Slashdot Mirror

Please see my own reply to the AC, disagreeing in part and agreeing in part:
http://science.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=3058445&cid=41052955

If you look into the science, you'll see there is plenty of evidence that things like cruciferous vegetables, vitamin D3, iodine, fasting, and some other things (including avoiding refined carbs and various toxins) can help prevent cancer, and in some cases even reverse it. But, it is indeed hit-and-miss once you have cancer -- prevention of cancer by such methods is much more reliable than cure, and it depends on the exact nature of the cancer. You can look at the evidence Dr. Joel Fuhrman has amassed in the book "Eat to Live" for a start. A starting point:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article24.aspx
"As reported by the U.S. government and Center for Disease Control (CDC), cancers of the colon, breast, prostate and lung are the top four deadliest cancers in the modern world. After billions of dollars devoted to researching drug treatments for cancer and minimal increases in life expectancy for those undergoing chemotherapy for most common cancers, many authorities such as the National Institute of Health and the American Cancer Society, have been issuing a stronger voice advocating more preventive measures to reduce cancer incidence. Diet has become a key element in the fight against cancer.
The most recent scientific advancement in the anti-cancer research is the identification of specific foods and food elements that offer powerful protection against cancer. These foods are essential for both prevention of cancer and also increased odds of survival after diagnosis. Harmful foods and supplements have also been identified, and avoiding or minimizing these is equally as important.
Though most people would prefer to take a pill and continue their eating habits, this will not provide the desired protection. Unrefined plant foods, with their plentiful anti-cancer compounds, must be eaten in abundance to flood the body's tissues with protective substances. Vegetables and fruits protect against all types of cancers if consumed in large enough quantities. Hundreds of scientific studies document this. The most prevalent cancers in our societies are plant-food-deficiency diseases. The benefits of lifestyle changes are proportional to the changes made. As we add more vegetable servings, we increase our phytochemical intake and leave less room in our diets for harmful foods, enhancing cancer protection even further. Let's review some of these research findings and then review what a powerful, anti-cancer diet will look like."

Or lots of studies here for vitamin D helping with both preventing cancer and improving outcomes:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer/

But, as I said in that other comment, we really need both better diets and better interventions for the times when that is not enough. One place working towards "integrative therapy" for cancer:
http://www.healingcancer.info/ebook/andrew-weil

But there is so much conflict-of-interest in the medical profession, it can be hard to wade through it all as a stressed patient or family member or friend; here is a related book by a former oncologist:
"Money Driven Medicine -- Tests and Treatments That Don't Work."
http://cancercaremalaysia.com/2011/09/02/book-review-money-driven-medicine-%E2%80%93-chemotherapy-for-non-responsive-cancers-%E2%80%93-denying-reality/
"Medical oncologists are paid almost nothing for talking with patients and their families. Their income depends entirely on the number o

"The main problem...most people would prefer a global war that wipes out 2/3 of the population rather than living in a world where they can't eat meat"

From: http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
==== By Doug Lisle and Alan Goldhamer
An abundance of food, by itself, is not a cause of health problems. But modern technology has done more than to simply make food perpetually abundant. Food also has been made artificially tastier. Food is often more stimulating than ever before -- as the particular chemicals in foods that cause pleasure reactions have been isolated-and artificially concentrated. These chemicals include fats (including oils), refined carbohydrates (such as refined sugar and flour), and salt. Meats were once consumed mostly in the form of wild game -- typically about 15% fat. Today's meat is a much different product. Chemically and hormonally engineered, it can be as high as 50% fat or more. Ice cream is an extraordinary invention for intensifying taste pleasure -- an artificial concoction of pure fat and refined sugar. Once an expensive delicacy, it is now a daily ritual for many people. French fries and potato chips, laden with artificially-concentrated fats, are currently the most commonly consumed "vegetable" in our society. As Dr. Fuhrman reports in his excellent volume Eat to Live, these artificial products, and others like them, comprise a whopping 93% American diet. Our teenage population, for example, consumes up to 25% of their calories in the form of soda pop!

Most of our citizenry can't imagine how it could be any other way. To remove (or dramatically reduce) such products from America's daily diet seems intolerable -- even absurd. Most people believe that if they were to do so, they would enjoy their food -- and their lives -- much less. Indeed, most people believe that they would literally suffer if they consumed a health-promoting diet devoid of such indulgences. But, it is here that their perception is greatly in error. The reality is that humans are well designed to fully enjoy the subtler tastes of whole natural foods, but are poorly equipped to realize this fact. And like a frog sitting in dangerously hot water, most people are being slowly destroyed by the limitations of their awareness.

The pleasure trap

Figure 1 (above) depicts a devastating trap. People consuming a whole natural foods diet will experience a normal range of pleasure from eating low-fat, high-fiber, unprocessed foodsâ"shown as Phase I. However, if concentrated, adulterated, processed foods are consistently allowed in the diet, they quickly will become preferred.

In Phase II, we see that these products are typically experienced as better -- that is, more pleasurable -- than natural foods. This is the result of the heightened pleasure-inducing characteristics of artificially-produced foods. However, within a short period of time (a few weeks), the taste nerves adapt to this higher level of stimulation, and reduce their firing rate. This reduces the pleasure experience of artificially-stimulating foods back down to normal levels (Phase III).

Phase III is the culmination of a process of extraordinary importance. It is within Phase III that most people live out their lives. And it is from within Phase III that most people will engineer their own health crises. Phase III occurs when we have become "used to it" - used to the extreme levels of stimulation present in artificial foods. Yet ultimately, we experience no more pleasure than had we remained on a simpler, more healthful diet! However, this process is rarely noticed - just as we rarely notice the process of getting used to a brightly-lit room.

A challenging escape

Once in awhile, a person may actually become aware of important dietary knowledge. Despite the ingenious misinformation campaigns waged by the dairy, cattle, and processed food industries, sometimes a person actually comes to understand the truth about diet. At such times, determin

Might be helpful: http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/Diabetes.aspx
"How can we lower high glucose levels, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, lose weight and not need to take drugs such as insulin and sulfonylureas which cause weight gain? Here is the simple answer -- the best diet for humans to live longer in superior health is also the best diet for one with diabetes. That is a diet with a high nutrient per calorie ratio as described in my books, Eat To Live and Eat For Health. When one eats a diet predominating in nature's perfect foods -- green vegetables, beans, eggplant, tomatoes, mushrooms, onions, garlic, raw nuts and seeds and limited amount of fresh fruit, it becomes relatively easy for people to eat as much as they want and still lose weight relatively quickly. This includes lots of great tasting food and great recipes, but no oil, butter, cheese, flour or sweets. My experience has demonstrated that those choosing to follow my nutritional recommendation will have their diabetes controlled astonishingly fast even before they have lost most of their excess weight."

Good luck to you and your dad.

http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.changemakers.com/morehealth/entries/health-sensemaking

http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/Diabetes.aspx
"The dietary style described in my books entitled, Eat To Live and Eat For Health, is a vegetable-based diet designed to maximize nutrient per calorie density. It is the most effective dietary approach for those with diabetes and is much more effective than drugs. For a Type 2 diabetic, this approach has resulted in complete reversal of the diabetic condition in the vast majority of my patients, and for a Type 1 diabetic it solves the problems with excessive highs and lows and prevents the typical dangerous complications that too frequently befall those with diabetes.
    Of course, no dietary approach to diabetes will succeed without attention to other risk factors, especially sedentary lifestyle, smoking and lack of sleep. The road to wellness involves making the commitment to regular exercise as well. My clear message is that diabetics can't just "eat better." They have to go all the way and commit to nutritional excellence.
    If you have diabetes, begin by reading my book, Eat To Live or Eat For Health"

See also:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46_GInjBeQU

And check out the book "The Pleasure Trap".

Make sure you get enough vitamin D, too (e.g. Dr. John Cannell).

Congrats on coming this far despite all the misinformation out there (including by MDs) and good luck moving forward...

Breastfeeding to age 2+ has been shown to reduce disease (WHO). Eating a great vegetable-heavy diet based mostly on vegetables, fruits, and beans has been shown to reduce disease (Dr. Joel Fuhrman). Getting enough sunlight or supplements to get vitamin D has been shown to reduce disease (Dr. John Cannell). Having a less stressed-out household, have all been shown to reduce disease (Dr. Andrew Weil). Exercise has been shown to reduce disease. Some of these have actually been shown to be more effective than immunization for some diseases (like vitamin D and the flu in some studies), Hardly any US American families do any of these things to a significant degree.

