As consumers demand safer and more natural foods, the market is starting to comply. So why doesn’t Big Medicine do the same? Action Alert!
Consumers, according to the New York Times, have been leaving Big Food in droves, and are increasingly buying organic (not to mention free-range, cage-free, grass-fed, and/or locally sourced) foods. After years of denial, some in the food industry have finally decided to actually listen to consumers:
General Mills will drop all artificial colors and flavors from its cereals. Perdue, Tyson and Foster Farm have begun to limit the use of antibiotics in their chicken. Kraft declared it was dropping artificial dyes from its macaroni and cheese. Hershey’s will begin to move away from ingredients such as the emulsifier polyglycerol polyricinoleate to “simple and easy-to-understand ingredients” like “fresh milk from local farms, roasted California almonds, cocoa beans and sugar”….Brands such as Amy’s Kitchen, with its organic products, and Kind bars are taking some of the space on shelves once consumed by Nestlé’s Lean Cuisine and Mars.
Food manufacturers are acquiring healthier brands (for example, last year General Mills purchased Annie’s Homegrown—famous for its organic mac and cheese—for $820 million, over four times the company’s current revenues, a huge price). They are also introducing a tremendous number of gluten-free products, although these typically are overloaded with sugar.
All of this represents some serious damage control. Soda sales are down by 25%—because people are learning about how unhealthy sodas are, and are drinking more water. Orange juice sales have dropped 45%. It wasn’t long ago that people thought orange juice to be a health food. Now they realize that flooding the system with fructose (fruit sugar) is not a good idea, even if it’s natural fructose. Eating oranges is entirely different because of the pulp, which slows down the intake of the sugar.
In addition, consumers are replacing packaged cereals with yogurt and granola. McDonald’s overall sales figures have been in a huge downward spiral for three years. Sales of raw fruits and vegetables are up 10%, and freshly prepared foods in grocery stores are up by nearly 30%, despite the high cost. Consumers are voting every time they make a purchase at the grocery store—and every vote counts.
So if Big Food is gradually bending to new kinds of consumer demand, why is Big Medicine still resisting any change at all?
When we refer to Big Medicine, we mean the American Medical Association (AMA), the medical professionals affiliated with them, big hospitals, the insurance industry, and medical device manufacturers. But we especially mean Big Pharma, the pharmaceutical industry. This industry earns immense profits, mostly fueled by government granted monopolies (patents and FDA approvals). It uses these profits to control not only Big Medicine but the FDA and other government arms including Congress and the White House.
Big Pharma pays lip service to “preventive medicine,” but this just means persuading doctors to prescribe more drugs and vaccines, especially to children and older people, even though these two groups are rarely included in drug trials.
Why is big medicine so immune to consumer influence? One reason is that since the advent of Medicare in the 1960s, government and insurance companies have paid more and more of the medical bills. Consumers sill pay them, but because the money is channeled through other parties, they lose their influence.
But this is changing for unexpected reasons. The drafters of Obamacare wanted to eliminate Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and other vehicles. After many voices, including ANH-USA’s, opposed this, the idea shifted to eliminating insurance policy deductibles, which would indirectly eliminate HSAs.
As we all know, deductibles did not decline. Instead they’ve recently skyrocketed. This is very hard on the poor and middle class, but ironically, has shifted more power to consumers.
Given that the consumer vote does matter, we have the following request: for the next three months, we’re asking you to make major changes in both your food and medical purchases. As much as you are able, make a concerted effort to choose only “real” foods, meals you have to actually cook yourself, containing the freshest, organic, sustainable ingredients you can find. No sodas, not even diet sodas (see our article on artificial sweeteners in this issue of Pulse). No fast food. Nothing overly processed.
Most of our readers will already be here, but try to take it to the next level.
In addition, talk to your physician or healthcare professional about finding healthier alternatives to prescription drugs. If they respond with a blank stare or rabid opposition, look for an integrative physician with assistance from our website. Let’s see how big a change we can really make in the food and medical industry!
In addition, two congressional representatives, Donald M. Payne, Jr. (D-NJ) and Markwayne Mullin (R-OK), co-chairs of the Congressional Men’s Health Caucus, understand the government’s intransigence and refusal to do more than pay lip service to health and wellness and decided to do something about it. They recently introduced a House resolution expressing support for health and wellness coaches.
This may seem like tokenism, but the AMA will not like it. They regard health coaches as competition for their doctors. Let’s be sure that Congress knows someone other than the AMA is watching.
National Health and Wellness Coach Recognition Week will also be celebrated January 11-17, 2016.
Action Alert! Write to your representative and senators and ask them to support H. RES. 552 in support of health and wellness coaches and National Health and Wellness Coach Recognition Week. Please send your message today.
Other articles in this week’s Pulse of Natural Health:
Small and Organic Farmers Survive Latest Round of FDA Food Rulemaking
Artificial Sweeteners Contribute to Diabetes
Salute to Alliance for Natural Health for providing this thought police free DISCUSS Zone.(not all DISCUSS formats are) .
