By Cainon Leeds
Editor-in-Chief
Everybody gets sick. Students get sick. Teachers get sick. I got sick a couple of weeks ago. And even DMACC student and cross country runner Anna-Kate Bruns gets sick now and then, like last week when she caught a flu virus herself.
We all deal with sickness differently. Some stock up on NyQuill, Mucinex, and cough drops, others brew concoctions of hot sauce, vinegar, ginger root, garlic, and other homemade remedies, and still others turn to rest or exercise and fresh air.
I discovered where Bruns stood first.
“I don’t really believe in medicine,” she said. She viewed clinical medicines with skepticism, but wasn’t able to explain exactly why she was skeptical.
“I don’t think a pill is going to fix all your problems,” she continued.
She spoke about how she eats healthy, whole foods like pumpernickel bread, carrots, organic cheese, grapes, yogurt, and green tea to fight off diseases. She also recommended exercise, drinking large amounts of liquids, and getting as much vitamin C as possible.
Although Michael Pollan doesn’t directly address medicine or sickness in his book “In Defense of Food,” I felt compelled to cover the issue of what to do when we get sick from what a few professional studies, a little common sense, and a DMACC athlete had to say. I think Pollan would agree that the medical industry has turned from natural fruits, vegetables, and herbs to cure diseases and has instead indulged in drugs and vitamin supplements that look nothing like their original counterparts. Like food, medicine and vitamin supplements have been “nutritionalized” into the sum of their individual parts.
When a commercial for a cold or flu medicine says things like, “Consult a doctor before using,” or includes several lines of small printed white text at the bottom of the screen, I question how safe or healthy it is.
Editor-in-Chief
Everybody gets sick. Students get sick. Teachers get sick. I got sick a couple of weeks ago. And even DMACC student and cross country runner Anna-Kate Bruns gets sick now and then, like last week when she caught a flu virus herself.
We all deal with sickness differently. Some stock up on NyQuill, Mucinex, and cough drops, others brew concoctions of hot sauce, vinegar, ginger root, garlic, and other homemade remedies, and still others turn to rest or exercise and fresh air.
I discovered where Bruns stood first.
“I don’t really believe in medicine,” she said. She viewed clinical medicines with skepticism, but wasn’t able to explain exactly why she was skeptical.
“I don’t think a pill is going to fix all your problems,” she continued.
She spoke about how she eats healthy, whole foods like pumpernickel bread, carrots, organic cheese, grapes, yogurt, and green tea to fight off diseases. She also recommended exercise, drinking large amounts of liquids, and getting as much vitamin C as possible.
Although Michael Pollan doesn’t directly address medicine or sickness in his book “In Defense of Food,” I felt compelled to cover the issue of what to do when we get sick from what a few professional studies, a little common sense, and a DMACC athlete had to say. I think Pollan would agree that the medical industry has turned from natural fruits, vegetables, and herbs to cure diseases and has instead indulged in drugs and vitamin supplements that look nothing like their original counterparts. Like food, medicine and vitamin supplements have been “nutritionalized” into the sum of their individual parts.
When a commercial for a cold or flu medicine says things like, “Consult a doctor before using,” or includes several lines of small printed white text at the bottom of the screen, I question how safe or healthy it is.
Prescription drugs are simply drugs that happened to be prescribed by a doctor. Some drugs, like acetaminophen, are used to relieve pain. Common drugs used to alleviate allergies, like antihistamine, target symptoms like runny noses and watery eyes and works to prevent those symptoms from plaguing the individual.
So, in essence, prescription drugs often help ease the symptoms, but do little to aid the immune system in fighting the virus itself. Not to mention that some medications include unwanted side effects.
So what can we do to help our immune systems combat the actual virus? If doctor-prescribed pills don’t aid the immune system, then are folk remedies and physical fitness in general the answer to our medical problems?
Bruns offered her own thoughts on the matter.
She said that eating whole foods like fruits and vegetables, especially those high in vitamin C like citrus fruits, were important to the healing of the body. She said that she takes vitamin supplements, but that getting the vitamins from their original sources, like fruits, vegetables, and herbs, would probably have better results.
Although there are some things individuals can do to quicken vitamin supplement absorption, will vitamins ever match up to the real thing? According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over half of Americans use dietary supplements and 39 percent of Americans use multivitamins.
Have supplements replaced fruits and vegetables? Not according to Roberta Anding, an American Dietetic Association spokesperson.
“Depending on the supplement, the money on supplements can be better off spent on food,” Anding was quoted as saying in an article published on the CNN web site. She seems to share Pollan’s view from chapter three, part three of “In Defense of Food” that you should “be the kind of person who takes supplements,” but not that taking them will necessarily make you healthier.
Bruns seemed knowledgeable about the health differences between drugs, supplements, and whole foods, and yet she still suffered from nausea and the flu. She was helping her immune system combat the virus, but now what was there to do about the symptoms? Should we use over-the-counter drugs with their unwanted side effects or look further?
I remembered a time when my little brother and sister struggled with car sickness. My parents searched for an answer and, for a while, nothing seemed to do any good. But then they tried ginger root, a renowned folk remedy, and it worked better than a charm. My family packs ginger cookies with us whenever we go on long trips. It worked for us, but does it work for others?