For an example of what I'm talking about, see:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/shop/ChildBookReviews.aspx
"Dr. Fuhrman has the solution for your frequently ill child. Backed up by a multitude of scientific studies, he explains how eating particular foods and how avoiding others can have a significant impact on your child's resistance to dangerous infections, their intelligence and success in school. For example, a change in dietary habits can have a dramatic effect on reducing the occurrences of illness like ear infections, asthma and allergies. The right foods introduced early in life can increase your child's IQ. Dr. Fuhrman presents the fascinating science which demonstrates that the current epidemic of adult cancers and other diseases are closely linked to what we eat. In the first quarter of our life, he explains that eating right in childhood is the most powerful weapon against the growing cancer epidemic. Also, he reveals how the seeds for future auto-immune diseases are sown in childhood, and how by eating right today, children can be healthy tomorrow."

So, are parents who do not maximize their children's and their own health not equally culpable? Or are parents who do not get their children to do such things even more evil, because while vaccines have demonstrable risks (and some questionably science behind some of them full of conflicts-of-interest), most of these more basic approaches to healthy living do not have significant associated risks (except maybe some forms of exercise) and all are based on fairly solid science.

Also, it seems sending a kid to school or sending a kid to a doctor's waiting room is one of the fastest ways to get a kid exposed to pathogens. That is something else to consider for those parents who choose to not to have personal physicians or who choose not to homeschool. Where is the moral outrage for parents who choose to send their children to schools and thus participate in spreading disease? Or where is the moral outrage for people who take unnecessary car trips (including to schools) and create traffic hazards? And so on, for all sorts of things people do that can create risks for others (including making the world a more depressing place by too much competition and greed).

The posts to this story frequently show an extreme moral outrage about parents who for whatever reason do the cost-benefit analysis and say a specific vaccination does not make sense for their child (as if parenting wasn't hard enough already involving many sacrifices and tough judgement calls). Yet, given the sad state of health for most people in the USA always getting colds and flus and so many being obese, the hypocrisy and ignorance in these posts is mind-boggling for anyone who knows something about how to ensure good health like through the above approaches. See, for more details:
http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823

I wish people posting here would apply even 10% of their moral outrage about vaccination to those who eat poorly or make risky lifestyle choices and thus become disease carriers. I'd suspect that outrage would apply to most people posting on slashdot (including most of the outraged people).

But I don't think we'll see th

"It doesn't really go to my point. It's not that some people can't find something to work for on their own, it's that most people can't."

Maybe then you might like this refutation better? :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fundamental_attribution_error
"In social psychology, the fundamental attribution error (also known as correspondence bias or attribution effect) describes the tendency to over-value dispositional or personality-based explanations for the observed behaviors of others while under-valuing situational explanations for those behaviors. The fundamental attribution error is most visible when people explain the behavior of others. It does not explain interpretations of one's own behavior -- where situational factors are often taken into consideration. This discrepancy is called the actor-observer bias. As a simple example, if Alice saw Bob trip over a rock and fall, Alice might consider Bob to be clumsy or careless (dispositional). If Alice tripped over the same rock herself, she would be more likely to blame the placement of the rock (situational)."

So, according to the fundamental attribution error, it is only natural to feel that you (and rich folk) work hard because you are virtuous. Other people whose will has been broken by the schooling system or by boring jobs don't work because they are lazy and uncreative as an innate personality defect.

Again, being a good parent can take about as much time as anyone can put into it, especially in today's problematical society that is very anti-child, anti-health, and anti-community. Ask a few people who are actively raising young children if they need more make-work activities added to their day? :-)

"Most people will need to be given some artificial challange. And the success of MMOs shows that artificial challanges fill the void, at least for a time, but I'm not sure where that leads us."

I'd certainly agree that some people are good at making worlds others want to spend time exploring. It's a good question how we should feel about this. What aspects of that come from creating pleasure traps unhealthily full of supernormal stimuli irresistible to abnormally distressed people?
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park

Still, see for more support that mindless schooling and mindless work reduce people in their potentials to set their own directions:
"Human Resources 3/9"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-4Hv9pDicA

I feel that most people don't need to be "given" challenges when they are healthy and raised in a healthy community; I feel they will in that case be able to find or invent their own meaningful activities. (I'm not saying the USA approaches that though in many places...) It would be a good question how to prove that to your skeptical satisfaction (which is not an unreasonable demand).

To my mind, the fact that we generally only see fairly good people as very successful doesn't really tell us what we can conclude about the rest of humanity's aspirations and proclivities in a different setting that is less "winner takes all". Generally, the biggest material success is also not the very best in a field, who may languish as mavericks, but people of some substantial talent who were lucky enough to have substantial financial backing and good social networks and who were willing to make the right compromises for material success. Bill Gates is an example of that -- someone of substantial talent (but not the very best say compared to Dan Ingalls), born to wealth, and in the right place at the righ

This was a very interesting reply, thanks. It points out a few important issues.

As when people leave conventional schooling for "unschooling" or "homeschooling", it may take some time to decompress. A rule of thumb there is somewhere between one month to one year of decompression for every year of compulsory schooling.

Also, humans naturally are lazy to conserve energy. It's a good thing to be lazy because it prevents wasting resources on things that don't help survival. That is weighed in the mind against the fact that it is also a good thing to do certain things (things that contribute towards survival). The mind is in tension between those two things. Or, in other words, necessity is the mother of invention, but laziness is the father. :-)

Also, in our society, with "supernormal stimuli", it is indeed easy to get caught in "pleasure traps" whether you have to work 9-5 or not:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park

Also, people in industrialized societies have become so vitamin D deficient (from lack of sunlight), so phytonutrient deficient (from lack of vegetables), so omega 3 deficient (from lack of vegetables and fish), and so on from modern processed food, that their brains are affected in a bad way, which makes it harder to be self-directing.

Please get your vitamin D level checked if you are indoors so much... Vitamin D is an occupational hazard of indoors workers like most electrical engineers.

More health tips here:
http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823

Anyway, put those all together, and yes, it can be really hard for a mainstream person to suddenly become self-directing and healthy and connected to a health community. It can be a big challenge. Good luck with it. Part of that is to get into the right environment that stimulates us in healthy ways. See for example:
http://www.bluezones.com/

BTW, and to address some of the other points you made too, have you thought about a career in agricultural robotics? :-)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agricultural_robot

As our technology improves (like with better agricultural robotics, 3D printing, mining robotics, LENR cheap energy, etc.), it will only take the 1% who enjoy stuff like that to provide enough of the basics for everyone (whether lurker or shirker), same as with GNU/Linux, Wikipedia, blogging, slashdot, etc. provide lots of information for us all through the efforts of a relatively few percent of the population. So, that is how there can be cell phones and such even if few people work to make them. Already we see a continuing drop in manufacturing employment while still producing just as much, just like agriculture before that. We'll probably increasingly see that in services, too. Here is an example for sharing free 3D designs for stuff you can print in 3D printers:
http://www.thingiverse.com/

Also, Bob Black, in The Abolition of Work (the first article I think you're referring to), talks about making work into play. You are playing "games" at home. What if making stuff or providing services felt pretty much just as much fun, with a sense of flow?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flow_(psychology)

Maybe you could even invent yourself a job as a "job designer"? :-)

Anyway, there are no easy answers for individuals, even if collectively the USA could with a stro

Thanks, Thing 1!

Related posts by you as replies by stuff I wrote, just looking at them again, most relating to post-scarcity and abundance and singularity topics:
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1963016&cid=34977060
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1963016&cid=34979994
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1963016&cid=34990484
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1963016&cid=35001526
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1963016&cid=35001540
http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=2719093&cid=39319235

I could believe that last one! :-)
http://www.drugwarrant.com/articles/why-is-marijuana-illegal/
"Hearst and Anslinger were then supported by Dupont chemical company and various pharmaceutical companies in the effort to outlaw cannabis. Dupont had patented nylon, and wanted hemp removed as competition. The pharmaceutical companies could neither identify nor standardize cannabis dosages, and besides, with cannabis, folks could grow their own medicine and not have to purchase it from large companies."

So, if true, once again, artificial scarcity, backed up by legal means...

