Drug Companies

Diabetes Scams

Danger of Television

Losing Your Job

Poor in America

Wealth & Health

Purpose in Life

What is Success

Knowledge is Power

God & Healing

Spirituality

Food-related Links:

Dead Foods

Triple-Killer Foods

Cow's Milk Danger

Cravings

Cholesterol Hoax

Junk Food Addictions

Health-related Scams

High Blood Pressure

High Cholesterol

Hypoglycemia

Myths about Diabetes

Children & Obesity

Obesity

Cancer & Diabetes

So-Called Healthy Food

Salt & HBP

Sarcoidosis

Stress & Diabetes

Life's 3 Problems

Pre-Diabetes

Acid Reflux

Congestive Heart Failure

Chronic Fatigue

Depression

Erectile Dysfunction


Science-based web pages:

Diabetes Overview

Pathophysiology

Epidemiology

Author's Perspective #1:

People with power don't want you to have power.

Then, you can use the Power of Knowledge to address the key problems in your life that are preventing you from living the life you dream about -- especially if that problem is health-related or financial-related.

Author's Perspective #2:

There are several major industries that have gone astray and become predatory because of the focus on power and profits instead of helping the public. These industries prey on our ignorance to generate their record-growing profits and ruin our lives physically, financially, and emotionally. These industries include but are not limited to:

Medical Industry, which relies too much on drugs and surgery to generate revenues instead of servicing the public with real health solutions.

Pharmaceutical Industry, which focuses its multi-billion dollar research and clinical studies on drugs instead of food and nutritional science. Nutritional science research would lead to real cures that would eliminate the need for expensive drug treatments that keep the patient in a diseased state.

Food Industry, which relies on cost-effective manufacturing processes that produce chemically-laden foods.

Banking & Financial Industry, which relies on over-leveraging high-risk mortgages and other products.

Insurance Industry, which relies on weak insurance policies that favor the industry and not the client. they focus on ways to not pay their clients.

Oil Industry, which focuses on ways to keep us dependent on its product in every walk of life -- from the automobile to food products, clothing, appliances,  drugs, and so much more.

TV Industry, along with radio, newspapers, and other media, helps to promote fast food, junk food, and prescription drugs as a normal way of life. Haven't you noticed how drug and food commercials dominate TV and radio today?

Social Organizations: Roman Catholic Church (priests), Boy Scouts of America (scout leaders) Sports (coaches), Other male groups. Some of these male-dominated groups are becoming known for committing and hiding child abuse/sexual molestation by males in leadership/power positions.

Author's Perspective #3:

Diabetes is running rampant in the United States and around the world. Millions of people are taking various drugs hoping to better control their diabetes. Unfortunately, more than 97% of diabetics are dealing with other health issues including amputation, kidney dialysis, vision problems including blindness, erectile dysfunction, chronic fatigue, gum disease, heart attacks, strokes, and Alzheimer's disease.

                       

So who's to blame for this epidemic? Who's responsible for fixing this global problem? What about all of the other nutrition and lifestyle-driven diseases such as heart disease, arthritis, osteoporosis, cancer, and obesity? What about all the drugs and pills produced by the drug companies? -- drugs that don't work and keep us in a diseased state, while the costs keep rising.

Before we put all the blame on the money-hungry drug companies, let's not forget that it's us who demand many of these drugs. Without our demand, the supply  would dry up and profits would diminish.

Are we really as stupid as the drug companies and doctors think we are?

Well, we do eat a lot of processed foods and fast foods (i.e.  Kraft macaroni 'n cheese, cereal, bread, McDonald's, KFC, Taco Bell, Burger King, etc.). This eventually leads to discomfort, which leads to OTC drugs, and eventually leads to a disease like diabetes. When the OTC drugs stop working, we go to the doctor, who doesn't fix the problem. He/she gives us a prescription drugs which leads to more disease, plus the drugs cause side effects, leading to more prescription drugs, and eventually surgery, and finally death.

Let's take a look at a typical scenario for person after being diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes.

Drug Scenario for Most Type 2 Diabetics

Based on working with thousands of diabetics, we hear the same story over and over. It goes something like this:

Once you're diagnosed with diabetes, your doctor may suggest that you try diet and exercise,  and refer you to a local diabetes educator, dietitian or nutritionist -- knowing full well that you're going to fail.

