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  • "How Smoking in 1956 is Like Eating in 2016"

  • Most deaths in the United States

  • are preventable and related to nutrition.

  • According to the most rigorous analysis

  • of risk factors ever published -

  • The Global Burden of Disease Study, funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation-

  • the #1 cause of death in the United States

  • and the #1 cause of disability in this country

  • is our diet,

  • which has bumped tobacco smoking to #2.

  • Smoking now only kills about a half million Americans every year,

  • whereas our diet now kills hundreds of thousands more.

  • So if most death and disability is preventable and related to nutrition

  • then obviously nutrition is the #1 thing taught in medical school. Right?

  • It's the #1 thing your doctor talks to you about.

  • How could there be such a disconnect

  • between the science and the practice of medicine?

  • Let's do a

  • thought experiment.

  • Imagine yourself a smoker back in the 1950s.

  • See, the average per capita cigarette consumption

  • was about 4000 cigarettes a year.

  • Think about that.

  • In the 1950s the average person walking around

  • smoked a half pack a day.

  • The media was telling you to smoke

  • and famous athletes agreed.

  • Even Santa Claus cared enough

  • about your throat to want you to smoke.

  • I mean, you want to keep fit, and stay slender,

  • so you make sure to smoke

  • and eat lots of hot dogs to keep trim,

  • and lots of sugar to stay slim and trim,

  • a lot less fattening than that apple there...

  • I mean, sheesh.

  • Though apples do connote goodness and freshness,

  • reads one internal tobacco industry memo,

  • which brings up many possibilities

  • for making youth-oriented cigarettes.

  • They want to make apple flavored cigarettes for kids.

  • In addition to staying fit and slender

  • and soothing your throat for digestion's sake

  • you smoke.

  • I mean no curative power is claimed by Phillip Morris

  • but hey, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

  • Better to be safe than sorry and... smoke.

  • Like eating, smoking was a family affair.

  • Gee, Mommy, you sure enjoy your Marlboro!

  • You're darn tootin'.

  • Just one question Mom,

  • "Can you afford not to smoke Marlboro?"

  • In the 1950s your kids were giving you cigarettes.

  • Even your dog was giving you cigarettes.

  • "Blow in her face and she'll follow you anywhere."

  • No woman ever says "No".

  • "They're so round, so firm, so fully packed."

  • After all, John Wayne smoked them...

  • until he got lung cancer and died.

  • Back then even the paleo folks were smoking,

  • and so were the doctors.

  • This is not to say there wasn't controversy

  • within the medical profession.

  • Yes, some doctors smoked Camels,

  • but other physicians preferred Luckies,

  • so there was some disagreement.

  • Eminent doctors on high and impartial medical authority

  • call for Phillip Morris.

  • Even the specialists couldn't agree

  • which cigarette was better for your throat;

  • so best to stick to the science

  • and more scientists smoke this brand.

  • This should not be rocket science

  • but even the rocket scientists had their favorite,

  • for the man who thinks for himself.

  • We know why the AMA may have been

  • sucking up to the tobacco industry,

  • refusing to endorse the Surgeon General's report on smoking

  • after they were handed a $10 million check from the tobacco industry.

  • But why weren't more individual doctors speaking out?

  • There were a few gallant souls ahead of their time

  • writing in as there are today,

  • standing up against industries killing millions.

  • But why not more?

  • Maybe it's because the majority of physicians themselves...

  • smoked cigarettes,

  • just like the majority of physicians today...

  • continue to eat foods that are contributing

  • to our epidemics of dietary disease.

  • What was the AMA's rallying cry back then?

  • Everything in moderation.

  • Extensive scientific studies have proven

  • smoking in moderation... oh that's fine.

  • Sound familiar?

  • Eating the standard American diet today,

  • is like being a smoker back in the 1950s.

  • Most everyone you know eats this way.

  • It's normalit's what they feed people in hospitals...

  • for gosh sake!

  • But you don't have to wait until

  • society catches up with the science, again

  • Sometimes it takes a whole generation

  • for things to change in medicine.

  • The old guard of smoking physicians and medical school professors

  • die off and a new generation takes its place,

  • but how many patients need to die in the interim?

"How Smoking in 1956 is Like Eating in 2016"

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