See also (although different drugs work by different methods):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park

And yet, the perennial problem of the "pleasure trap":
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

It may be too late, but you could tell your friend about vitamin D, iodine, and vegetables, fruits, and beans, as well as fasting, in preventing and sometimes curing cancer. I've posted many links on that stuff here in the past. Just google on those term and cancer, and look up Dr. Joel Fuhrman's work and Dr. John Cannell's work. Unfortunately, the best way to deal with cancer is to prevent it by helping the human immune system deal with individual cancer cells before they proliferate. Once you have cancer, things are pretty iffy. Fasting can also help in reducing nausea from chemotherapy. Good luck to your friend. Assuming the surgery is a success, exploring these things may help prevent a recurrence. Some links to start:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer/
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article24.aspx
http://iodine4health.com/disease/cancer/cancer.htm
http://www.webmd.com/cancer/news/20080331/fasting_may_improve_cancer_chemotherapy
http://www.marksdailyapple.com/fasting-cancer/

Unfortunately, instead of scientists studying what is proven to work (nutrition, fasting, and lifestyle) and then people lobbying to make good support for healthy choices readily available to all, scientists seem to be creating what could become the basis of a weaponized plague that evades the human immune system. :-(

Well, maybe I could say that says all I need to know about where *you* are coming from regarding "science"? :-) Oh yea of so little faith in science and inquiry and so much faith in unquestionable dogmas? :-) Did you bother to do even the slightest bit of research before your reaction? See for example:
"Variety in Fruit and Vegetable Consumption and the Risk of Lung Cancer in the European Prospective Investigation Into Cancer and Nutrition"
http://www.medscape.com/viewarticle/729525
"The results show that the risk for lung cancer decreased with increasing variety in fruit and vegetable consumption. The hazard ratio for the quartile of participants with the greatest DDS was 0.77 (95% confidence interval, 0.64-0.94) compared with the quartile that had the lowest dietary diversity (P = .02). Intermediate DDS results were associated with intermediate reductions in lung cancers. The inverse association between dietary diversity and incidence of lung cancers was limited to current smokers, and there was a lower risk for squamous cell carcinomas but not other lung cancers. Data on known potential confounding factors, particularly consumption of meat and alcohol, as well as physical activity and education levels, were available but did not affect the outcome."

And that result is not even by focusing on a possible synergetic effect of bringing together really superior nutrition like Dr. Joel Fuhrman talk about with lots of fruits, vegetables, and beans (plus some nuts, seeds, whole grains, and omega 3s), good vitamin D levels like Dr. John Cannell talks about, and Iodine like others talk about, and wellness strategies like Dr. Andrew Weil talks about. Together, these things may well have a much bigger benefit to someone than quitting smoking, and then, when a person doing these other things is healthier overall physically and mentally, quitting smoking may be much easier. That was Dr. Mercola's point if you watched the video, and he tells the story in relation to his success in getting his own sister to quit smoking but all the health problems she had because he did not focus first on helping her eat better. Sometimes when you want to get a pool ball into a pocket you need to do a bank shot. :-)

Science is a process, not just a storehouse of stale factoids (many of which may even have been imparted due to someone's profit motive and may not be very true, or may be out of context or incomplete). And what facts science as a social enterprise chooses to collect and organize also has a lot to do with politics. See also, by an editor of Physics Today: http://www.disciplined-minds.com/

Do I (or Dr. Mercola in that video) recommend smoking? Of course not. It's a dirty habit, and an expensive one too, and it is harmful to your health and that of those around you. But it is quite likely that smoking is far less dangerous to your health than the Standard American Diet when you consider a SAD diet puts you at increased risk for all sorts of other cancers, plus heart disease, plus diabetes, plus dementia, and so on. Put the two together (SAD and smoking) and that is, of course, really bad news for many people in the USA. As Dr. Mercola points out in the video, most MDs have been trained to prioritize addressing the less important one first (smoking), a prioritization that may indeed be shortening the lives of their patients compared to doing things the other way around of focusing on nutrition first, like Dr. Mercola suggests. Once people are eating better, and reducing stress in other parts of their lives (see Andrew Weil's work or "Blue Zones"), then maybe they eventually will be able to move beyond the "pleasure trap" of smoking.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Anyway, about all I have time for. Perhaps you just can't hear what I'm saying right now b

"MDs have extensive training on the importance of nutrition, lifestyle,"

Citation needed. How many hours out of their medical training does the average MD have in these topics? Factoid for you to start with if you want to talk BS:
http://www.ajcn.org/content/83/4/941S.full
"A total of 106 surveys were returned for a response rate of 84%. Ninety-nine of the 106 schools responding required some form of nutrition education; however, only 32 schools (30%) required a separate nutrition course. On average, students received 23.9 contact hours of nutrition instruction during medical school (range: 2-70 h). Only 40 schools required the minimum 25 h recommended by the National Academy of Sciences. Most instructors (88%) expressed the need for additional nutrition instruction at their institutions. "

That's 25 hours out of how many thousands?

Anyway, I could go point by point though the rest of this, but I won't. :-)

But a few comments anyway.

First off, the lung cancer may be more from vegetable deficiency disease and iodine deficiency disease and vitamin D deficiency disease and other messed up social processes leading to distress than from smoking. I'm not saying smoking is good for you generally, of course, but consider:
"Why I Recommend to NOT Stop Smoking"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9DZBzKppHQ

Ask your wife, outside of an initial patient intake interview, how many minutes can her practice let her spend actually with a patient per visit? I doubt the average is higher than ten minutes. How can that result in good outcomes? It's like schools. No matter how well the staff means, the overall institutional dynamics prevents really good stuff from happening for most people most of the time.

Contrast with:
http://www.patchadams.org/
"The Gesundheit! Institute is a project in holistic medical care based on the belief that one cannot separate the health of the individual from the health of the family, the community, the world, and the health care system itself."

Or read the last chapter of:
"Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future" by M.D. Andrew Weil
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Our-Health-Matters-Transform/dp/B004KAB3U2

I'd just suggest you, your doctor, and your wife read "Eat To Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, MD and you'll see why sending a patient to the hospital for heart disease may someday be considered malpractice. :-)
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
"Trying to figure out how to pay for ineffective and expensive medicine by politicians will never be a real solution. People need to know they do not have to have heart disease to begin with, and if they get it, aggressive nutrition is the most life-saving intervention. And it is free."

Here are a collection of links I put together about wellness:
http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823

See especially this on losing weight:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

I feel 20% of what most MDs do is miraculous (e.g. burn care, reattaching severed limbs, therapies for genetic defects, etc.), even if much of the other 80% is probably misguided (the part mostly about treating the symptoms of malnutrition, and where a good alternative practitioner probably does better). The problem is being able to learn which is which... So, this is not to disagree with that aspect of your point about homeopaths.

By the way, strep throat may be a sign of vitamin D deficiency and other nutritional deficie

"MDs have extensive training on the importance of nutrition, lifestyle,"

Citation needed. How many hours out of their medical training does the average MD have in these topics? Factoid for you to start with if you want to talk BS:
http://www.ajcn.org/content/83/4/941S.full
"A total of 106 surveys were returned for a response rate of 84%. Ninety-nine of the 106 schools responding required some form of nutrition education; however, only 32 schools (30%) required a separate nutrition course. On average, students received 23.9 contact hours of nutrition instruction during medical school (range: 2-70 h). Only 40 schools required the minimum 25 h recommended by the National Academy of Sciences. Most instructors (88%) expressed the need for additional nutrition instruction at their institutions. "

That's 25 hours out of how many thousands?

Anyway, I could go point by point though the rest of this, but I won't. :-)

But a few comments anyway.

First off, the lung cancer may be more from vegetable deficiency disease and iodine deficiency disease and vitamin D deficiency disease and other messed up social processes leading to distress than from smoking. I'm not saying smoking is good for you generally, of course, but consider:
"Why I Recommend to NOT Stop Smoking"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9DZBzKppHQ

Ask your wife, outside of an initial patient intake interview, how many minutes can her practice let her spend actually with a patient per visit? I doubt the average is higher than ten minutes. How can that result in good outcomes? It's like schools. No matter how well the staff means, the overall institutional dynamics prevents really good stuff from happening for most people most of the time.

Contrast with:
http://www.patchadams.org/
"The Gesundheit! Institute is a project in holistic medical care based on the belief that one cannot separate the health of the individual from the health of the family, the community, the world, and the health care system itself."

