Chiropractic Healthiness

Question:

Humans don’t need to eat animal products in order to survive — there are plenty of vegans in the world as living testimony. There aren’t any enzymes or amino acids that we can’t get from other sources. Many medical professionals are not well trained in nutrition, and so have as many "myths" in their heads about diet as the general population.   It’s important to realize when dealing with medical professionals that they each have their own limitations — they are really consultants, each with their own strengths and weaknesses. Your chiropractor may be excellent within some areas, but anyone who tells you that you must eat fish or meat once a month in order to get some essential "enzyme" is not very knowledgeable about human nutrition. This might be what was taught in classes when he or     she was in school or the myth might have been picked up from other sources.     A lot of incorrect information gets taught! Take a look at the Merck Manual     editions (a handbook for physicians) that are a decade or two apart,  and you will find plenty of examples   of completely contradictory advice about what to do in various conditions….   Medical professionals, like all other professionals (myself included, I’m       a chemist and physicist), just do the best they can with what they know, and   what we think we "know" about the world is not always correct at any given     time. The knowledge base keeps being adjusted, but even so it takes a long     time for any "corrections" to filter out to the people who were taught         (or mistaught…) under previous theories….                                       I haven’t had any direct experience with chiropractors, but the best M.D.’s I’ve known are always open to new possibilities rather than caged into their med school textbooks’ ideas. The good ones realize that they are consultants with limited knowledge, not all-knowing gods. For some reason (judging from my difficulties trying to teach physics to pre-meds….), the US medical profession for a long time has had a tendency to attract "absolutists" who are not  budged by facts or reasoning contradicting their already-formed ideas. I would say that about 90% of the pre-med students I’ve encountered as a teacher fall within that group, and the number of M.D.’s I’ve known seem to display a similar percentage of "absolutists". So we need to be aware of this problem when evaluating the advice we receive from them, and consult more widely in their weak areas.

Response:

One other thought — since the original poster mentioned a dairy allergy, it is possible that switching to a vegan diet simply upped the intake of some other allergenic food. So it might be wise to try some allergy testing. Food allergies can cause all sorts of mysterious symptoms. A good book for self-testing is Dr. Mandell’s Five-Day Allergy-Relief Program or System or something like that — it’s a paperback, by Marshall Mandell, M.D. and someone else who probably thought up the cute title…. It’s carefully written with many case histories and exact instructions for how to test at home (and when to test only under medical supervision) and how to manage any allergies discovered. Varying the diet (not eating the same foods each day) helps many allergics.

Response:

I am looking for support in eating a vegan diet. My chiropractor tells me that there is an enzyme? or something in animal products that I can only get there and I need to eat fish or meat at least once a month. I am deathly allergic to dairy – so that’s not an option – has anyone any research on this? Also, several months after switching to vegan, I started having hypoglycemic symptoms – any expereince on this one?

Response:

I saw that you had written this: > I am looking for support in eating a vegan diet. My chiropractor tells me > that there is an enzyme? or something in animal products that I can only > get there and I need to eat fish or meat at least once a month. I am > deathly allergic to dairy – so that’s not an option – has anyone any > research on this? > Also, several months after switching to vegan, I started having > hypoglycemic symptoms – any expereince on this one?

Let me recommend a book that I thought was very good.  You should be able to find it at any good-sized book store:    Author: Neal Barnard, M.D.     Title: Food for Life: How the New Four Food Groups            Can Save Your Life Publisher: New York, Crown, 1993    Format: Soft Cover, 334 pages      ISBN: 0-517-88201-9 This book addresses all of the things you asked about in your post. Regards, –gordon

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