More Thoughts for Thought and the Metabolically Deranged

Emily Deans, the paleo psychiatrist, has been kicking out blog posts like crazy (see Getting Sucked in to Brilliant People’s Blogs). This post (be sure to read the comments and Emily's prior post and comments) is directly relevant to the post I made the other day: Which Low Carb Approach is Best?

If you are trying to figure out your food path and you are already pretty healthy, not metabolically deranged as Dr. Deans and others say (and there are so many of those folks), then all of this debate can make for fun and interesting reading but nothing to sweat too much. Your body will talk to you loud and clear when you mess up. For some examples, see how wheat affects Ryan and Colson, how corn affects Colson and how chocolate affects me. On a standard Nourishing Traditions diet these problems didn’t present, but going paleo/Whole 30 we are very clear where we stand with these foods – wheat and corn are OUT and chocolate is occasionally in.

Cholesterol Victory for Ryan

Wheat - Cut That Shit Out!

Corn Out!

Chocolate and Sleep (or Lack of!)

If you are battling some sort of health difficulty, however, this information can become critical. Why? Because you need to take action before things become worse and you can’t easily act.

I have a family member who is a Type 2 diabetic. He lost a leg and the docs didn’t suggest that he change his diet when the difficulty was only in his toe. Eventually his kidneys failed and he is on dialysis, he had a serious heart attack and lacks full heart function. After that he lost half his other foot, which won’t heal at all, and the docs are telling him that they will take the leg when the pain becomes unbearable – they are just waiting for him to say the word. How is that for “Metabolically Deranged?”

After six months of repeated efforts by me (who can’t know more than a doctor), a family messenger is willing to consider that he might be able to act to save himself and bring him the information I have gleaned from Pub Med (search ketogenic diet on Pub Med for a serious awakening to the power of food). The problem is, with his weak heart and dialysis, he can’t quickly make the changes that might save his leg and his life. He has to work with his doc, who is just waiting to take the leg and offering nothing else. Talk about hosed.

And here is the other conundrum – people rarely fix themselves when they are told what to do by their doctor. There is a surgeon who is a strong health promoter who occasionally refers patients to me for shopping and cooking advice after he assigns them a meal plan. He only occasionally refers because so few of the patients will actually take action - almost all of them opt for surgery or drugs instead of healing. In over two years, only two of the referrals have met with me and only one took action. The odds clearly show that people don’t act – they remain victims.

Can I knock my relative’s doctor given the lousy success rate that the surgeon has of convincing people to cure themselves? I don’t know. Will my relative be able to save his leg if he chooses to act? I am not feeling overly optimistic because he will have to act so slowly. If he does act, though, he could possibly save his leg, turn his kidneys on, and get off of dialysis.

One thing I do know is the truth of this saying:

"He who has health has hope, and he who has hope has happiness.”