I never thought about it growing up because it all seemed so natural. I spent my first 20 years living in Culver City, CA aka “The Heart of Screenland.” Most people in the entertainment industry know about Culver City. It’s the place where MGM studios, Desi Lu, Culver Studios and a whole bunch of other TV, radio, podcast and “Hollywood” type studios produced a lot of the great entertainment that you have loved for many years. So when I was growing up it was natural to see a movie or TV show being filmed or a famous actor in a store or restaurant.
So what’s this have to do with healthcare? All of our experiences contribute to our way of thinking about the world. Here’s an experience of mine that I want to share with you. One day a friend and I came upon a movie set on location at our high school. We looked around and saw a couple of director’s chairs, you know the ones that look like a canvas beach chair but they’re really high up. I looked a little closer and on the back of one was printed , ”Woody Allen.” So I moseyed over and sat down in Woody Allen’s chair while I watched them film a scene from the classic film “Sleeper.”
When the movie came out I saw it about 8 times. Partly because I’m fascinated with movies that I had watched being filmed and partly because it played for a week at the theater where I worked as an assistant manager. The movie is a Rip Van Winkle story in which Woody Allen played a Health Food Store owner named Miles Monroe. In the film Miles died on the operating table in 1973 and was cryogenically frozen at the request of his family. They thawed him out 200 years later in the “space age future.” There were a lot of crazy scenes with robot butlers and flying cars in that film. But the one I remember most was the one where (modern) doctors were watching their newly thawed patient as he adjusted to life in a new paradigm. The doctor’s had the following exchange:
Dr. Melik: This morning for breakfast he requested something called “wheat germ, organic honey and tiger’s milk.”
Dr. Aragon: [chuckling] Oh, yes. Those are the charmed substances that some years ago were thought to contain life-preserving properties.
Dr. Melik: You mean there was no deep fat? No steak or cream pies or… hot fudge?
Dr. Aragon: Those were thought to be unhealthy… precisely the opposite of what we now know to be true.
Dr. Melik: Incredible.
Wow they’re everywhere
Sound familiar? That scene passes brilliant comment on the craziness associated with the ever changing opinions of healthcare experts. Do you remember hearing that butter was bad for you? Take a look at this…
I won’t bore you with too many of the countless examples of something that was good for you becoming bad or vice versa. But here’s a few. Cholesterol good or bad? Eat meat, wait a minute…don’t eat meat. Take a vitamin…no eat whole foods. You can’t get your nutrients from whole food…take vitamins. Exercise everyday…no that’s too much…you’re creating too much lactic acid…exercise less-meditate more. You’re sitting too long when meditating…get up and move. Move this way…no not like that…do it this way…that’s the best way…oh we found out that’s not good for you…do this instead. Eat soy, drink rice milk…no no no…that screws up your hormones and poisons you with arsenic. So much more…so much more.
Now I’m not passing judgment on any of this. In fact I’m a big fan of science in medicine. I use it in my practice to help people regain or maintain their health. It’s really important and we can’t discount knowledge. But I am saying that you should be careful with how you use the knowledge and you should ally yourself with a healthcare practitioner that you trust. More on that relationship here http://wp.me/p35M79-2f Make clear, clean decisions about health and do what’s best for you, not what’s best for someone who knows nothing about you and/or actual healthcare.
Wouldn’t it be great if, when it comes to healthcare, you could find a method that never changes? Overwhelming evidence points to chiropractic care as that method. Chiropractic is a traditional, effective way to positively influence health and well being. Outside of opinions, chiropractic care has never fundamentally changed. Here’s how it works: damage spine-damage nerve-damage health. Heal spine-heal nerve-regain health. It’s just that simple. It’s never changed. As a matter of fact chiropractors have always operated on this simple but very elegant theory. We believe that the body heals itself when disturbance is removed. That theory has never been effectively challenged. Chiropractic care always works-100% of the time. When it doesn’t appear to work we don’t question the principle, we examine the application of the principle. (Here’s something to help you understand the Principles of Chiropractic)
The 33 Principles of Chiropractic
I’m proud to say that while applications and procedures may have changed over the history of chiropractic, absolutely nothing about the principle has changed. It’s the same now as it was in 1895 when it began in Davenport, Iowa. And most importantly, I am willing to bet that if Miles Monroe received the benefit of proper chiropractic care in 1973, he would get the same benefits when he thawed out 200 hundred years later.
Everything old is new again. After several decades of studying health I have decided that nearly everything that the “experts” tell you can be taken with a grain of salt. One thing that has always been true is that when you get an adjustment you and your body have the best chance at functioning at your optimum level.
Now it’s your turn. Please leave a reply and share this with a friend. Like this kind of thinking? Subscribe to the blog and I’ll let you know when there’s more.
Perhaps in our lifetime we will witness the re-zoning of Elenda street to commercial so that McDonalds can move in to Robert Frost auditorium for real. Save those kids the time and energy of walking all that way!
Diet and exercise still works for me.