THE OIL & THE SNAKE

Last week, I was doing some research on diverticulitis and other digestive diseases.  Adorning the page of my customary resources was also an assortment of links claiming to be seen on Dr. Oz or Oprah (or other of the ever-expanding landscape of “help-you-be-better” TV programs). Each of the links proclaimed the “new” research that has produced amazing…even miraculous, health benefits from a tiny mystery berry, breakthrough-extract, ointment or native grain.

When I asked my physician about the never ending stream of miracle cures in our media…he was more tolerant than I expected. He suggested that medical science often takes its cue from what we would otherwise call “home remedies”… and since we have so many cultures, with so many variations of treatment for everything from poisonous bites to headaches… one should keep an open mind.

OK!  I get it.  Our scientific proofs often lag behind what we often know to be true or false.  In the late 19th century, tomatoes were thought to be poisonous.  In the 1950s…cigarettes were advertised as a “healthy” habit. In the 1980s…many scientists believed that red dye in foods caused cancer.  Whether we are trying to look younger, be regular, live longer and healthier, achieve smoother skin or lose
weight with little or no effort…  How do we tell the difference between the oil and the snake?   (For you younger readers… a man who travelled from town to town selling his cure-all elixir… mostly alcohol… was called a “snake-oil” salesman).

We all suffer from media overdose…I call it Oz-Oprah-fied!  That extract, oil or berry may actually do good things for us (the oil)… but the media sales pitch (the snake)…overwhelms us as we reach for our credit card… hoping we are not being
duped. 

SO…  Keeping an open mind… it may be that the amazing berry seen on Dr. Oz will actually have us dropping pounds without changing our other eating habits or exercising… but we should try these things with healthy skepticism.

Keep moving!

Mike

www.FallPreventionClinics.com