It’s time again for some Primal news analysis.
First up this week, we have scientists trying to grow meat in a petri-dish:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2011/11/11/science-meat-idUSL5E7M31VE20111111
As always, the criticisms against meat production are all specific to industrial meat production/CAFOs.
I whole heartedly agree that industrial meat production is inhumane, environmentally unsustainable and results in meat that is bad for your health. What these kind of articles fail to realise/mention, however, is that industrial plant based agriculture is also environmentally unsustainable, results in the destruction of entire ecosystems and species, and produces food that is even worse for your health!
Eating locally sourced grass fed meat is the most sustainable, ethical, nutritious (and tasty) way to feed the population.
The hills of Lancashire from where we source our meat require no irrigation, fertilization or the use of pesticides in order to grow grass. While we can’t eat the grass, cows and sheep can, and very kindly turn it into super nutritious tasty meat for us to eat.
Yes it is true that cows and sheep produce green house gasses while digesting the grass, but this is a false argument, as if they didn’t eat the grass, it would eventually die, and then be decomposed by bacteria releasing the same gasses anyway! Of course you could stop this by concreting over all the hills and building meat factories on them…
Next up, an interesting article on the use of “mirror therapy” for the management of arthritis pain:
http://www.guardian.co.uk/science/2011/nov/14/mirror-therapy-reduces-pain-arthritis
The role of the brain in the perception of pain is a very interesting one. I believe that when dealing with any kind of illness or chronic pain, the patient’s beliefs, attitudes and mental state should always be addressed. If a patient has a positive outlook, they are far more likely to recover and have lesser symptoms.
That said, in the case of this particular article, the pain reductions are rather modest to say the least, and this approach is attempting to treat the symptom alone, not the cause.
Following a Paleo/Weston Price/GAPS style diet and getting plenty of vitamin D should be the first port of call for anyone suffering from this terrible disease, with any form of pain management being used as a supplement to speed recovery, not a stand alone treatment.
The evidence for most vaccines is spurious at best, but the HPV jab has got to be one of the most tenuous of all.
The story goes that cervical cancer can be triggered by the the sexually transmitted human pappiloma virus, therefore vaccinating against it should protect against the disease.
Unfortunately, the vaccine only protects against two out of over 100 strains, and there is not even any data for how long this protection lasts.
Surely a better solution would be to naturally boost young people’s immune systems through proper nutrition, whilst simultaneously cutting out the foods that feed cancers (i.e. sugar), coupled with better education of safe sex?
On the subject of safe sex…
This article does a good job of making it clear that correlation does not imply causation. The theory of chemicals being excreted by women taking oral contraceptives making their way into the water system does sound a little tenuous to me, but I suppose stranger things have happened. I do often dread to think what is in the water we are drinking, and always use a water filter (I use Aqua Optima Filter Fridge Jug 12 Month Pack
NHS Cheifs recognise we are facing a “tsunami of need”, but have little clue as to how to deal with it:
http://www.pharmatimes.com/Article/11-11-15/NHS_chiefs_call_for_chronic_disease_revolution.aspx
Some pretty scary figures in there. With so many people sick all the time, how did our species ever survive without the NHS to manage our symptoms?
There is an old adage – Prevention is better than a cure. Unfortunately it seems that no one dealing with this “tsunami of need” has come across it before. All these illnesses are preventable. Surely a more reasoned approach would be to prevent the people from getting sick in the first place, rather than trying to manage their symptoms once it’s too late? But then I suppose we’d have no need for the NHS and these experts would all be out of a job.
Cancer rate fuelled by obesity?
While I agree that excessive alcohol consumption and obesity are not good things, I think that this article rather misses the point when it comes to what is fuelling the cancer rate rise.
Obesity is simply another possible symptom of the toxic elements of the modern diet, vegetable oils and processed sugars in particular. Though an obese individual may be more likely to get cancer, this is because they are more likely to be consuming more vegetable oil and sugar, not because they are carrying around more fat. Those “lucky” indivduals that can “eat anything” without gaining weight are far from lucky in my eyes, as they are equally, if not more at risk from diseases such as cancer, but are perhaps less motivated than those that gain weight easily to change their diet.
Sorry for all the doom and gloom in this week’s news – The good news however, is that all these modern ailments are fully avoidable. It will not come in the form of an injection supplied by the state however, you must take matters into your own hands, eat real food, and move as nature intended.
Have a good, Primal, weekend!
It’s in the pharmaceutical industries best interests to makesure people keep Ill, low and depressed otherwise thousands would be out of a job including me, if you look at the top dogs you don’t see them eating crap food…because they fooking know what’s going on, but could be wrong
I 100% agree with that assessment!
If you follow the money trail back, you’ll find the same fat cats reaping the profits from “big pharma”, “big agra” and the food industry (all or which are fuelled by the petrochemical industry of course), the same fat cats which sit on the board for the FDA in the US!
Keeping people ill and depressed also has the effect of making us docile, just well enough to go and work the 9-5 and collect lots of tax for the government, before spending the rest on crap we don’t need.
This is nothing new of course, since the dawn of agriculture the nobility have feasted on meat, while the serfs have been fed a diet of grains to keep them in place…