Or read the last chapter of:
"Why Our Health Matters: A Vision of Medicine That Can Transform Our Future" by M.D. Andrew Weil
http://www.amazon.com/Why-Our-Health-Matters-Transform/dp/B004KAB3U2

I'd just suggest you, your doctor, and your wife read "Eat To Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, MD and you'll see why sending a patient to the hospital for heart disease may someday be considered malpractice. :-)
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
"Trying to figure out how to pay for ineffective and expensive medicine by politicians will never be a real solution. People need to know they do not have to have heart disease to begin with, and if they get it, aggressive nutrition is the most life-saving intervention. And it is free."

Here are a collection of links I put together about wellness:
http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823

See especially this on losing weight:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

I feel 20% of what most MDs do is miraculous (e.g. burn care, reattaching severed limbs, therapies for genetic defects, etc.), even if much of the other 80% is probably misguided (the part mostly about treating the symptoms of malnutrition, and where a good alternative practitioner probably does better). The problem is being able to learn which is which... So, this is not to disagree with that aspect of your point about homeopaths.

By the way, strep throat may be a sign of vitamin D deficiency and other nutritional deficie

It is certainly reasonable to be skeptical of such claims; all I ask is you keep an open mind and do some research for yourself.

Again from Marcia Angell, an editor of the prestigious New England Journal of Medicine:
http://pdfernhout.net/to-james-randi-on-skepticism-about-mainstream-science.html#Some_quotes_on_social_problems_in_science
"The problems I've discussed are not limited to psychiatry, although they reach their most florid form there. Similar conflicts of interest and biases exist in virtually every field of medicine, particularly those that rely heavily on drugs or devices. It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine."

Places to start on how much of modern medicine has been a scam for a century:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexner_Report
http://www.soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/shelton.bio.bidwell.htm
"At this time in 1927, Dr. Shelton is already being harassed in his Hygienic practice by advocates of The Medical Mentality and by the police. In 1927, Dr. Shelton is jailed for the first time for "practicing medicine without a license" and is fined $100.oo. This same year of 1927, a second arrest takes place, under similar circumstances and with charges of $300.oo. His money is so tight this second time, he has to borrow to be released. Also, in 1927, the New York Evening Graphic lets Dr. Shelton go because he will not co-operate with their advertisement policies and insists on running an anti-smoking article. Still, during this time, Dr. Shelton's Hygienic practice grows; he is respected and admired for his efforts. The third arrest also occurs, all in New York, for "practicing medicine without a licence." The great irony is that Dr. Shelton would never "practice medicine"! Still, that is what the authorities call it when someone tells people how to live, how to sleep, how to eat, and how not to take medicines!"

Fuhrman learned from Shelton (who cured him of a leg injury that would not heal -- probably in part from vitamin D deficiency), and then went beyond him.
http://bruisedfruits.net/3050/joel-fuhrman-fasting-story-world-class-athlete.html

Did you know MD doctors used to recommend smoking? And infant formula? And they essentially beat to death the guy who suggested handwashing would save the lives of all the patients they were killing? And so on?
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ignaz_Semmelweis

Medicine has a very weird history...

See also:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Groupthink

So, given that, is this really surprising, even now?
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
"Interventional cardiology and cardiovascular surgery is basically a scam based on a misunderstanding of the nature of heart disease."

Of course, many other institutions have similar problems as they focus on self-perpetuation and profits and job creation. We need to move beyond that somehow (perhaps starting with a basic income, home 3D printers, a gift economy, better planning, etc.) to at least reduce the profit motive for giving harmful but profitably self-serving advice that is potentially driving our society off a cliff.

"I was having a heart attack, a 100% blockage of the lower anterior decending artery. It was a killer heart attack. Without angioplasty and a stent I was dead. Cardiac intervention is corrective medicine. When you need it, you need it."

AC, I can only plead with you to look into Dr. Fuhrman's approach. It is true the article says "almost" worthless, and maybe you were someone who benefitted from a stent for a time -- although were you really informed of all your options? But if you keep eating the same way that produced the first blockage, your stent and/or arteries will block again leading to another heart attack, possibly in six months to two years time, like happened to my own father and sister. I wish I knew before my loved ones died what I know now. This paper says the median survival time for people with stents in one study was something less than six months:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18766117
"The median survival time in patients treated with metal and plastic stent was 5.9 and 4.4 months (P = 0.074), respectively. "

See also:
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

You can most likely cure your heart disease by changing your eating patterns today following Dr. Fuhrman's approach or similar, and it will bring you as much joy or more than the way you now eat:
"How to escape The Pleasure Trap !"
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Success stories:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/success/stories.aspx/heartdisease

At least get your vitamin D level checked and try to stay away from refined starches and sugars. Idealy "make the salad the main dish" as Dr. Fuhrman says, and eats lots of fruits, vegetables, and beans.

Good luck if you happen to see this.

"I was having a heart attack, a 100% blockage of the lower anterior decending artery. It was a killer heart attack. Without angioplasty and a stent I was dead. Cardiac intervention is corrective medicine. When you need it, you need it."

AC, I can only plead with you to look into Dr. Fuhrman's approach. It is true the article says "almost" worthless, and maybe you were someone who benefitted from a stent for a time -- although were you really informed of all your options? But if you keep eating the same way that produced the first blockage, your stent and/or arteries will block again leading to another heart attack, possibly in six months to two years time, like happened to my own father and sister. I wish I knew before my loved ones died what I know now. This paper says the median survival time for people with stents in one study was something less than six months:
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18766117
"The median survival time in patients treated with metal and plastic stent was 5.9 and 4.4 months (P = 0.074), respectively. "

See also:
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

You can most likely cure your heart disease by changing your eating patterns today following Dr. Fuhrman's approach or similar, and it will bring you as much joy or more than the way you now eat:
"How to escape The Pleasure Trap !"
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Success stories:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/success/stories.aspx/heartdisease

At least get your vitamin D level checked and try to stay away from refined starches and sugars. Idealy "make the salad the main dish" as Dr. Fuhrman says, and eats lots of fruits, vegetables, and beans.

Good luck if you happen to see this.

http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
"Interventional cardiology and cardiovascular surgery is basically a scam based on a misunderstanding of the nature of heart disease. Searching for and treating obstructive plaque does not address the areas of the coronary vascular tree most likely to rupture and cause heart attacks. If there was never another CABG or angioplasty performed or stent placed, patients with heart disease would be better off. Doctors would be forced to educate our citizens that their heart disease risk is determined by what they place on their forks. Millions of lives would be dramatically extended. To abandon the theory of stretching and cutting out areas with plaque would shut down interventional cardiology, nearly all cardiovascular surgery, and many suppliers of the biotechnology. In many cases, interventional cardiology is the major income generator to hospitals. The ending of this ill-conceived, out-dated and ineffective technology would dramatically downsize hospitals in the United States and free up over $100 billion annually in medical care costs. Besides being ineffective, interventional cardiology places the responsibility in the hands of the doctor and not the patients. When patients finally realize they must take control of their heart problems with aggressive dietary modifications (and when needed medications for temporary periods) we will essentially solve the health crisis in America.
    The sad thing is surgical interventions and medications are the foundation of modern cardiology and both are relatively ineffective compared to nutritional excellence. My patients routinely reverse their heart disease, and no longer have vulnerable plaque or high blood pressure, so they do not need medical care, hospitals or cardiologists anymore. The problem is that in the real world cardiac patients are not even informed that heart disease is predictably reversed with nutritional excellence. They are not given the opportunity to choose and just corralled into these surgical interventions.
    Trying to figure out how to pay for ineffective and expensive medicine by politicians will never be a real solution. People need to know they do not have to have heart disease to begin with, and if they get it, aggressive nutrition is the most life-saving intervention. And it is free."

Similar is said elsewhere by others (even Bill Clinton).
"From omnivore to vegan: The dietary education of Bill Clinton"
http://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/08/18/bill.clinton.diet.vegan/index.html

A century of legal intimidation and scamming is slowly coming to an end (not to say non-MDs can't be scammers too, or that 20% of what MDs do is not a miracle):
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flexner_Report

But Drug Companies Object ... http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46_GInjBeQU
"Joel Fuhrman MD has cured hundreds of people of diabetes using diet and lifestyle. The American Diabetic Association wanted him to write about his work -- but then objected because their sponsor, Eli Lilly drug company, might feel threatened by an MD promoting a cure which could destroy the market for their diabetes medications. This is an excerpt from Dr. Furhman's presentation at the Healthy Lifestyle Expo 2007."

This is the cure, and it is free to look at:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
(Most diabetics need to take vitamin D and some other supplements too, probably.)

