Dentists, Where Are You?

The past few months have seen me spending a lot of time in dentists' offices. A few observations: most of the dentists and their employees are fairly svelte--at least, more so than the medical staff at a hospital or nursing home. The dentists also advise against eating sugars and starches, knowing what they do to teeth. Why aren't there more dentists in the low-carb internet community? Heaven knows we need all the allies we can get--and help won't come from most dieticians, nurses, "health organizations" (not when they take money from junk food and pharmaceutical companies), medical journals, government, or MDs (not even endocrinologists). To wit:

"In January 2012, the North Carolina Board of Dietetics/Nutrition informed [blogger] Steve [Cooksey] that he could not give readers personal advice on diet, whether for free or for compensation, because doing so constituted the unlicensed, and thus criminal, practice of dietetics." Institute for Justice

"Much of what medical researchers conclude in their studies is misleading, exaggerated, or flat-out wrong. So why are doctors—to a striking extent—still drawing upon misinformation in their everyday practice?" "Lies, Damned Lies and Medical Science," The Atlantic

"The onslaught of bad research is making me burn out." -Jenny Ruhl, Diabetes Update Blog, on rodent studies applied to human diabetics

While seeing my oral surgeon today to get my stitches out, the subject of coconuts came up: coconut oil is an antibiotic and mild analgesic--and he recalled my high threshold of pain. He agreed with the idea of limiting carbohydrates. (I gave him a few tips--mostly to find a book with a plan he could live with, since low fat, low salt and low calorie don't work with low carb.) He also seemed interested in coconut oil being a mild analgesic and antibiotic, diet for relieving pain, and wheat being an appetite stimulant. It felt very strange for this sort of information to go from me to a surgeon--one of the top rated in Denver, no less--until I remembered that none of this is part of a traditional medical education. Yes, he's a mainstream medical practitioner, not a doctor of funk or whatnot.

Just a few years ago, whenever I told people I limited carbs, they looked at me like I had two heads. That this conversation went as well as it did is a sign that the low-fat, healthy-whole-grains machine is being dismantled.

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Blog Lineup Change

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Pain, Pain, Go Away!

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