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From: slb@drutx.UUCP (Sue Brezden)
Newsgroups: net.med
Subject: Re: Folk Medicine
Message-ID: <158@drutx.UUCP>
Date: Wed, 14-Aug-85 12:38:38 EDT
Article-I.D.: drutx.158
Posted: Wed Aug 14 12:38:38 1985
Date-Received: Sat, 17-Aug-85 15:26:17 EDT
Organization: AT&T Information Systems Laboratories, Denver
Lines: 90

>Danny Sharpe writes:
>
>This discussion [sugar and etc.] is interesting to me because I
>recently took a room in a house where the other three residents all, to one
>degree or another, subscribe to the "anti non-natural food and medicine" school
>of thought.
>
>From what I've seen, there seems to be a large and widespread body of belief
>that is composed of old ideas (like from Middle Ages and Greek science) passed
>down through time, mystical/pagan/shamanistic ideas about nature, and
>misunderstood modern scientific ideas.
>

This posting was interesting because it was from having roommates who
were much the same (my ex-husband and his girlfriend--it's a long story)
that I developed my distaste for such quackery.

It was not the stupid things that they did to their bodies so much (like
long fasts to "purify the blood" for instance) or even the poor science
on which they based it that really turned me off--although that was
part of it.   What really bothered me was the effect of all this stuff
on their minds.  There were several parts to this:

1. GUILT.  The whole thing seemed to be based on guilt.  The diets they
   would set for themselves were so difficult that there was no way they
   could really follow them.  At some point, they would break down and 
   have a potato chip or something and then mentally flagellate themselves
   for days.  In addition, if you got sick, it must be something you had 
   eaten or not eaten that caused it.  If you got a virus, then it was only 
   because you had failed to do something properly and "lowered your 
   resistance."  Guilt.  It was always your fault.  It reminded me of the 
   Puritans, who believed that you got sick as punishment for sins. 
   
2. PARANOIA.  There weren't really any good guidelines, anyway.  Some said 
   milk was poison, some that you needed it--and so on.  There was always
   another book with another opinion.  Everything you put in your mouth
   might kill you.  There was always death lurking around the corner.  There
   so much emphasis on avoiding death that there was little enjoyment of life.

3. SENSE OF SUPERIORITY.  In addition, they were always pushing that guilt 
   off on others.  They attempted to make me feel guilty for eating normally.  
   They questioned everything that I fed the children.  This pushing guilt 
   on other people was because they considered themselves to be better 
   because they ate "right".  I don't know how many times I heard them
   comment on how "disgusting" a person was because they were overweight--
   even though I knew that that person was a more balanced, contributing
   member of society than they were.  They tended to judge a person on 
   what they ate, rather than what they were.

4. SELF-DECEPTION.  I saw my husband's girlfriend once when she was going
   through a month-long fast.  She kept telling me how wonderful it was,
   and how you have to do it properly--tapering off to juice, then to
   nothing for 2 weeks, then back on juice, and so on.  She kept telling
   me how great she felt, how the "poisons are leaving my body."  Hell,
   she couldn't lift the garbage can to take it out!   She was amazed that
   I could (it weighed all of 20 pounds--I used one hand).  The woman was
   sick and convincing herself that she was well.  That showed me what 
   personal testimonials are worth.  They got sick a lot more than I 
   did--but were always telling me how much healthier they were.

After some exposure to this, I managed to pull out of the guilt they 
imposed on me, and decided that I would never live like that.  If that's
what it takes to live forever, then death sounds good.

I think you can eat a balanced diet, use some common sense, and to hell
with guilt and worry.

By the way, some folks that I have known who do some of the same things 
for religious reasons do not seem to have the same mental problems.  I
know some religious vegetarians and people who fast for religious reasons
who do not show the guilt or self-deception.   They will readily admit
that they are probably missing something, but it is for a higher purpose.
It is all in the spirit of the thing, I guess.  If you concentrate on 
your body too much it seems to warp something in the mind.

Flame away.

-- 

                                     Sue Brezden
                                     
Real World: Room 1B17                Net World: ihnp4!drutx!slb
            AT&T Information Systems
            11900 North Pecos
            Westminster, Co. 80234
            (303)538-3829 

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        Your god may be dead, but mine aren't.
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