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April 2009 |
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Vol.8 Issue 4 |
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Discuss This Newsletter With Others Dr. McDougall, Why Do You Act That Way? I was born a passionate person—with a larger-than-life type-A personality. I have lived with this high enthusiasm, for better or worse, every single day. My most memorable childhood lesson was about the importance of honesty. My parents would say, “Johnny, no matter what you did wrong (and I was into a lot of mischief), or what else is going on in your life, as long as you tell the truth everything will work out.” My medical education began in October of 1965, at age 18, when I suffered a massive stroke that left me completely paralyzed on the left side of my body for 2 weeks, and I remain noticeably physically weakened 44 years later. This was my first real contact with the businesses of medicine, and without this opportunity I would have never become a physician. I was raised in a lower middle class family in the suburbs of Detroit, Michigan. My parents worshipped medical doctors as if they were exceptional beings possessing near God-like qualities. I was an ordinary person, at best; therefore, I never even dreamed of aspiring to such heights—that is, before my fateful hospitalization. |MORE| Urgent: Support the Proposed New Law in California Requiring Doctors to Provide Patients with Information on Diabetes and Heart Disease. Part 2 - Diabetes Patients often receive inadequate and/or incorrect information from their doctors on diabetes and heart disease. Last month’s newsletter was on the heart disease side of this bill. Concerning type-2 diabetes, health professionals and pharmaceutical companies disseminate incorrect and inadequate information on these four important issues: 1) Patients are told diabetic medications for type-2 diabetes will prolong life and prevent complications of diabetes, while extensive scientific research says otherwise for the most commonly prescribed oral medications. 2) Patients are told that their blood sugars (and hemoglobin A1c levels) must be lowered as close to normal levels as possible. However, all six major studies show intensive therapy increases the risk of heart disease, death, and serious side effects. 3) The public receives almost no education about the role of the rich Western diet in the cause of type-2 diabetes and about the right way to eat to prevent this disease. 4) Patients are rarely told that changing to a healthy, low-fat, plant-food based diet, exercise, and associated weight loss will improve their health and often cure their type-2 diabetes. |MORE| Featured Recipes
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