Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Doctor of the Future (part 1)

Today's post comes courtesy of one of America's all-time greats - Thomas Edison (1847-1931).

Edison is reported as saying:
"Nineteen hundred and three will bring great advances in surgery, in the study of bacteria, in the knowledge of the cause and prevention of disease. Medicine is played out. Every new discovery of bacteria shows us all the more convincingly that we have been wrong and that the million tons of stuff we have taken was all useless. 
"The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease...There were never so many able, active minds at work on the problems of diseases as now, and all their discoveries are tending to the simple truth — that you can't improve on nature." (emphasis added)
We'd have been wise to follow his advice in 1903.  What amazing foresight he had more than 100 years ago!  Amazingly, this is BEFORE antibiotics ever became available (did he know how devastating they would be?).

What profound knowledge to see ahead to a day when doctors would ultimately get back to doctoring (the word doctor comes from latin docere which means to teach).  According to this statement, Edison's formula for getting people well is:

1-No medicine
2-Care for the human frame
3-Discuss what foods humans require to be well
4-Prevention OVER treatment

I would add to Thomas Edison's sentiment the following:  Medicine is good for traumas, accidents, very rare genetic illnesses, and helping people feel better (numbing them) before they die.  For the many Americans who've had their lives saved by medicine or been at peace before they die, we all ought to be extremely grateful, however, we must maintain an understanding that once the life is saved, the ONLY way to get well is to promote an environment conducive to health by Eating Well, Moving Well, and Thinking Well.

Daily, when I review the scientific literature, I am amazed at how far we've gone from the core tenets of natural health here in America.  Americans act as if there needs to be a pill for every ill.

I envision a day when Americans are so healthy that we will look back and wonder why we ever took so many drugs.

Next Thursday - Thomas Edison's genius Reconnects you to something new that's actually very old - Dr. Steve

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