July 19, 2011

Dear Future Centenarian,

Paleo is more than a diet. It is a way of life that we have abandoned in favor of mass produced food and sedentary lifestyles. Hunter-gatherers rarely got heart disease, cancer and diabetes. In fact, these are modern day diseases caused primarily by grains, dairy, legumes, processed food, sugar and inactivity. Even dementia can be linked to contemporary lifestyles.

It's true we can avoid most of the common aging-related diseases with simple lifestyle habits, headed by diet and exercise. But we're tempted by irresistible advertising from food and beverage companies, and often forced to eat the unhealthiest foods, because they are more affordable. They're more affordable, because they are subsidized, not because fruits and vegetables usually cost more to grow. Herbicides, other pesticides, hormones and GM foods make it easier to feed the masses, and the Age of Agriculture and its division of labor and mass production made it possible for populations to explode. That was a very good thing for economies. But look at the cost in human misery.

There's not much debate as to what foods are healthier and which are making us sick. It's obvious that government intervention has distorted the economy and is largely responsible for allowing, and even encouraging the food industry to poison us.

Think about this.

Why are we as a society getting fatter every year, experiencing diabetes at earlier and earlier ages and suffering and deteriorating more and faster, in spite of the fact we have so much more health awareness?

It's because unhealthy food is cheap to produce, is largely subsidized… and is profitable. It's profitable not only to the food companies and to the subsidized farmers, but also to the medical establishment, including big pharma. Why? Because the sicker you get, the healthier it is for the medical industry.

I learned this reality thirty years ago when I became an advocate for paralysis cure. I was nave enough to court the rehabilitation industry for research support. What a reality check! Doors were literally slammed in my face until I realized the futility of trying to accomplish something that would jeopardize the livelihoods of people with vested interests in misery. Do you really think drug companies would embrace cures? In fact, don't you think they might even oppose cures with all their hundreds of billions of dollars and government influence? I have not morphed from an idealist into a cynic. I just grew up.

Here's a current example:

The FDA had the audacity to classify walnuts as a drug when Diamond Foods, Inc posted truthful, science-based facts regarding the health benefits of walnuts on their website. They were forced to take the information down or risk being forced out of business. At the same time, the FDA allows companies like Frito Lay to make healthful claims for ingredients in their deep fried carbohydrate-laden chips. Other fast food and processed food companies seem to get away with health claims as well. Their lobbyists are much more powerful than a company like Diamond Foods can afford.

The FDA is trying to force food companies, who exercise their First Amendment rights by publishing science-based articles, to put natural foods through the same rigorous human trials that drug companies do for drugs. Drug trials and approval can routinely cost almost $1 billion and take around ten years. Then drug companies get monopolies on drugs that they mark up by 100 times until their patents expire. Of course, food companies can't get monopolies and don't enjoy obscene margins.

PLEASE go to www.lef.org/lac to support legislation that could stem this insane tide by urging your representative to support the Free Speech About Science Act (H.R. 13642). This bill would give back First Amendment rights that the FDA is trying to snatch away from food companies.

We may able to stem that tide. And we can certainly take care of ourselves and our families in the meantime.

In fact, Dr. Michael Rose has even hypothesized that a hunter-gatherer lifestyle can STOP aging. In the worst case, it can prevent, and even reverse, many of the diseases that kill us. You can avoid nearly all heart disease, cancer, diabetes… and more if you start early enough.

The government's motives may not be in your best interest, so you need to stay informed if you want to protect your health. If you haven't read about how to stop aging in Life Extension Express yet, I encourage you to do that. And if you are curious as to how to stop aging, I suggest you check out 55 bite-sized lessons on how going Paleolithic can halt aging. Go to www.55theses.org. You will take advantage of 16 years of research to extend your healthspan in 55 easy lessons.

Long Life,
David Kekich