AUTOIMMUNE DISEASES 201evidence that MS is due to poor diet or dietary deficiencies." They warn
that dietary regimens can be "expensive" and "can alter the normal
nutritional balance."7l If changing your diet is expensive, I don't know
what they would say about being bedridden and incapacitated. As far as
altering the "normal nutritional balance" is concerned, what is normal?
Does this mean the diet that we now eat is "normal"-the diet that is
largely responsible for diseases that cripple, kill and make profoundly
miserable millions of Americans every year? Are massive rates of heart
disease, cancer, autoimmune diseases, obesity and diabetes "normal"? If
this is normal, I propose we start seriously considering the abnormal.
There are 400,000 Americans who are victims of multiple sclerosis,
and millions more with other autoimmune diseases. While statistics,
research results and clinical descriptions form the basis for much of my
discussion of diet and disease, the importance of the information comes
down to the intimate experience of individual people. Anyone of these
serious diseases I've talked about in this chapter can forever alter the
life of any person-a family member, a friend, a neighbor, a coworker
or you yourself.
It is time to sacrifice our sacred cows. Reason must prevail. Profes-
sional societies, doctors and government agencies need to stand up and
do their duty, so that children being born today do not face tragedies
that otherwise could be prevented.