You can watch that in action in relation to other diseases, too:
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

It's sad that the non-profits that claim to be interested in helping people with a disease become invested in perpetuating that disease to perpetuate paying jobs for their staff etc..

We need something like a "basic income" to help move past that conflict-of-interest, where jobs only get done when they need doing.

You can look up multiple other cases where most type 2 is cured, and type 1 is greatly improved. Another example:
http://www.rawfor30days.com/index4.html

Look and you will find plenty more.

Anyway, you can take the red pill or the blue pill, Neo. Or better yet, no pill. :-)

See also Dr. Fuhrman: http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/Diabetes.aspx
"The vast majority of my patients, who adopt my nutritional and exercise recommendation for diabetes, become thin and nonâ"diabetic. They are able to gradually discontinue their insulin and eventually other medications. They simply get well. I work with people who have diabetes who want to live a long and healthy life and enjoy the achievement and confidence that they have control this disease. The membership services offered here on this website, and the information in my book, Eat For Health, can get you started on this road to wellness. My hope is that the information below about diabetes will enable you to feel more confident that you or someone you care about can be motivated and work with me to recover their health."

I mentioned in my comment that group think could be related to both mainstream science and alternatives. As for the rest of your reply, I think you may want to consider a few key ideas;
* The placebo effect is real, it is actually getting stronger, and MDs regularly use it. So how can you say homeopathy, even if it were to be nothing more than the placebo effect, does not work?
* Nutrition and lifestyle choices are probably the major determinant of good health most of the time for most people, yet MDs have next-to-no training in understanding or discussing that, and they spend little time with patients counseling on those things in practice, and so if an alternative medical care provider like a homeopath spends an hour with someone and talks about those things, that customer is going to be way ahead in health compared to going to an MD in many (not all) situations.
* in practice, the Reagans (US president and first lady) turned to Astrology to set US policies for many years; I'm not saying that made it better, but it is funny in relation to that cartoon.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nancy_Reagan

To substantiate one other of those points:
"Placebos Are Getting More Effective. Drugmakers Are Desperate to Know Why."
http://www.wired.com/medtech/drugs/magazine/17-09/ff_placebo_effect?currentPage=all

Rossi may indeed have fooled himself (it remains to be seen), but there are many other much more reputable and experienced scientific staffers who have found similar effects. These people are not yet right because the money dynamics of basic research (fraught with much uncertainty) don't work that way. Even Bell Labs probably never made a dollar directly on inventing the transistor. People rarely make money from basic research because any related patents tend to expire before the multi-decade commercialization process for any truly new technology gets going. What is evil about what happened is the way the hot fusion scientists did bad science to discredit the cold fusion ones and keep the public funding for themselves. Yet another LENR claim:
http://www.e-catworld.com/2012/03/dr-george-miley-to-present-on-lenr-at-march-23-conference-will-awareness-of-new-energy-source-spread/
"Excess heat generation from our gas-loading LENR power cell (Figure 1) has been verified, confirming nuclear reactions provide output energy."
That success is after having skeptics cut his approved funding over a decade ago:
http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/1999/09/21-03.html

Perhaps the biggest issue is that you are looking at this situation very narrowly -- is there currently a reliable materialistic scientific explanation for a specific practice? Real treatments always exist in the context of a practitioner/customer relationship (or friend-to-friend, or parent-to-child, etc.), which can affect the outcome. I'd encourage you to look holistically at the issue of overall systemic outcomes for homeopathy (including the psychological benefits of people being listened to and informed about some basics by someone who is compassionate, even if that person they are paying may indeed believe in what may be a bunch of nonsense). If you look a bit more holistically, you will have to admit that mainstream MD doctors spending ten minutes with patients with diseases caused by nutritional and lifestyle issues and then proceeding to prescribe some medication as a "permission slip" to keep doing the bad behavior is the worst kind of harmful pseudoscience, and yet, in practice, that is the system you are defending.

Examples:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/BloodPressure.aspx

"Or we could use the money to cure cancer!"

Read this to prevent much cancer and even maybe cure a bit of it: http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article24.aspx

Free Google Books preview of that book by Nordenstrom: http://books.google.com/books/about/Biologically_closed_electric_circuits.html?id=zb-3YzIn4ZcC

There might well be something to it, but please also look into vitamin D and vegetables as a way to prevent or minimize cancer:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer/
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article24.aspx

Please look into vitamin D deficiency, which is related to respiratory infections.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/infections-and-autoimmunity/common-cold/
"The risk of the common cold and influenza was studied in postmenopausal African-American women living in New York. Women taking 2000 international units (IU) (50 mcg)/day of vitamin D3 (cholecalciferol) had a 90% reduction in either disorder. Those taking 800 IU (20 mcg)/day had a 60% reduction. Vitamin D3 is a form of vitamin D produced in the skin. It is likely that vitamin D had similar effects on both viral infections."

Also, please be aware that surgeons want to cut, and often think that is the solution to everything. Even getting a second opinion from another surgeon may not help (because they want to cut, too). That said, surgeons can work miracles too -- when they are truly needed. Hope you get the right care for real problems.

Also, "starch-based" vegetarians can become pretty unhealthy, as opposed to most "vegetable-based" vegetarians. Mlik products many vegetarians ingest can also be problematical for many. Compare what you eat to this:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

Sad, but true...

And it gets even worse:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
"Interventional cardiology and cardiovascular surgery is basically a scam based on a misunderstanding of the nature of heart disease. Searching for and treating obstructive plaque does not address the areas of the coronary vascular tree most likely to rupture and cause heart attacks. If there was never another CABG or angioplasty performed or stent placed, patients with heart disease would be better off. Doctors would be forced to educate our citizens that their heart disease risk is determined by what they place on their forks. Millions of lives would be dramatically extended. To abandon the theory of stretching and cutting out areas with plaque would shut down interventional cardiology, nearly all cardiovascular surgery, and many suppliers of the biotechnology. In many cases, interventional cardiology is the major income generator to hospitals. The ending of this ill-conceived, out-dated and ineffective technology would dramatically downsize hospitals in the United States and free up over $100 billion annually in medical care costs. Besides being ineffective, interventional cardiology places the responsibility in the hands of the doctor and not the patients. When patients finally realize they must take control of their heart problems with aggressive dietary modifications (and when needed medications for temporary periods) we will essentially solve the health crisis in America.
The sad thing is surgical interventions and medications are the foundation of modern cardiology and both are relatively ineffective compared to nutritional excellence. My patients routinely reverse their heart disease, and no longer have vulnerable plaque or high blood pressure, so they do not need medical care, hospitals or cardiologists anymore. The problem is that in the real world cardiac patients are not even informed that heart disease is predictably reversed with nutritional excellence. They are not given the opportunity to choose and just corralled into these surgical interventions.
Trying to figure out how to pay for ineffective and expensive medicine by politicians will never be a real solution. People need to know they do not have to have heart disease to begin with, and if they get it, aggressive nutrition is the most life-saving intervention. And it is free."

And:
http://www.pdfernhout.net/to-james-randi-on-skepticism-about-mainstream-science.html#Some_quotes_on_social_problems_in_science
"The problems I've discussed are not limited to psychiatry, although they reach their most florid form there. Similar conflicts of interest and biases exist in virtually every field of medicine, particularly those that rely heavily on drugs or devices. It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. (Marcia Angell)"

Much of the path to better health was known 100 years ago by the natural hygienists. See:
http://soilandhealth.org/02/0201hyglibcat/shelton.bio.bidwell.htm
"At this time in 1927, Dr. Shelton is already being harassed in his Hygienic practice by advocates of The Medical Mentality and by the police. In 1927, Dr. Shelton is jailed for the first time for "practicing medicine without a license" and is fined $100.oo. This same year of 1927, a second arrest takes place, under similar circumstances and with charges of $300.oo. His money is so tight this second time, he has to borrow to be released. Also,

Please have your wife talk to her doctor about a blood test for vitamin D deficiency (which is related to the immune system). Related:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/news-archive/2010/vitamin-d-regulatory-hormone-of-immunity-and-inflammation/

Please also look into the work of Dr. Joel Fuhrman, who is his first "Healthy Times" newsletter has an article about people coming into his office related to Lyme disease and feeling much better after they improve what they eat (much more vegetables and fruits and omega-3s and so on).
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/newsletter.aspx
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

Even if the issue is Lyme disease, vitamin D and phytonutrients help build up the immune system so it can fight of pathogens.

