(NaturalNews) Beware of snake oil salesmen, particularly in pharmaceutical ads, or physicians doling out expensive drugs. Most of the time, drugs are not the answer, especially for kids. Unfortunately, healthcare is driven mostly by profit, and currently out of whack. In fact, it should be called disease maintenance rather than healthcare. It lies in waiting until people screw themselves up, and then cashes in. Providing no path back to health, it offers drugs and surgery to maintain sickness. Like a parasite, it feeds on people as long as possible. A lack of integrity in medicine has brought humans to the brink of disaster.

Of course there's a better way, but it requires a little discipline; well, maybe a lot of discipline. That's why people take the low road and accept drugs. It's too painful to give up bad habits and comfort foods. It's too upsetting to make kids eat right. Plus, people are led to believe in lies (such as, vitamins do not work). Mass media caters to companies with big bucks (read: Big Pharma), and disregards thousands of studies that support nutritional benefits. They control the airways and are sending the wrong message.

Nevertheless, changing the culture on health starts at home. People need to start doing the right thing, and fairly quickly before the walls crumble. Humans are at the precipice, and being forced to make changes. Most people don't consider such changes until their body parts give out. Improving one's diet and exercise program often comes after the first heart attack. Taking bone-building supplements doesn't usually begin until bones and joints need replacing. It may be too late by then. And, now the culture is falling apart due largely to a lack of integrity in medicine. It`s time to change course.

It's not a matter of giving everyone quality healthcare under the status quo. Indeed, health care of the future cannot afford to provide new body parts once the original ones are destroyed. National health insurance will not be affordable if we continue on the same path. Mopping up after a lack of integrity does not work. Instead the public needs education on matters of health. Physicians also need to be educated on nutrition, and other healthcare practitioners (i.e., nutritionists, naturopaths, chiropractors) need to participate. Insurance companies need to cover dietary supplements and new diagnostic procedures that more clearly measure the state of health. Drug advertising needs to be banned as well, and cheaper, generic drugs should be substituted when necessary. There are many more players in this collusion of sickness, and they all need to be addressed.

Though it is preferable to educate people, rather than to make certain "foods" illegal, it is clear that addictions are difficult to purge. That's why banning certain poisons in the food supply—trans fats, refined sugars, food colorings, preservatives, antibiotics, pesticides—is a necessity. Junk food needs to be removed from schools and supermarkets, and especially from the pantry. Soda loaded with refined sugars and acids (i.e., colas), which eat away at bones, should also be banned. The government needs to end subsidies to the corn, soy and sugar industries. Nutrition in schools and hospitals needs improvement, with an emphasis on healing, alkaline foods (non-starchy veggies and fruits). At the very least, comprehensive nutritional supplementation should be provided during pregnancy and early childhood to make for happy, healthy and intelligent kids. Promoting organic agriculture would also help provide toxin-free and nutritious food. Eating foods that eat people makes for bad medicine.

Essentially, prevention needs to be placed above treatment. Prevention comprises far more than vaccines and flu shots. It is primarily about lifestyle changes, like exercise, mental/spiritual support, eating nutritious foods, and taking high quality supplements (not cheap vitamins from drugstores). Underlying problems need attention, rather than resorting to drugs and surgery. Perhaps the current medical paradigm should be streamlined to respond primarily to accidents and emergencies, leaving lifestyle problems in the domain of nutrition and health experts. Perhaps the elderly should be allowed to die with dignity. Emphasis on prevention is estimated to reduce healthcare costs by up to 90%, which would make universal healthcare very affordable. It would also make for a healthier, happier, more productive culture, despite restrictions on comfort foods.

Currently the medical establishment defines quality in nutrition and nutritional research, yet there is too much self-interest involved. No wonder why vitamins/minerals fail to treat or prevent disease in clinical trials. Supplements also fail in these trials because they often do not work alone, or they are not from nature. There are literally thousands of nutrients in food that are important or essential for health. Vitamin and mineral supplements are concentrated food, so they can be quite useful when given as part of a comprehensive health program. It doesn't help much to employ a drug research model to study nutrients. Rather, high-quality nutrients need to be studied together, and unbiased nutrition experts should decide on their usefulness. To be sure, there are many high-quality dietary supplements and alkaline foods (i.e., veggies) that can nurse people back to health. The earlier they are started, the more quality and longevity is added to people`s lives.

Though there is much quality among dietary supplements, slime lurks in this corner as well. Nutrition companies are often their own worst enemies. They fight amongst themselves for market share. They make false claims, and fool with substances that may be better classified as drugs (e.g., ephedra, DHEA). As a result, regulations on supplements are getting much tighter. Worst of all, drug companies sell cheap or synthetic ingredients that don't work, and manufacture vitamins on the cheap in China. Under the current medical model, the bottom line is all that matters. Yet, lack of quality and integrity always comes back to defeat itself. Just witness the state of medicine today, and all those burned out physicians.

It is also easy to burn out as a nutritionist (This may be by design, if you believe in the conspiracy theory). For many, there is less and less joy in it. Though it feels great to help people, it is just as easy to estrange others. Some see nutritionists as part of the food police, and resent interference with their creature comforts. Plus, a nutritionist is held to a standard that is hard to live up to. To make matters worse, the FDA is making it twice as hard to be vocal about real health. A number of new regulations have served to make it harder for vitamin companies to thrive, and to silence education on nutritional prevention and treatment. Fighting the system gets tiresome. The most important priority now is to get Daschle and Obama to revamp the current system of health. The new regime talks about prevention, but have not yet defined what they mean. However, they are reaching out to the American people to help define the new health paradigm. So, be sure to participate (www.change.gov).

No matter what profession, preachers are often the biggest sinners. Obsession with health, like any other obsession, has a dark side. The current author, having been trained as an expert in bacterial biofilms (aka, slime), can detect slime in all its manifestations. Slime is part of the decay process, in disease, in business, and in love. It`s what fills the spaces when integrity falters. The current healthcare crisis—and current world meltdown—is all about slime (or lack of integrity). Human sins (hatred, ignorance, greed) feed the slippery beast. Slime grows with every shortcut taken. It is part of the human shadow.

With all the obstacles ahead, a little divine intervention is needed. Perhaps a prayer to the anti-slime gods may give this message wings.

About the author

Dr. Phil Domenico is a nutritional scientist and educator with a research background in biochemistry and microbiology. Formerly an infectious disease scientist, he now works as a consultant for supplement companies and the food industry.