26. If your nutritional program is so good, why do you still take drugs?

If your nutritional program is so good, why do you still take drugs?

There’s no question that good nutrition improves our health. Heck, many type 2 diabetics do away with all need for medication by eating low-carb. But can proper nutrition prevent all illness and do away with all need for drugs? Let’s talk about it.

I got this question years ago, back when I was blogging. The fellow who posed it clearly thought that if one’s nutrition was all it should be, there should never be a need for medication. In particular, the Wellbutrin I take for ADHD and seasonal affective disorder, and the sleep medication I take for a diagnosed sleep disorder.

Does ideal nutrition do away with the need for medicine?

I can only suppose that those who feel this way are ignorant of history. According to the Centers for Disease Control, in 1900, fully 30 percent of deaths in the US were of children five and under. Some of them would have been trauma victims, and of course, trauma medicine has improved dramatically.

But many of them were killed by infectious diseases, diphtheria, pertussis, tuberculosis, pneumonia and flu. Between vaccination and antibiotics, the rate of death from these diseases has plummeted. This is the main reason that average lifespan has increased so dramatically. But was the American diet ideal in 1900?

Not by our standards. The American rate of sugar consumption was 90 pounds per capita per year, about half of what it is today, but still higher than it had historically been. Certainly, people ate bread, potatoes, and other concentrated carbs. However, soda intake was 12 bottles per year, and the bottles were far smaller than the 20 ouncers common today.

How old am I? I’m so old I can remember 6 ounce bottles of Coca Cola in Coke machines. Processed food was far less common. Home cooking was the standard. Frozen food and fast food didn’t exist. Highly processed seed oils were not a thing. Home gardening was more common, especially during the Great War, when victory gardens were urged.

Yet, people were dying young. So, let’s go back further. Let’s go back to the Middle Ages. In 14th century Europe, sugar consumption was limited to the wealthy. Interestingly, grain consumption among the peasants, so the vast majority of people, was rarely wheat, but rather barley, oats, and rye. All of which are easier on blood sugar than wheat flour.

Links and Show Notes

https://www.carbsmart.com/podcast-26-why-do-you-still-take-drugs.html

Website CarbSmart.com

https://CarbSmart.com

Episode 26 Featured Recipe

Low-Carb Brussels Sprouts with Parmesan-Bacon Cream Sauce

https://www.carbsmart.com/podcast26recipe

Find Hundreds of Articles and Delicious and Easy-to-Make Low-Carb Recipes by Dana Carpender

https://www.carbsmart.com/author/dana

Show Notes

https://www.carbsmart.com/podcast-26-why-do-you-still-take-drugs.html

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