We have a serious problem with our diets, people. Obesity is usually cited as the end result of our terrible diets, but I think we are forgetting the diseases associated with it.
In a 1977 article in the Journal of Clinical Nutrition, Denis Burkitt, MD, who worked in Uganda from WWII until 1962 explained that, of the 52 hospitals he had worked in, 44 had never seen a case of colon cancer, heart disease, diverticulitis or cancer before the introduction of our modern diet. Robert McCarrison, MD, in his association with the Hunzas of Northern Pakistan, never saw a case of what we would call common diseases while he lived with the Hunzas, once again while they ate their indigenous food. Samuel Hutton, MD, who lived with the Native American Indians as they were being introduced to the modern diet stated, “I have seen how the natives degenerate when they take to European food. They lose their natural coating of fat to a great extent, and need more clothing to withstand the cold; they become less robust, less able to endure fatigue, and their children are puny.”
Our diets are killing us, yet we all sit back and blame our illnesses on genetics, bad luck, and aging. If I made billions of dollars for telling you that, I would very likely tell you the same thing, and then prescribe expensive medicine to make you think we were doing all we could for your health. Instead, it is really time we stopped pretending and accepted the simple fact that our lifestyles are what make the difference between energetic, happy, enjoyable lives and ones filled with pain, misery, doctor visits, medications, and surgeries.
