The Health Jerk

Part Nine:  More Believability and Health Industry

Hey there, we left off last time at point 6 in a list of who are you going to believe.  The total American Health System includes a large number of factors.  Probably the most controversial is the Dietary Supplement or Nutritional Product Companies. 

Have you ever gone to an informational call about a health and wellness product?  I have.  Most of them are pretty standard. 

Have you heard enough about the latest, greatest revolutionary discovery from the Amazon rain forests, from the South Sea Coral reef, from deepest Africa, from monks of Tibet or the priests of the Far East?  You must give them A for ingenuity if for nothing else.  OK, tonight, I guarantee you that there are literally thousands of presentations being made to thousands of people.  Each presentation claims to have the solution to, drum roll please, your personal health challenges.  I hate to keep asking questions, but who do you believe?

I said that many of the presentation run true to a pretty standard format.  In most formats you will find personal testimonials.  Either delivered by the speaker in the third person or many times, delivered in the first person supposedly by the actual individual giving his or her testimonial.  How many times have you heard testimonials that run like this:  'I had diabetes and then I took XXX, it was amazing, I was insulin free in 3 months.  If you have diabetes, take XXX and you will be insulin free in 3 months too, just like me.'  I call it the diabetes shuffle.

After they run through a number of chronic diseases and health conditions, you are overwhelmed by the effectiveness of this new product.  All those testimonials from real people convince you that it must work and will work on you.  Of course, one of the examples was the health challenge that you face, they were cured weren't they?

Every one of us is different.  Everything about us is different.


There are literally thousands of variables in the health equation that defines each one of us.  Assuming all the other variable are held constant, or have no influence on our health and well being is ridiculous.

Better yet, do you think the condition of your body and its general health is comparable to a native of the Amazon rain forest?  How about the jungles of deepest Africa?  Maybe the steaming rice paddies of southeast Asia?  Come on people use the brains with which you were born.  Each person's body is different.  Perhaps, underscore perhaps, there may be some parallel effects between people who are of similar age, health, race, sex and so on.  But even then it's a long shot.

Now those of you with the 'get your affairs in order' verdict from your family doctor, I understand.  I am not saying give up.  I am not saying become bitter and negative.  What I am saying is do not fall into the traps set by the greedy sales pitches.  As long as the nutritional products are not harmful to you (like most drugs are) then try anything.  Just do not buy into the deception of the certain cure.  Do not buy into the unrealistic  expectations promised by the pitch men.  Demand and enforce the money back performance or satisfaction guarantees on those products, especially those that promise a speedy recovery.  Make them put their money where their mouth is.

The diabetes shuffle is insidious.  It raises false expectations in elderly and very sick people.  Now I am great believer in the power of the mind.  I am a great believer in the power of positive thinking.  But the diabetes shuffle is just evil.

That's all for now.  Take it with a grain of salt.  Believe you can recover and do natural healthy things to assist your recovery.  There is no magic pill or potion.  You can help your body with natural nutritional products, but there are no miracle cures.  Most miracles are the results of mis-diagnosis by traditional medicine.  I gave you an example from my life as it applies to family doctors and specialists.  Doctors make mistakes.  Medical misadventure is the fourth most popular cause of death in the USA. 

OK, I have shown you a very high level of cynicism but no solution.  Let me talk about why the solutions are obvious.  Let me talk about the problems created by ambitious marketers in the field of Health and Wellness.  Let me talk about guarantees.

Later sheep.