Also look into the book "The Lyme Disease Solution" by Kenneth B. Singleton M.D., which has sections about how sunlight and a better diet help with Lyme disease.
http://www.amazon.com/Lyme-Disease-Solution-Kenneth-Singleton/dp/1934812005

I agree about the computer-aided diagnosis. I hope some day we will have cheap tests people can do at home for nutritional status and vitamin D levels from a drop of blood, perhaps involving cell phones, as described here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/george_whitesides_a_lab_the_size_of_a_postage_stamp.html

Until then, please look into these issues for yourself and your wife (since you may be at risk as well if you eat in similar ways or have a similar lifestyle without immense amounts of sunlight).

Please have your wife talk to her doctor about a blood test for vitamin D deficiency (which is related to the immune system). Related:
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/news-archive/2010/vitamin-d-regulatory-hormone-of-immunity-and-inflammation/

Please also look into the work of Dr. Joel Fuhrman, who is his first "Healthy Times" newsletter has an article about people coming into his office related to Lyme disease and feeling much better after they improve what they eat (much more vegetables and fruits and omega-3s and so on).
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/newsletter.aspx
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

Even if the issue is Lyme disease, vitamin D and phytonutrients help build up the immune system so it can fight of pathogens.

Also look into the book "The Lyme Disease Solution" by Kenneth B. Singleton M.D., which has sections about how sunlight and a better diet help with Lyme disease.
http://www.amazon.com/Lyme-Disease-Solution-Kenneth-Singleton/dp/1934812005

I agree about the computer-aided diagnosis. I hope some day we will have cheap tests people can do at home for nutritional status and vitamin D levels from a drop of blood, perhaps involving cell phones, as described here:
http://www.ted.com/talks/george_whitesides_a_lab_the_size_of_a_postage_stamp.html

Until then, please look into these issues for yourself and your wife (since you may be at risk as well if you eat in similar ways or have a similar lifestyle without immense amounts of sunlight).

According to Dr. Fuhrman: http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx

Now, she may well need a pacemaker, but she should also look into things like nutritional issues, omega 3s and good fats, vitamin D, and other similar things, if she has not. Links here: http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823

"No medical system is perfect, but from my vantage point the American system is pretty messed up."

Even worse, the real solutions (prevention and cures) are not very profitable (compared to palliation and treatments). For example, expensive international heart surgery as $50K+ a pop is basically a "scam" according to Dr. Joel Fuhrman:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx

On top of that, diverting money to what really is "sick insurance" prevents it from being invested in wellness, like building parks, creating walking trails and bicycle paths, subsidizing cheap vegetables, fruits, and beans (healthier to eat), and so on. Worse, we subsidize and propagandize about unhealthy foods, like (for many people) dairy, factory farmed meats, and products with refined starch and sugar:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/11/the-subsidized-food-pyramid.html
"The Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine has posted an easy-to-understand visual on its site that shows which foods U.S. tax dollars go to support under the nation's farm bill. It's titled "Why Does a Salad Cost More Than a Big Mac?" and depicts two pyramids -- subsidized foods and the old recommended food pyramid. It's interesting to note that the two are almost inversely proportional to each other."

Here are some real solutions to obesity and other chronic issues I've collected:
http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823

They are relatively basic things like getting enough vitamin D, eating lots of vegetables, fruits, and beans, and so on.

That said, 20% of modern medicine in miraculous. The problem is, doctors and the medical system don't seem to be able to so the right thing the other 80% of the time (especially for chronic disease) and do problematical interventions instead.

So, in general, I agree with Dr. Ezekiel J. Emanuel's point. Still, advanced technology can play two important roles.

One is advanced diagnostics. Imagine a test kit (or device) you could buy at the supermarket that would tell you if you had any nutritional deficiencies. Then you could look up what foods or recipes would help in fixing that.

The other is in living well beyond 80-120. Good nutrition may be able to get most people into 80 still doing fairly well, but getting past 120 is going to take advanced technology (which entails confronting a complex ethical, moral, and spiritual issue about the meaning of life, made even worse if life extension is available only to some).

But why put so much money into making "magic bullets" to shoot the apples from the top of the tree when the low hanging fruit is being ignored?

http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
"Tragically, most people are totally unaware that they are only a few weeks of discipline away from being able to comfortably maintain healthful dietary habits -- and to keep away from the products that can result in the destruction of their health. Instead, most people think that if they were to eat more healthfully, they would be condemned to a life of greatly reduced gustatory pleasure -- thinking that the process of Phase IV will last forever. In our new book, The Pleasure Trap, we explain this extraordinarily deceptive and problematic situation -- and how to master this hidden force that undermines health and happiness."

"Dr. Fuhrman Cures Type 2 Diabetes - But Drug Companies Object"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=46_GInjBeQU

Still, true, some few people might have another immune disorder affecting the pancreas. Also, for anyone who does understand the diabetes field, it is clear that there are indeed two types (though they can be misdiagnosed) as far as whether the pancreas still is working much, so yes, some adults could get type-1 diabetes related to a failure of the pancreas (and I'm sure he would acknowledge that). He is very clear that his approach does not cure type-1, but can still give type-1 diabetics a vastly improved quality of life, including a longer one with much less complications.

Do you get the right amount of vitamin D?
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/diabetes-and-endocrine-diseases/

Do you eat enough vegetables?
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

Do you still eat sugar, refined grains, and refined oils, or essentially, nutrient-free calories of any type?

Anyway, maybe you could do more of your own research, given how much money is on the line with conflicts of interest, in terms of making a profit out of selling you medication and related services?

Pretty much nobody would substantially profit by curing you.
http://www.pdfernhout.net/to-james-randi-on-skepticism-about-mainstream-science.html#Some_quotes_on_social_problems_in_science
"The problems I've discussed are not limited to psychiatry, although they reach their most florid form there. Similar conflicts of interest and biases exist in virtually every field of medicine, particularly those that rely heavily on drugs or devices. It is simply no longer possible to believe much of the clinical research that is published, or to rely on the judgment of trusted physicians or authoritative medical guidelines. I take no pleasure in this conclusion, which I reached slowly and reluctantly over my two decades as an editor of The New England Journal of Medicine. (Marcia Angell)"

Anyway, best of luck managing a difficult condition. My father took care of my mother's diabetes for more than a decade (with no significant complications) when she had diabetes and would even forget/deny she had it. But I still wish I knew then what I know now, about how it was most likely curable rather than having four finger sticks a day and three insulin shots a day (and I did that for a while for her after he died).

Please read this: http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/Diabetes.aspx

I've found waves of grief gradually get farther and father apart when a loved on dies (though this process may take a long time)...

Here are some general health tips I put together, on vitamin D deficiency and other nutritional deficiences given that health can effect mood: http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823

Here is some information about moving past addictions: http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Suicide could be seen as like a tree falling over in a storm. The trees that stay up in a storm tend to be the ones that are a bit flexible and have deep strong roots. What are the roots in your life (friends, family, hobbies, community, habits, pets, spiritual beliefs, good work, nature, music, and so on) and how can you strengthen them?

Please get yourself and your Dad tested for vitamin D deficiency... Look up Dr. John Cannell's site on that.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer/

And check out Dr. Fuhrman's on eating more vegetables and fruits and gettign enough omega 3s:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/default.aspx

Exercise can help, too. You could talk to your doctor about juice fasting, too.

People might be better off if Facebook helped spread good health advice than just tried to pick up the pieces from unhealth living that is so promoted in our society (because addicting others is profitable to someone, often, and the basics of good health can be pretty cheap and profit less).

Good luck to you and you Dad. At least you can make the most of the time you still have together. That would mean a lot to him, I'm sure. And, in some sense, people remain alive when we hold a memory of them in our hearts.

I've found waves of grief gradually get farther and father apart when a loved on dies (though this process may take a long time)...

Here are some general health tips I put together, on vitamin D deficiency and other nutritional deficiences given that health can effect mood: http://www.changemakers.com/discussions/discussion-493#comment-38823

Here is some information about moving past addictions: http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Suicide could be seen as like a tree falling over in a storm. The trees that stay up in a storm tend to be the ones that are a bit flexible and have deep strong roots. What are the roots in your life (friends, family, hobbies, community, habits, pets, spiritual beliefs, good work, nature, music, and so on) and how can you strengthen them?

Please get yourself and your Dad tested for vitamin D deficiency... Look up Dr. John Cannell's site on that.
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/cancer/

And check out Dr. Fuhrman's on eating more vegetables and fruits and gettign enough omega 3s:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/disease/default.aspx

Exercise can help, too. You could talk to your doctor about juice fasting, too.