Please help me out on this one folks, this Coaches thing is brand new to me, sounds good, but what are he problems they face , why do we need a House Resolution?
By the way they say Orange Juice is down, I used to drink a lot of it, I love it, but slowed way down and stopped for a while. I had a recurring suspicious dry spot on my forehead the made me think of skin cancer, one day I thought , well oj is very acidic right? So stopped and the cyclically dry spot went away….is that a coincidence? I’m back to just a tiny serving oj and using fruit juice (crangrape) for Vitamin C and general benefit. We all know they pyramid charts introduced in the 50’s paid for by the Dairy Council and Beef industry…..”If you’re not getting enough milk double up on cheese and red meat….lol was the Orange Juice industry using the same meme ?
Can I offer you a suggestion? There is a site called my e clinic dot com (not sure if putting the link will result in the post being filtered). On that site, go to the search bar on the upper right. In there, put vitamin C. There you will see an article on how to make your own vitamin C. It is some work, but is a “carb-less” way of taking it in large quantities.
Thanks, Dennisito , I’m not likely to take the time to make my own vit c but this is a fantastic opportunity for others that might be inclined to put forth the effort.
Thanks much for the suggestion.
Please join me in boycotting all forums and other Discuss platforms that use moderation, moderation is directly against support of the 2nd amendment, the only useful purpose of moderated sites is to control the narrative. I welcome people to come here and talk crap about the ‘Alliance’ because you and I will easily destroy them , not a problem.
I am returning home late in life to Michigan after living out of the States for a few years, I have already tracked down a fantastic team of Alternative doctors where i will be living. I looked them up online and called to ask how long it would take to get an appointment. I was very rudely informed by his staff none of the team are taking new clients now to call back in February. Now get this part. They do not take insurances of any kind it is cash for each visit The first visit would cosr roughly $500.00 any more visits cost about $200,00 cash on the line plus they have their own online Supplements youmust purchase from them only because they formulate all their own products These are all former MD’s trained in both Traditional Medicine and then further training in alternative health care, The staff person i spoke with actually hung up on me! I then started looking for other alternative doctors there online No one else does exactly what these doctors do my guess is to see both a MD and a Naturopath but i looked for reviews from the patients and i was stunned at how many complained of the rude and nasty staffs these doctors all seem to have now…One was very revealing They said The doctor was OK but you could sit waiting for your appointment and listen to the nasty staff complain in about the patients as they got up to see the doctor…I have decided not to call the doctors i really wanted because it is obvious they are just in this to fleece the people and only the wealthy can pay these absorbantly high office visit fees which goes against my core beliefs..that everyone is entitled to the best health care out there and these Alternative care doctors are just in this for the amount of cash they can get from only the wealthest people. I can afford to pay them but the combination of the nasty staff who did not even want to speak with me or the doctors who refuse to accept insurances? Bad combo from the start I will see a nice MD then use a Naturopath on the side plus Acupuncture and other altrnative therapies like Reiki but refuse to go to the one best qualified This is not what medicine is supposed to be about just for the very wealthy.
Well, I take no medicines whatsoever, although I suppose eating dark leafy greens when I don’t feel well digestively (from stupidly eating processed food) might count. Especially dandelions. But I’d rather drink an herbal tea than take pharmaceuticals if I do feel like I need something. A funny story: last week I was feeling really anxious and jittery for some reason (I still don’t know why) and was pacing around the house. I paused and focused on what my body wanted at that moment. I suddenly decided I was really craving some Swiss chard from the garden outside, so I cut off two big leaves and ate them raw. After calming down significantly, I remembered that Swiss chard is an excellent source of magnesium, which has a calming effect. I don’t know if it can work that fast, but I find that if I pay attention to my food cravings, I’m led to the vitamins/minerals/other nutrients I need.
Speaking of the article though, I’ve noticed “alternative” medicine being available in more and more stores around where I live. It used to just be Whole Foods that carried (medicinal) herbal teas, but now almost every grocery store sells them in the tea aisle. And I’ve spotted homeopathic remedies in a few stores. In one store I’ve even seen Bach flower remedies (only four of them, but still). If people who shop at conventional grocery stores are buying these products (and they must be, if they’re being sold), then times sure are changing. Organic aisles have also increased dramatically wherever I look.
In spite of my skepticism newsletters like this are reporting more and more stories indicating how these efforts are beginning to make a noticeable difference. If you live long enough anything can happen! It’s Murphy;s Law !!
Orange Juice isn’t bad. You just need to avoid processed juices that are from concentrate and have chemicals added to them like artificial sweeteners, colors, flavors, and preservatives as well as MSG. The juices should also be certified organic to ensure they are non-GMO and free from pesticides. The sugar in fruit isn’t harmful because its bound to other nutrients like vitamins, minerals, bioflavonoids and polyphenols as well as fiber which slows down the absorption of sugar so it doesn’t cause blood sugar spikes.
…unfortunately as I am on a public health plan I do not have a choice of physicians.