Flattening the Curve with Diet
By Martha C. Cottrell, M.D.
I am a healthy 92-year-old woman, a physician who discovered the role our diet plays in promoting health or disease! I was never taught this in medical school. Also, I was never taught to look for the cause, but rather treat symptoms! Now, here we are caught up in the “threat” of coronavirus once again, looking for a “treatment” rather than addressing the fact, as reported in the NY Times that 88% of Americans are sick and on some kind of medication!
In all the information that has come to the public, this fact has not been presented! These people are very vulnerable to viruses, any virus, and are the most apt to die. Just look around and be amazed, shocked at the number of people, including children and young people, that are obese! Look at what people are loading up their grocery carts with and you will see the cause of their poor health and vulnerability. Lots of meat and dairy.
Soft drinks. “Junk” food!” And what does this have to do with their vulnerability? To illness in general! The Immune System, Stupid!” Let me share with you a simple lesson in understanding the immune system.
When we eat the meat of mammals, drink their milk, and eat milk products, our immune system recognizes this as a “foreign body” and builds an antibody against it. As this circulates through the body, it attacks our own body, becoming confused, because we too are mammals, but “different.” The Chinese taught thousands of years ago, “Eat as far from your own species as possible.” So wise…and as we are developing increasing knowledge of the immune system, we are amazed at their knowledge so long ago.
When I discovered this over forty years ago, I had many medical problems and was on a number of prescription drugs. I changed my diet, got off of meat and dairy and began to practice a plant-based diet with occasional fish, nuts, lots of veggies, organic whole grains, sea veggies, and miso soup. I used acupuncture for my arthritis. I had severe rheumatoid arthritis and arthritic psoriasis! Also, asthma, sinusitis, and gall bladder problems. Within 6-8 weeks all the symptoms went away! I was amazed!
I changed my practice from treating symptoms to searching a more comprehensive approach such as diet, work, family—stress of lifestyle. I saw remarkable results! Reversal of certain illnesses, including cancer, heart disease, arthritis, etc. I have been teaching this approach for almost 50 years and here I am 92 years old—on no medications, healthy of mind, body, and spirit, and still enthusiastically sharing to all who want to change their diets and lifestyle and promote their health, developing a strong immune system and living free of “symptomology”—changing the “cause.” ¨
Martha C. Cottrell, M.D. served as medical director of the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York. She is co-author of AIDS, Macrobiotics, and Natural Immunity with Michio Kushi.
