I Have NO Discipline; Can I Still Be Helped? (Part 1 of 3)
I had a patient in his 60s whose doctor had just tested his triglycerides. It was an absurdly high number; five times the normal range. Oddly, the doctor prescribed cholesterol medication and did not test for diabetes. He did not want to take medication. He explained that he worked in the state capital and saw a lot of political people, in the land of “fat, doughy, white men” (his words). He said, “These guys are ‘done’. Overweight, grey complexions, out of breath and taking a half dozen medications. We talk about medical procedures half the time. I’m not going out like that.”
I started talking about diet—the logical place to begin. He stopped me and said, “I really can’t change my diet. The restaurants (in the capital) serve a lot of fat, grease, sugar and starch). Besides, I like candy and Scotch.” He continued, “I can take as many supplements as you want to give me, but the diet thing is hard.”
I told him his attitude was made for modern medicine. We could try, then retest. If it did not work, I would find him and MD to test for and possibly manage diabetes. He was true to his word and ended up taking berberine, niacin, a special multiple designed for blood sugar, magnesium, thiamin, lipoic acid, fish oil, and a probiotic. Some of these were at pretty high doses. It cost him around $500/month, but when we retested his lab values were normal.
Vince Lombardy once said, “The Packers never lost a game; they just ran out of time.” The natural health equivalent of that is, “Natural healthcare always works, but sometimes you don’t do enough.” Diet was the key to helping this man and I really wasn’t sure if the supplements would be enough. We were lucky. Don’t try this at home—seriously, get help if this is you.
I tell this story not to get you to take a lot of supplements, but to illustrate a point. Think of chronic health problems like they are straws on a camel’s back. The right diet can remove a lot of straw, as can supplements. It is not about treating disease; it is about supporting infrastructure.