People might be better off if Facebook helped spread good health advice than just tried to pick up the pieces from unhealth living that is so promoted in our society (because addicting others is profitable to someone, often, and the basics of good health can be pretty cheap and profit less).

Good luck to you and you Dad. At least you can make the most of the time you still have together. That would mean a lot to him, I'm sure. And, in some sense, people remain alive when we hold a memory of them in our hearts.

http://www.pdfernhout.net/recognizing-irony-is-a-key-to-transcending-militarism.html
"Military robots like drones are ironic because they are created essentially to force humans to work like robots in an industrialized social order. Why not just create industrial robots to do the work instead?"

Also, eating factory farmed meat in general is killing us and destroying our environment:
http://www.ravediet.com/preview.html
http://www.westernwatersheds.org/watmess/watmess_2002/2002html_summer/article6.htm
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

So, maybe we'd be better off if the predators got rid of the cows instead of the rustlers?

http://www.pdfernhout.net/recognizing-irony-is-a-key-to-transcending-militarism.html
"Military robots like drones are ironic because they are created essentially to force humans to work like robots in an industrialized social order. Why not just create industrial robots to do the work instead?"

Also, eating factory farmed meat in general is killing us and destroying our environment:
http://www.ravediet.com/preview.html
http://www.westernwatersheds.org/watmess/watmess_2002/2002html_summer/article6.htm
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

So, maybe we'd be better off if the predators got rid of the cows instead of the rustlers?

You could check out a list of studies on this page:
http://www.ota.com/organic/benefits/nutrition.html
"Growing crops in healthy soils results in food products that offer healthy nutrients. There is mounting evidence that organically grown fruits, vegetables and grains may offer more of some nutrients, including vitamin C, iron, magnesium and phosphorus, and less exposure to nitrates and pesticide residues than their counterparts grown using synthetic pesticides and fertilizers."

It kind of stands to reason that richer soil means healthier crops:
http://www.remineralize.org/

Actually, getting a bit of insect damage can also improve a plant's nutritional qualities sometimes (certain plant defense compounds may be used by the human body for various purposes including fighting cancer).

While "organic" is a bit arbitrary ("certified organic" means following certain guidelines though), organic generally means no GMO, which can be beneficial.

http://www.organicconsumers.org/ge/corn-study.cfm
"Consumers have another reason to avoid genetically modified foods (GMO). Yesterday, European news outlets reported harmful health impacts on lab rats that were fed Monsanto's root worm resistant corn (Mon 863)."

But in general, you're better off eating any kind of vegetables than none, so don't let them not being "organic" stop you.

And people can rightly point to aspects of "organic" farming that are problematical too. It becomes a weighing thing of different tradeoffs.

Other factors can also effect nutrient quality of organic or non-organic produce, like shipping or choice of variety.

The point is that what we eat, especially vegetables, fruits, and beans, can have a tremendous effect on our health.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/
"You can reverse disease, reduce high blood pressure, lose unwanted weight, lower your cholesterol levels, prevent heart disease and cancer, and improve your health - all without relying on drugs and fad diets. The importance of good nutrition is emphasized in Dr. Fuhrman's dietary program, Eat To Live."

But our agricultural subsidies in the USA don't reflect that, and instead promote factory farmed animal products and processed grains.

Good question. You would think that greatly reduced costs would produce increased profits in the short term, yes.

But there is a conflict, because insurance company profits are essentially a percentage of premiums, which will be raised every year to track rising costs (justified to clients and regulators).

With a single payer government-funded system, there is little incentive to keep costs high (but not none, because probably some aspect of bureaucratic salaries is tied to perceived importance and budget, but nothing like insurance CEO pay).

Still, I think insurance companies would go for the short term profits if they could, and I expect as more understand this, they will integrate it into wellness programs. For example:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
"The sad thing is surgical interventions and medications are the foundation of modern cardiology and both are relatively ineffective compared to nutritional excellence. My patients routinely reverse their heart disease, and no longer have vulnerable plaque or high blood pressure, so they do not need medical care, hospitals or cardiologists anymore. The problem is that in the real world cardiac patients are not even informed that heart disease is predictably reversed with nutritional excellence. They are not given the opportunity to choose and just corralled into these surgical interventions. Trying to figure out how to pay for ineffective and expensive medicine by politicians will never be a real solution. People need to know they do not have to have heart disease to begin with, and if they get it, aggressive nutrition is the most life-saving intervention. And it is free."

One other aspect of this is that "health care" has been defined as paying for treatments and drugs when you are sick. That is not health care. That is sick care. Thus, insurance will pay for a $100K heart operation, but not $50K over ten years for organic vegetables to keep you healthy. So, the insurance system is very broken *inherently* in that sense.

Again, a government program can get around this by integrating things like agricultural subsidies in theory. Unfortunately, US subsidies for agriculture have been captures by unhealthy food makers:
http://www.seriouseats.com/2007/11/the-subsidized-food-pyramid.html

What a mess.

Give the money out every month as a "basic income" of $1000 to $2000 a month (Social Security for Medicare for all from birth), and things would settle down soon enough. http://www.basicincome.org/bien/

Much addiction is just a sign of stress: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rat_Park

And can be overcome: http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Good communities help with that: http://www.bluezones.com/

Better nutrition can help improve a lot of mental dysfunction.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Medically supervised fasting sometimes helps, too (the Russians explored that).

Better nutrition can help improve a lot of mental dysfunction.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Medically supervised fasting sometimes helps, too (the Russians explored that).

I'll copy it here:

By the way, here are some key useful health related links, and these are some of the issues I'd like to use such a system to discuss, refine, rebut, or promote.

On healthy diet:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573244872
http://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-John-Robbins/dp/0915811812

Knife and blender skills for eating better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RhfAE6McrM
http://greensmoothierevolution.com/

On medically supervised fasting (both water and juice) and health:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting....
http://www.healthpromoting.com/why-water-fasting
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

And on getting enough vitamin D (in decreasing levels of recommended supplements):
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d...
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

On vitamin D and pregnancy:
http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20100504/high-doses-of-vitamin-d-may-cut-...
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/neurological-conditions...

On autism and health care in general:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_...

Understanding about good and bad fats:
http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2011/05/may-9-the-great-fat-deba...
http://nutsci.org/2011/05/04/the-great-fat-debate/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21515108

Mental health:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/...
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

Treadmill workstations for computer users (but be sure to get vitamin D being indoors so much):
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
http://www.squidoo.com/wal

I'll copy it here:

By the way, here are some key useful health related links, and these are some of the issues I'd like to use such a system to discuss, refine, rebut, or promote.

On healthy diet:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573244872
http://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-John-Robbins/dp/0915811812

Knife and blender skills for eating better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RhfAE6McrM
http://greensmoothierevolution.com/

On medically supervised fasting (both water and juice) and health:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting....
http://www.healthpromoting.com/why-water-fasting
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

And on getting enough vitamin D (in decreasing levels of recommended supplements):
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d...
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

On vitamin D and pregnancy:
http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20100504/high-doses-of-vitamin-d-may-cut-...
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/neurological-conditions...

On autism and health care in general:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_...

Understanding about good and bad fats:
http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2011/05/may-9-the-great-fat-deba...
http://nutsci.org/2011/05/04/the-great-fat-debate/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21515108

Mental health:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/...
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

Treadmill workstations for computer users (but be sure to get vitamin D being indoors so much):
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
http://www.squidoo.com/wal

I'll copy it here:

By the way, here are some key useful health related links, and these are some of the issues I'd like to use such a system to discuss, refine, rebut, or promote.

On healthy diet:
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573244872
http://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-John-Robbins/dp/0915811812

Knife and blender skills for eating better:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0RhfAE6McrM
http://greensmoothierevolution.com/

On medically supervised fasting (both water and juice) and health:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting....
http://www.healthpromoting.com/why-water-fasting
http://www.fatsickandnearlydead.com/

And on getting enough vitamin D (in decreasing levels of recommended supplements):
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d...
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

On vitamin D and pregnancy:
http://www.webmd.com/baby/news/20100504/high-doses-of-vitamin-d-may-cut-...
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/health-conditions/neurological-conditions...

On autism and health care in general:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_...