A study from the American Society of Clinical Oncology found that ginger root significantly reduced nausea in chemotherapy patients, 70 percent of whom are known to have troubles with nausea after treatment.
“All of these home remedies that involved ginger for nausea probably were the right thing to do,” said Douglas Blayney, president-elect of the cancer organization and a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Michigan. The study also found that the most effective dosage of ginger root was about half a teaspoon.
I also gave a couple of ginger cookies to Bruns and I will include the recipe for them alongside this column. I have yet to see if they helped her, but if any students decide to take advantage of the recipe, any feedback would be appreciated.
Some simple guidelines would be to eat “real” foods for vitamins and minerals and take another look at some old folk remedies.
Editor’s Note: These columns are part of an ongoing honors project for English Composition II. The focus of the projects is to examine the food choices made by others and make suggestions for improvements based on the findings of author Michael Pollan and supplemental materials. The first installment of the series appeared in the Oct. 10 edition of Banner News.
Recipe for Gingerpuff Cookies from Paulasbread.com
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 stick of melted butter
2/3 cup honey or agave
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg or flax seed meal as an egg substitute {1 Tbsp flax seed meal and 3 Tbsp warm water}
Instructions:
Mix flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a large bowl. In your mixing bowl whisk butter, honey or agave, molasses, and egg or flax seed meal. Combine flour mixture and butter mixture, mixing till creamy. Cover and chill for at least one hour.
Spoon by tablespoon-sized balls on lightly greased cookie sheet about 2”-3” apart.
Bake at 325 degrees for 12 minutes. Let cool 2-3 minutes and move to cooling racks.
So, in essence, prescription drugs often help ease the symptoms, but do little to aid the immune system in fighting the virus itself. Not to mention that some medications include unwanted side effects.
So what can we do to help our immune systems combat the actual virus? If doctor-prescribed pills don’t aid the immune system, then are folk remedies and physical fitness in general the answer to our medical problems?
Bruns offered her own thoughts on the matter.
She said that eating whole foods like fruits and vegetables, especially those high in vitamin C like citrus fruits, were important to the healing of the body. She said that she takes vitamin supplements, but that getting the vitamins from their original sources, like fruits, vegetables, and herbs, would probably have better results.
Although there are some things individuals can do to quicken vitamin supplement absorption, will vitamins ever match up to the real thing? According to a study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, over half of Americans use dietary supplements and 39 percent of Americans use multivitamins.
Have supplements replaced fruits and vegetables? Not according to Roberta Anding, an American Dietetic Association spokesperson.
“Depending on the supplement, the money on supplements can be better off spent on food,” Anding was quoted as saying in an article published on the CNN web site. She seems to share Pollan’s view from chapter three, part three of “In Defense of Food” that you should “be the kind of person who takes supplements,” but not that taking them will necessarily make you healthier.
Bruns seemed knowledgeable about the health differences between drugs, supplements, and whole foods, and yet she still suffered from nausea and the flu. She was helping her immune system combat the virus, but now what was there to do about the symptoms? Should we use over-the-counter drugs with their unwanted side effects or look further?
I remembered a time when my little brother and sister struggled with car sickness. My parents searched for an answer and, for a while, nothing seemed to do any good. But then they tried ginger root, a renowned folk remedy, and it worked better than a charm. My family packs ginger cookies with us whenever we go on long trips. It worked for us, but does it work for others?
A study from the American Society of Clinical Oncology found that ginger root significantly reduced nausea in chemotherapy patients, 70 percent of whom are known to have troubles with nausea after treatment.
“All of these home remedies that involved ginger for nausea probably were the right thing to do,” said Douglas Blayney, president-elect of the cancer organization and a clinical professor of medicine at the University of Michigan. The study also found that the most effective dosage of ginger root was about half a teaspoon.
I also gave a couple of ginger cookies to Bruns and I will include the recipe for them alongside this column. I have yet to see if they helped her, but if any students decide to take advantage of the recipe, any feedback would be appreciated.
Some simple guidelines would be to eat “real” foods for vitamins and minerals and take another look at some old folk remedies.
Editor’s Note: These columns are part of an ongoing honors project for English Composition II. The focus of the projects is to examine the food choices made by others and make suggestions for improvements based on the findings of author Michael Pollan and supplemental materials. The first installment of the series appeared in the Oct. 10 edition of Banner News.
Recipe for Gingerpuff Cookies from Paulasbread.com
Ingredients:
2 1/4 cups whole wheat pastry flour
1 tsp baking soda
2 1/2 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1 1/2 stick of melted butter
2/3 cup honey or agave
1/4 cup molasses
1 large egg or flax seed meal as an egg substitute {1 Tbsp flax seed meal and 3 Tbsp warm water}
Instructions:
Mix flour, baking soda, ginger, cinnamon, and cloves in a large bowl. In your mixing bowl whisk butter, honey or agave, molasses, and egg or flax seed meal. Combine flour mixture and butter mixture, mixing till creamy. Cover and chill for at least one hour.
Spoon by tablespoon-sized balls on lightly greased cookie sheet about 2”-3” apart.
Bake at 325 degrees for 12 minutes. Let cool 2-3 minutes and move to cooling racks.