On Truth, Trust & Myth
From the day children learn to reason, they ask questions and one of the first repetitive questions they love to ask is “Why?”. If the child asks it often enough, it can sometimes get to the point where we answer “well, just – because!”. We’ve either run out of the ability to explain, or its too complicated to express in a simple way that the child will understand. Very often the answer we give isn’t even based on science or truth – it’s based on a fairy tale or a myth – for example, when they ask us where babies come from and we tell them it gets delivered by a stork!
Hopefully, as we get older and our understanding of the world around us increases, we are much more likely to discover the real or truthful answer for ourselves - if we are prepared to look hard enough for it. But if we are not prepared to ask the difficult questions and follow the sometimes-complex evidence, we inevitably fall prey to the mythical tales those around us still tell.
Of course, in the pursuit of truth, we can’t all be doctors or research scientists. Most of us are just busy trying to make ends meet and trusting that the “experts” will tell us what we need to know to allow us to survive and hopefully thrive. Also, doctors and researchers won’t always have “the answers”. Science is about learning and change – yes, some parts of what they know are ‘well established’ – but most is still up for debate and really should be open to question – because that is how knowledge evolves. In fact, debate and hard questions are welcomed by real science - because that is how we’ve made the progress we have.
But you don’t have to become a scientist or published expert. All it takes to become knowledgeable enough to steer your own course through the myths told to us is to ask good, commonsense questions like “Why?”.
Until I reached middle age, I had trust (and even blind faith) in these “experts” but I started asking “why?” when I was diagnosed with a debilitating condition and put on 3½ stone between the ages of 30 and 50. I asked my consultant why I’d developed rheumatism (which is an autoimmune condition) and she said she couldn’t tell me the answer – maybe she thought it was too complicated and I wouldn’t understand. I asked my doctor why I was putting on weight when I was following all the guidelines and he muttered something about calories and amount of activity, even though he knew I was at the gym three times a week. So, I decided it was up to me to find out the answers and do something about it.
What I found is that when it comes to autoimmunity, a healthy diet and exercise most of what we are told is wrong. Why? Because the people telling us how to eat, formulating the food pyramids, and putting ‘heart healthy’ on food packets are bought and paid for by the food and pharma industries. Why would they mislead us? Because our listening to their advice keeps us eating ultra processed junk or low-nutrient-value foods which keep them in fat profits. Why isn’t it keeping us healthy? Because profits are what they care about – not our health. Why? Because they have shareholders who demand a payout. And the profits are gigantic.
Another thing – listen for how many times you hear doctors and other experts saying that they have the latest and greatest medicine for ‘managing’ a condition. Very often the condition they are talking about, like Rheumatism, Type II diabetes or high blood pressure is a reversible condition - but all they talk about is management – why? Because it is not the patient who is cured of a disease who earns big pharma and the medical establishments profits – it is the one who is living with the condition and whose symptoms are ‘managed’, for year after medicated year. They don’t want us dead – where’s the profit in that? – but they don’t want us healthy either.
As somebody very wise said recently: “I looked for the science and couldn’t find it. Then I followed the money - and that’s where I found the science.”
Because of the answers I’ve found, I’m living a normal life without pain or rheumatic symptoms. I’m back to the weight I was in my 20’s and I’ve stopped my gym membership. Oh, I still exercise, but I do my exercise as much as possible in nature. I’m doing it to maintain my muscle, and for the health benefits that movement brings – not because I’m trying to lose weight.
If I can do this, anyone can. I’m an expert in precisely nothing except being persistent, trying to understand and asking awkward questions! You don’t need to be an expert – but we all need to challenge what we’re being asked to trust.
You deserve the truth. You deserve to know what is making you unhealthy or piling on the pounds. You deserve to know whether a medicine will help you or bring more problems. You do have choice when it comes to your health and your weight.
I recommend we all start behaving like children again and start asking “Why?” much more, find answers we can trust, and act on what we learn. We need to take back responsibility for our own health and weight whenever possible. Blindly following the advice we've been given for the last 50+ years has led to the most unhealthy populations the world has ever seen.
I saved everything I learned while researching and put it into the KetoChoice programme. Trust comes with Truth. Not Myth.
Helen Reynolds
Founder of KetoChoice
8th September 2023
#keto #weight #health #bigpharma #lowcarb #carnivore #truth