Understanding about good and bad fats:
http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2011/05/may-9-the-great-fat-deba...
http://nutsci.org/2011/05/04/the-great-fat-debate/
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21515108

Mental health:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/...
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

Treadmill workstations for computer users (but be sure to get vitamin D being indoors so much):
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
http://www.squidoo.com/wal

Look into iodine, vitamin D, and eating lots of vegetables, fruits, and beans:
http://www.iodine4health.com/special/metals/metals.htm
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/autism-research-discovery_b_794967.html
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx

On #7, Chinese is becoming the single most dominant language on the web (you just probably can't see it). Also, diversity can be good in big enough systems. Currencies work better generally when they are managed by accountable organizations; Jane Jacobs suggested that ideally each city should have its own currency; why not now, with computers it would be so easy to convert between them?

Cold fusion may be happening:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/markgibbs/2011/10/17/hello-cheap-energy-hello-brave-new-world/

More of a problem is addiction to "supernormal stimuli":
http://paulgraham.com/addiction.html
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://www.amazon.com/Supernormal-Stimuli-Overran-Evolutionary-Purpose/dp/039306848X

We need a "basic income" and other changes (gift economy, better local subsistence with 3D printing, better participatory governmental planning) to deal with the changes:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4vK-M_e0JoY

Another relative here, in the USA. :-) Send me an email if you want, my address is easy to find.

She was my father's aunt IIRC. I only met her once that I can recall, when my father and I visited her home around 1985. But she might have been at some get together or other other times we visited that does not stick out in my mind. I don't remember her speaking English and I do not know that much Dutch. They talked and I went for a walk around the area. I was overdressed in a overcoat and hat, and some neighborhood kids pointed at me and said "gangster" and chased me a bit, and I went into a store to avoid them. So, that's mostly what I remember of that visit. :-)

I feel diet and lifestyle (and the extent to which genes may interact with interests and habits) have a lot to do with this though. So does very early life experiences. Even being born premature might have had some value, in that the slower we grow perhaps the slower we age? Not having kids may have been a factor too? Also, there is a lot to be said for a positive outlook on life however you get that.

Related resources on healthy diet:
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573244872
http://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-John-Robbins/dp/0915811812
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Fasting (like for lent) which often connects to religion (and eating less in the past from being less wealthy) can also help:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting.html

And on getting enough vitamin D (and she was out and about plus maybe got some from herring she liked):
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

Understanding about good and bad fats:
http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2011/05/may-9-the-great-fat-debate-does-the-total-fat-in-your-diet-matter.html
http://nutsci.org/2011/05/04/the-great-fat-debate/
http://www.adajournal.org/article/S0002-8223(11)00291-4/fulltext

Mental health:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/7439/
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

Treadmill workstations for computer users (but be sure to get vitamin D being indoors so much):
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
http://www.squidoo.com/walkingwhileworking

Community level ideas for health:

Another relative here, in the USA. :-) Send me an email if you want, my address is easy to find.

She was my father's aunt IIRC. I only met her once that I can recall, when my father and I visited her home around 1985. But she might have been at some get together or other other times we visited that does not stick out in my mind. I don't remember her speaking English and I do not know that much Dutch. They talked and I went for a walk around the area. I was overdressed in a overcoat and hat, and some neighborhood kids pointed at me and said "gangster" and chased me a bit, and I went into a store to avoid them. So, that's mostly what I remember of that visit. :-)

I feel diet and lifestyle (and the extent to which genes may interact with interests and habits) have a lot to do with this though. So does very early life experiences. Even being born premature might have had some value, in that the slower we grow perhaps the slower we age? Not having kids may have been a factor too? Also, there is a lot to be said for a positive outlook on life however you get that.

Related resources on healthy diet:
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573244872
http://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-John-Robbins/dp/0915811812
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Fasting (like for lent) which often connects to religion (and eating less in the past from being less wealthy) can also help:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting.html

And on getting enough vitamin D (and she was out and about plus maybe got some from herring she liked):
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

Understanding about good and bad fats:
http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2011/05/may-9-the-great-fat-debate-does-the-total-fat-in-your-diet-matter.html
http://nutsci.org/2011/05/04/the-great-fat-debate/
http://www.adajournal.org/article/S0002-8223(11)00291-4/fulltext

Mental health:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/7439/
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

Treadmill workstations for computer users (but be sure to get vitamin D being indoors so much):
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
http://www.squidoo.com/walkingwhileworking

Community level ideas for health:

Another relative here, in the USA. :-) Send me an email if you want, my address is easy to find.

She was my father's aunt IIRC. I only met her once that I can recall, when my father and I visited her home around 1985. But she might have been at some get together or other other times we visited that does not stick out in my mind. I don't remember her speaking English and I do not know that much Dutch. They talked and I went for a walk around the area. I was overdressed in a overcoat and hat, and some neighborhood kids pointed at me and said "gangster" and chased me a bit, and I went into a store to avoid them. So, that's mostly what I remember of that visit. :-)

I feel diet and lifestyle (and the extent to which genes may interact with interests and habits) have a lot to do with this though. So does very early life experiences. Even being born premature might have had some value, in that the slower we grow perhaps the slower we age? Not having kids may have been a factor too? Also, there is a lot to be said for a positive outlook on life however you get that.

Related resources on healthy diet:
http://www.amazon.com/Food-Revolution-Your-Diet-World/dp/1573244872
http://www.amazon.com/Diet-New-America-John-Robbins/dp/0915811812
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/foodpyramid.aspx
http://drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx

Fasting (like for lent) which often connects to religion (and eating less in the past from being less wealthy) can also help:
http://www.diseaseproof.com/archives/healthy-food-dr-fuhrman-on-fasting.html

And on getting enough vitamin D (and she was out and about plus maybe got some from herring she liked):
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/about-vitamin-d/how-to-get-your-vitamin-d/vitamin-d-supplementation/
http://www.grassrootshealth.net/recommendation
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/vitamin_D_recommendations.aspx

Understanding about good and bad fats:
http://peakperformance.runnersworld.com/2011/05/may-9-the-great-fat-debate-does-the-total-fat-in-your-diet-matter.html
http://nutsci.org/2011/05/04/the-great-fat-debate/
http://www.adajournal.org/article/S0002-8223(11)00291-4/fulltext

Mental health:
http://books.google.com/books?id=bCuC2H-6k_8C
http://books.google.com/books?id=RKZreNYKNHQC
http://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2009/06/what-makes-us-happy/7439/
http://www.theatlantic.com/doc/200912/dobbs-orchid-gene

Treadmill workstations for computer users (but be sure to get vitamin D being indoors so much):
http://www.engadget.com/2005/06/08/the-treadmill-workstation/
http://www.squidoo.com/walkingwhileworking

Community level ideas for health:

"but where would they fit?"

I think you might have missed the sarcasm, which is more obvious in the context of the whole book, sorry.

I feel pretty much anyone can be amazing given the right circumstances and environment.

But hey, even if things are a mess, we can at least try to do the basics for our own lives -- eat well, get vitamin D, develop mental disciplines that help us stay as positively engaged as possible, and so on.

Be careful too of making life too abstract -- there are pleasure traps but there are also pleasures that keep us rooted. We need both roots and wings.
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/article16.aspx
http://paulgraham.com/addiction.html

It is sometimes the depth of our roots -- little pleasures, family, friends, hobbies, habits, spirituality, music, communities, and so on -- that keep us from blowing over in life's storms.

Or, from a different direction, as I quoted from the book version of "What Dreams May Come":
    http://www.pdfernhout.net/reading-between-the-lines.html
"This is their composite mental image?" I asked. Soundless; hueless; lifeless.
"It is," he said.
"And you work here?" I felt stunned that anyone who had the choice would elect to work in this forbidding place.
"This is nothing," was all he said.

Good points, especially on why pick one specific faith of hundreds of fairly mainstream ones?

Also, heart attacks can often cause brain damage.
http://www.bri.ucla.edu/bri_weekly/news_050822.asp

Coudl the three days of regular life be the true answer? Even if one believed in a higher power and related subdeities, could not then some devil be messing with him?

Also, vitamin D deficiency and vegetable deficiency disease cause most heart attacks, so it may indeed have been a coincidence related to poor diet, or even the wrath of the "sun god":
http://www.drfuhrman.com/library/PCI_angioplasty_article.aspx
http://www.vitamindcouncil.org/news-archive/2008/vitamin-d-in-pediatrics/

Still, to be fair, and a truly skeptical skeptic, he might indeed be right. And even if his brain was altered, maybe it was improved? But personally, I don't buy it for the reasons you list.