If you’re one of the hundreds of millions of Americans who've gotten a prescription this year, you probably noticed that the text was illegible. And not because of the doctor’s calligraphy. Even typewritten scripts are impossible to understand. That’s because they’re written in Latin. Hmm…now isn’t that interesting. Does your doctor or your pharmacist speak Latin? Probably not. So, what could possibly be the purpose of writing instructions and details for something as important, potent and very dangerous in an ancient language that is not only arcane and inscrutable, but that hasn’t even been spoken commonly for 2000 years?
Yum cholesterol, eat up! Despite the fact that for decades doctors have demonized cholesterol as a molecular monster, these days the conventional understanding has changed. Earlier this year the United Sates Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee reversed its longstanding words of wisdom about avoiding egg yolks, shrimp, lobster and other cholesterol containing foods, proclaiming that the much-maligned substance is “…no longer a nutrient of concern”. No longer a nutrient of concern? Great, it’s about time! But what’s missing from the lifting of the medical and social stigma associated with eating cholesterol-containing foods is some actual love for what the under-appreciated biochemical really is and what it does to keep the body healthy.
Cholesterol is an anabolic (building) chemical. It plays an important role in the production of the hormones of youth, fertility, and growth. Its mere presence tells the body that anti-aging and repair can proceed and its production is stimulated by stress and tissue breakdown, which, in just the right amount, functions as growth signals. This partially accounts for our societal tendency to have higher blood cholesterol levels than we actually need. Our cultural inclinations to long term chronic stress and degenerative diseases, along with high blood sugar and insulin (there’s a reason that diabetes and elevated blood cholesterol go hand-in-hand), not to mention the physiological burden of nutritional deficiencies, are the ultimate cause of elevated cholesterol and the real bad guys in the epic decades-long drama called “CHOLESTEROL-MANIA”.
You may not have heard of it, but the term medicalization is so significant and relevant it has its own Wikipedia entry. Around since the 1970’s, the word applies to the process of regarding as much of human life as grist for the medical model mill as possible, to essentially control as much of human life as possible, using drugs and devises and doctors and medical procedures and make lots of lucre while doing it. It can be construed as a type of social manipulation that attempts to enforce and superimpose so-called standards and thereby “normalize” the wide ranging spectrum human activities which are, diverse, idiosyncratic and often based on nothing more than the unique nature of personal preference and individual biochemistry.
One of the problems with the medicalization of everyday life (that’s the title of a book of essays by the medical writer and psychiatrist Dr. Tomas Szaz) is the tendency for it to become disease mongering. At what point do we need to control all aspects of body and being such as health and the development of disease? At which point do regular mammograms and prostate exams and colonoscopies become excessive? And even worse, when does diagnosis like depression, ADD and Oppositional Defiance Order (which according to the psychiatry’s diagnostic bible, the DSM IV, is defined as “disobedient, hostile, and defiant behavior toward authority figures”) become oppressive?
When most of us think collagen, we think skin and for good reason. Much of the dry weight of our cutaneous covering is composed of this resilient fibrous protein, which keeps skin firm, taut and youthfully plump. There’s not an adult female in America that doesn’t want more of it.
But collagen is much more than an anti-wrinkle fiber. It acts as a type of biological scaffolding that makes up a third of a typical body’s weight. Collagen tissue is matrix that gives support, shape and bulk to the internal viscera, which are embedded in collagen like fruit in a jello-mold. It is by far the most abundant protein in the body and a key component of eyes, bone, blood vessels, the digestive tract and teeth.
The body is always talking to us. We may not listen, but it’s always reporting back about what’s going on with it, how it’s responding to our actions and what we’re doing wrong and right. If you have a problem dairy, your intestine will signal its distress with cramping, bloating and other digestive symptoms. These symptoms can be correlated to eating things like cheese, gluten, strawberries eggs and any other foods that initiate intolerance or allergies. Drink too much alcohol, the next day’s hangover can be a communication so clear and impactful you may never imbibe again. On the other hand, sometimes a burst of happiness or a hit of energy or just some plain old peace of mind, can let you know that you’re on the right track, doing something your body really needs, wants and likes. For instance soaking in hot tubs, a brisk workout or playing with babies and puppies come to mind.
While digestion, immunity, skin and respiration are all exquisitely sensitive to their environments, no part of the body is more responsive than the heart and circulatory system. Considering something on order of one out of every two or three Americans have some sort of circulatory health challenges, that’s good news. That’s because, once we recognize our complicity in our vascular health challenges, we’ll be able to address them for real. This can be done without doctors, devices, diagnostics or drugs and their associated side effects.