You try to eat better and exercise, but life is just too busy to make a lot of changes - especially when we love certain foods that we've been eating for the last 20-30 years.

Eventually, your doctor tells you that you have to go on a diabetic drug like metformin (Glucophage), which is the most common drug (in pill form) for Type 2 diabetics.

Note: This is the most common method for treating diabetics initially, but it should be  the least common method and should be used as a last resort!

Unfortunately, many of us choose drugs as our first option because drugs are convenient, and we mistakenly believe that the drugs give us a free pass such that we can continue to stuff our mouths with the junk food that's killing us.

So, you start out taking one diabetic drug, usually metformin (Glucophage) -- usually 500mg  or 1000mg twice a day.

We believe the drugs are really working because our blood sugar level comes down once we start taking the drug. And, we relax, thinking everything is okay.

Eventually, over a period of years, your diabetes gets worse so your doctor gives you another pill. In addition, your doctor  puts you on a high blood pressure drug (i.e. ACE inhibitor such as Lisinopril, a water pill such as hydrochlorothiazide, HCTZ) and a high cholesterol drug (i.e. a statin drug such as Lipitor).

In the meantime, your diabetes gets worse because the drugs aren't really doing anything to fight the diabetes -- but, you're now taking 4 or 5 or 6 different drugs! (Some people take as many as 16 different drugs!)

Then, it's just a matter of time before you begin experiencing one or more of the complications of diabetes. Usually, it's the kidneys (protein leaking in the urine) or the eyes (blurry vision), sores or ulcers on the legs or feet, or you begin feeling pain or tingling in your feet.

You may also begin feeling really  tired all the time, you're gaining more weight, you notice sores and cuts are not healing as fast, and you lose interest in sex -- not because you don't want to, but because you can't! Men especially suffer with erectile dysfunction -- but, they just take another pill!

These complications lead to more drugs, and eventually kidney dialysis, surgery on the eyes , surgery on the lower limbs or feet (amputation), and more visits to the hospital, followed up by hospice or home care.

Unfortunately, during this time, the diabetic pills stop working, so your doctor eventually puts you on insulin. You're surprised and shocked that you have to go on insulin, but eventually you give in because your blood sugar is coming down.

Once you start taking insulin, you begin to gain even more weight! -Why? Because insulin is a fat-storage hormone that makes us fat! And, as we get fatter, we require even more insulin! This is known as the "insulin addiction trap", which is explained in the book "Death to Diabetes".

So, did any of this sound familiar to you?

The sad thing about all of this is that it was all preventable! And, you can still stop it today! It's not too late! However, you must want to stop it -- you're the only one who can ...

I know this is hard to believe, but, think about it: Have you ever heard of anyone really getting better once they started taking a diabetic drug?

Wake up, people! -- Take back your power! Before it's too late!

Your health will continue to deteriorate. Your body will continue to rot on the inside. You'll continue to get fatter and fatter. Eventually, you'll be taking up to 10 pills a day! You may feel fine today, but one day you'll begin to have problems with your eyes, or your feet, or your kidneys -- it will happen -- unless you die first.

We're being made fools of by the pharmaceutical companies and their drug pushers! They're laughing at us all the way to the bank!

You say your doctor is a good man.  Really? You're taking 4 or 5 pills a day! You say he's looking out for you. Really? And, you blindly and happily continue to take their pills expecting to get better. And, you continue to stuff your mouth with cheeseburgers, french fries, fried chicken, and other horrible food. And, you send a bad message to your children.

It would be easy to blame the pharmaceutical companies, the doctors, the government, the food industry, television, radio, newspapers, and other media.

But, it's your responsibility to say no to the drugs, the doctors, and the pharmaceutical companies.

I was on several drugs after I recovered from the diabetic coma. I was facing a possible stroke, double-leg amputation, partial blindness, and double-leg amputation. I had two choices at that time: I could blame the doctors and the pharmaceutical companies for my plight or I could focus on finding a solution.Being an engineer, I realized that if I focused my energy on blaming the doctors and the drug companies, that at the end of the day, I would still be sick and I would still be facing a possible stroke, double-leg amputation, partial blindness, and double-leg amputation.

