From the Desk of Carolyn Dean MD ND
I’ve been introducing you to my latest edition of Death by Modern Medicine, where I’ve chronicled the outrages of modern medicine. These blogs give you digestible portions of the 15 chapters and an overall insight into the areas that are important to monitor and be aware of in your own life. Here we have the last three chapters, Death by Lifestyle, Death by Character Assassination and The Future of Thought.
Chapter Thirteen: Death By Lifestyle
The implicit message with the term “Death by Lifestyle” is that your lifestyle is entirely your choice and under your command. It is in entirely in your hands to make necessary changes (as outlined in all my writings, podcasts and books) to achieve and maintain lifelong health.
Dr. Julie Gerberding, the former head of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) wrote a paper in 2004 for The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) titled, “Actual Causes of Death in the United States, 2000” and while that paper is over twenty years old, the message holds true today. It turns out that the way people die in America had not changed.
We have long been told that heart disease and cancer are the leading causes of death. We are shown these numbers every few years as the epidemic of these chronic diseases escalates. However, Gerberding and her colleagues have not just counted the end result of a lifetime of illness and called it ‘heart disease’ or ‘cancer,’ they have named the actual causes of death.
The goal of her paper was to identify the deaths resulting from risk factors associated with people’s modifiable behavior so that people can lower their risk of death by modifying their behavior!
The sheer numbers of deaths due to modifiable behavioral risk factors, accounting for about half of all annual deaths, were nothing less than startling. Tobacco deaths were the highest actual cause of death (435,000 deaths; 18.1% of total U.S. deaths).
A close second was poor diet and physical inactivity (400,000 deaths; 16.6%). Alcohol consumption was third (85,000 deaths; 3.5%). Other deaths due to modifiable risks were infectious agents (75,000), toxic agents (55,000), motor vehicle crashes (43,000), firearms (29,000), STDs (20,000), and illicit use of drugs (17,000).
My hope is that I’ve encouraged many people to give up smoking over the past several decades, but my goal continues to be to educate people about the dangers of their poor diet and physical inactivity which may soon overtake tobacco as the leading cause of death.
My book details some facts and statistics about American chronic disease which are a result of chronic poor diet and levels of activity. And I share some important information about how to protect yourself and your loved ones if you do find yourself in need of medical care in a hospital or doctor’s office.
Chapter Fourteen: Death By Character Assassination
This chapter will give sufficient evidence for you to understand why doctors will never speak out against the status quo. It’s because they have too much to lose if they do.
When I was in practice in Toronto, I was censored by my licensing board as soon as I came out in the media saying bad (and true) things about sugar. Anyone who raises their head above the status quo becomes a target. Those of us on the leading edge feel the sharpness of that blade.
My goal has always been to educate people about the value of a healthy diet and lifestyle. When presented in that simple statement, it seems outrageous that anybody, especially my medical licensing board and my medical colleagues would have any problem with the message I consistently share.
But the natural healing arts have always presented a challenge to the financial interests of the drug industry, the medical device industry, the hospital industry, the research industry and the array of allopathic doctor groups and their allied healing arts groups that enjoy the political approval of the community. It’s because natural healing IDEAS challenge what is held sacred by the medical establishment.
My ideas about sugar made me a target of my medical licensing board in Ontario, Canada and in Chapter 14 of my book, I’ll share details about a dozen other doctors also being attacked by College of Physicians and Surgeons of Ontario (CPSO) and medical organizations in the US. That number is only a drop in the bucket and keeps most doctors from ever speaking out. We saw the truth of this selective targeting against alternative doctors in the Covid years.
I’ll also share details about individuals who, over the past 100 years have endeavored to open up the medical industry to include new ideas and treatment options for people with serious illness and disease, only to be persecuted and prosecuted.
I’d also like you to read Chapter 14 for details about how Quackbusters have hijacked Wikipedia to create a mountain of misinformation about people and techniques that they target.
Chapter Fifteen: The Future of Thought
By now, you’re aware of the depth of research that I undertook to present these ideas, facts and theories to you. In Chapter 15, I start in the 18th century with France’s Franz Mesmer who seems to have been the father of modern energy medicine with the idea that there is a ‘fluid’ that flows through all of us and is what connects us with the universe. It is what makes us alive. Without it, we are dead, and our bodies are nothing more than dead flesh and bone.
Of course, we now know that ‘fluid’ to be called by many names such as Qi or Chi in the 5,000-year tradition of Ancient Chinese Medicine. Mesmer’s ‘fluid’ is often referred to as the vital force, life force, spirit or the soul.
Most of the natural healing arts today are based on Mesmer’s ideas and the field of psychiatry and hypnotherapy are indebted to Mesmer for his influence.
Osteopathy, chiropractic, naturopathy and homeopathy all evolved from Mesmer’s theory of ‘fluid’ and continue to be under scrutiny and attack from traditional medicine.
In my private practice, I incorporated a variety of energy modalities including acupuncture, Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT), The BEST Technique, Homeopathy and Chinese medicine. Using dietary supplements from food-based, organic sources, not synthetic chemicals, organic herbs that have not been processed to take the life force out of them and other natural means allows naturopaths to stay close to our energetic roots. In doing so we are working with that ‘fluid’ that flows through our patients by using medicines and techniques to restore the natural balance of the body resulting in genuine health.
I share this information with you to give you a perspective on the evolution of the natural health field. It is a movement that has been slowly advancing for hundreds of years, but unlike the 5,000 years of Traditional Chinese Medicine, we’ve had to create a movement of ‘health freedom’ advocates to protect our right to take care of our own minds, bodies and spirits.
I report in Chapter 15 that we have many high-profile thinkers, authors and teachers who continue important work in this ‘fluid’ field of energy medicine. Learn more about Louise Hay, Joe Dispenza, Deepak Chopra, Bruce Lipton and how their contributions keep me hopeful.
My third edition of Death by Modern Medicine is my ultimate argument for why you have to take charge of your own health and wellbeing. My websites, books, products, blogs, podcasts and articles all offer implementable actions to help you take charge!
Carolyn Dean MD ND
The Doctor of the Future.
¹A Nation of Pill-Takers. CBS. Oct. 22, 2006
