our vegetables. Daily supplementation with Omega 3 Essential Fatty Acids because our Standard American Diet (SAD) is woefully deficient. Yes, we'll be taking our "vities", and we invite you to visit our website and see how you can tip the scales in your favor too. For Pope John Paul II - God Bless and God Speed. You have served your God and your fellow man well and we hope that you may continue to do so for as long as possible. For the rest of you - remember those excesses and deficiencies, and what you can do about them, and take your daily vitamin supplements! Cheers, Nurse Mark Wellness Club website: www.DrMyattsWellnessClub.com 9:41:15 AM

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