Is Food Our Friend or Our Foe?
January 27, 2023
Hosted by Susan Downs, MD
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Guest Information
Episode Description
We have to eat, or we die. Yet foods probably kill most of us, at least in developed countries. Cows make milk for their calves. Pigs have piglets to maintain their species, not to feed us. Wheat grows seeds to maintain its species too. So do cabbages. These foods are not designed for us. We just have to find foods that keep us alive, even if the long-term consequences are less than ideal. Why do so many people die of coronary heart disease? The evidence is strong that the toxic sugar, galactose, in milk contributes to narrowed arteries, and the membrane of the fatty globules in cream contributes to blood clots. The solution is to eat hard cheese. Why do so many die of cancer. There is good evidence that fructose, a sugar in fruit, sugar cane, sugar beet, and high fructose corn syrup, enables cancer cells to form new cancer cells, to enlarge tumours, and to spread to other sites in the body. Sugars seem to play a part in multiple sclerosis as well. If you buy a car, there is a manual that tells you what fuel to use in that model. Unfortunately, babies are born without manuals, and parents don’t know what model of baby they have. Some people with food and chemical sensitivity take decades to find out what model they are. Foods are vital, but can cause us major problems, and even kill us. Poor food preparation, like inadequate cooking of meat or dried beans, or fast modern bread baking, cause trouble. So of course do additives in foods, especially when they are combined in one meal. Then there are pesticides in foods, often many pesticides in one food. Food may be mouldy. Food handlers may transmit infections via the foods they touch. Contaminated water may be used to wash foods. Food packaging may contaminate foods with aluminum or chemicals that leach from plastic. We survive as long as we do, because we have complex immune systems, and multiple ways of making chemicals safe. We have to find a way of working with our bodies, so as to have a happy and productive life. Learn about wise food choices
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Occupy Health provides leading edge health information to allow you to take proactive steps towards optimal health. We help you look under the hood to find the underlying contributing causes to illness. We also interview health and functional medicine experts to provide answers to questions and to arm you with questions for your health provider. Tune in to Occupy Health, broadcasting every Friday at 11 AM Pacific Time on the VoiceAmerica Health and Wellness Channel.
Susan Downs, MD
Dr. Susan is boarded in Integrative Medicine and in Psychiatry, is a certified IFM practitioner and certified in the American Academy of Antiaging Medicine. She works at the University of California, San Francisco and is on the Psychiatry Consultant Registry (UK). She has Masters Degrees in engineering from MIT and Stanford and a Masters in Public Health from Loma Linda Medical Center.
Based between San Francisco and Bloomsbury (London), she is the president of the cutting edge, Silicon Valley Health Institute (SVHI), has worked in ten countries and studied many healing modalities. Previously, she worked for the NHS in the UK, was an assistant professor at INSEAD (European School for Business Administration), and was a foreign service officer managing alternative energy projects in Asia. She is also a film-maker with two multi award winning films on health. Her interests include medicine, economics, spirituality and making the world a better place.