On the other hand, I realized that if I focused on finding a solution, I had a chance to live a healthier life. I also realized that I was in a dire health situation because of my poor eating habits and lifestyle choices. No doctor or drug company put the McDonald's French fries and Kentucky fried chicken in my mouth. No doctor or drug company told me to eat a lot of candy bars and drink a lot of soda every day.

Those choices were made by me. Yes, television helped by showing fast-food commercials several times every hour of every day. But, the fast food places didn't turn on the television and make me watch their commercials; or, drive  me to the fast food place to buy a large bucket of fried chicken. And, they didn't make me sit down and eat half the bucket of chicken in one sitting.

So, with my mother's help and my daughter's help, I decided to focus on what I had control over: me, my choices, my life. Now, today, I live a healthier life with no need for any drugs or the need to drive to KFC or McDonald's.

Now, I have the energy to redirect some of the blame onto the medical doctors and the drug companies.

So, you have a choice to make. If you're diabetic, you need to decide if you want to make the choice to get well, or continue to blame people that you have no control over. If you're not diabetic, you also have to decide how to help yur family or friends who may be suffering with diabetes. Are you going to do nothing or look for ways to help your family and friends?

A Lesson in Empowerment

We have to educate and more importantly we have to empower people so that they can take responsibility for their own health and not depend  on the drug pushers and the drug companies. I had my first exposure to the real power of empowering others when I was a volunteer math tutor for the Urban League many years ago.

At that time everyone wanted to blame the teachers and the school system for the students having poor grades. There were many meetings and workshops discussing how to solve this problem. I decided to get at the root of the problem -- the failing student. 

So I joined a volunteer tutoring group at the Urban league, where tutors provided 1-on-1 coaching and training to high school students. They had enough tutors for most subjects except for the math areas: algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus. So, I volunteered to tutor multiple students in multiple math areas. I started with 4 students, and as they started to improve their grades, I expanded to 8 students, then 16 students.

Within 9 months, I had begun to improve the grades of 16 students, who had been failing at math and other subjects. After about 2 years, I was tutoring up to 24 students at one time; and, many of the students were improving their grades at least 2 grade levels. Some students were experiencing A's for the first time in their lives. Interestingly, as their math grades improved, so did their grades in their other classes! This is the "power of mathematics" that many engineers are aware of but not the general public. (It's not a coincidence that many CEOs,  inventors, politicians, and celebrities were once engineers).

So various school officials, parents, and teachers came to visit us at the building where we did the tutoring to see how an engineer could improve the grades of so many students who were failing.

They wanted to understand how one tutor could teach algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus to 24 students at one time for a program that was designed to tutor one student in one subject at a time.

Some of the parents, teachers and other officials would sit in the back of the room, and observe the tutoring sessions.

Here's a typical scenario that they observed: I had 4 round tables set up with 4 to 6 students at each table for the following math areas: algebra, geometry, trigonometry, and calculus.

At the beginning of each training session, I would review some key concepts such as negative numbers, fractions, factoring, derivatives, integrals, problem-solving, etc. Then, each group of students would go to their table and begin working on their homework or reviewing the test results from a recent exam.

A student from the algebra table would raise her hand and ask me a question, let's say about the Pythagorean theorem.

I would pretended not to know the answer, and ask one of the juniors or seniors: "Can you help me? What was the name of that formula for a triangle with perfect squares?"

Inevitably, someone would know the answer and enthusisastially respond with the answer, smiling ear-to-ear.

I remember one parent coming up to me during a break and saying: "Wow, these students are really smart.  Every time you ask a question, someone always comes up with the answer that you don't know. You're lucky that there's always at least one or two students who know the answers."

After a couple months of this, the parent figured out what I was doing -- empowering the students to take responsibility for their own education.

That's what I was taught as a student by great teachers (ike Ms. Batten, Ms. Davis, Ms. Jankovich, Mr. Husnick, Mr. Bohach, Ms. Goydovic, Mr. Houlihan, etc.

And, that's what I was taught by my mother and especially my father. My father told me one day just before I had graduated from junior high school to go to senior high school: "Son, it's only going to get tougher now -- tougher classes, tougher teachers. You have two choices -- complain and fail or shut up and succeed."

I decided to shut up and succeed ...