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DIET and DISEASE - best quote ever

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Grazer

Grazer

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Most people will have heard the saying "give a man a fish and you feed him for a day; teach him to fish and you feed him for a lifetime"
This quote came from MAIMONIDES, AKA Mosheh ben Maimon, AKA Moses Maimonides. Born in Spain in 1135, he was one of the pre-emiinent scholars and physicians of the middle ages.
The NHS currently seem to like us to take the medicine and eat the carbs, frowning at our self-control through diet. But they should note Maimonides best-ever quote to my mind:-
"No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated by any other means"
How fitting for a type 2 diabetic, and this he said about 830 years ago!
 
This is so perfect that I'm considering adding it as a signature (even though I hate forum signatures).

It fits in very well with this part of the Hippocratic Oath:
"I will apply, for the benefit of the sick, all measures [that] are required, avoiding those twin traps of overtreatment and therapeutic nihilism."
 
A good one but I still like:

''Let Food Be Your Medicine and Medicine Be Your Food''......fitting to all diabetics and non-diabetics :)
 
(A pedant writes...) You might also like Maimonides' comment on the famous passage in Aristotle's 'De sensu et sensato' where Aristotle observes 'Most people die as a result of medical treatment':
'I think that Aristotle should be trusted in this assessment'.
And Maimonides was a physician! Mind you, he admired Galen, so you wouldn't have wanted him treating you...
 
"No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated by any other means"

'Ain't it the truth? Ain't it the truth?' - Cowardly Lion, Wizard of Oz

Ju
 
''Don't dig your grave with your own knife & fork''

English Proverb
 
Noblehead I like that quote, as I do the others, would love to see some of them in prominent public places like the escalators in the tube stations, or on the side of double decker buses! 8) :thumbup:
 
But what if he's wrong?

Also, what you are doing is technically called an appeal to authority, which is a logical fallacy.
 
desidiabulum said:
(A pedant writes...) You might also like Maimonides' comment on the famous passage in Aristotle's 'De sensu et sensato' where Aristotle observes 'Most people die as a result of medical treatment':
'I think that Aristotle should be trusted in this assessment'.
And Maimonides was a physician! Mind you, he admired Galen, so you wouldn't have wanted him treating you...
Click to expand...

"Abandon Hope all ye who enter here" would be my favourite for the entrance to my Practice DSN's room.

The above quotes from Aristotle and malmonides should be pinned up in every consulting room, lest they forget.

Love the others too but can't see permission being given o post them up anywhere. Imagine the reacion! :lol:
 
Steady all

Let's not get carried away in this thread. With regard to the first quote, there was not any diabetes treatment at that time other than diet - oh and possibly blood letting!


While a lot of what has been said might be fine for those who gain sufficient control by diet alone there are many that need help by way of metformin or more (like some posters in this thread). Control is the important thing in our diabetes management.

Regards

Doug
 
Grazer said:
Maimonides best-ever quote to my mind:-
"No disease that can be treated by diet should be treated by any other means"
How fitting for a type 2 diabetic, and this he said about 830 years ago!
Click to expand...

Of course you have to bear in mind that 830 years ago the only other alternative was probably bleeding of some description either via leeches which were used to treat pretty much everything or more serious blood letting techniques, although I'm guessing here as 800 is a long time ago so even blood letting may not have been thought up, so while it would have been true then it is not as relevant to today with modern medicines and surgical solutions.
 
HI,

Your quotes are so good to read.

Business as usual.

One-quarter of what you eat keeps you alive. The other three-quarters keeps your doctor alive.
Click to expand...

Roy. :)
 
I don't agree, it's completely relevant.

If you can treat something using diet alone, why expose patients to the unecessary risks and complications of medicines and surgical procedures?

The only two reasons for doing that are "convenience" or becasue the medical approach might somehow be more effective. In the second case you could easily argue that "the disease cannot be effectively treated by diet" and the statement still stands.
 
There is no problem with what you say Borifergie but if you look at the progression of this thread it has degenerated into quotes that are apparently indicate that the only form of medicine is food. That goes too far as even some of the posters in this thread are on medicine other than food. It is also a sad fact of life for some but we do need to reflect on the effect on others of our postings.

Regards

Doug
 
I agree with your point Osidge and as moderator you are right to bring our attention as to how others on the forum may feel. However, from a personal viewpoint, it is probably the NICE guidelines that have got me here today, I was a good follower of their healthy diet; pasta, rice, grains and pulses were my best friends, especially as I am a vegetarian. My mother was a type 2 so I was careful with my sugar intake using fresh fruit and veg, exceeding my five a day. I didnt realise then that carbs contained sugars! I took moderate exercise along with caring for my elderly aunt and tending my half acre of garden. My doctor, who also was very active in the care of my aunt, suspects it was the stress of my Aunt's condition that may have played a large part in the type 2 onset.
The point I am trying to make is that I am a great believer in education and good quotes or strap lines make people want to read on and as people who have type 2 we would like to see that our experience could maybe help stop people developing this problem and as it seems, if recent headlines are to be believed , this is a problem, then people deserve the opportunity to be educated and make their own informed decisions.
I hope I have worded this post so that it does not cause any offence or hurt to anyone, that is the last thing I would want but I just wanted to say how I feel.
 
Osidge said:
There is no problem with what you say Borifergie but if you look at the progression of this thread it has degenerated into quotes that are apparently indicate that the only form of medicine is food.
Click to expand...

Really? That's one interpretation maybe. An alternate interpretation is that the quotes are just light hearted statements made by people wanting to enjoy a bit of happy banter - just in my opinion of course.

I take Metformin but still count myself as diet only and think the ethos behind the OP's opening quote is a fine ideal. The only issue is if someone or some third party pushes that ideal when it's either inapplicable (the person does need real drugs) or the application of the ideal is flawed (you will be fine as a diet only T2 on diet only so long as you eat 50% carbs)
 
Osidge said:
There is no problem with what you say Borifergie but if you look at the progression of this thread it has degenerated into quotes that are apparently indicate that the only form of medicine is food. That goes too far as even some of the posters in this thread are on medicine other than food. It is also a sad fact of life for some but we do need to reflect on the effect on others of our postings.

Regards

Doug
Click to expand...

Have to disagree with this totally I'm afraid. The whole point of the quote, and subsequent references, are that IF the disease can be treated by diet it should; IF it can't, then the obvious implication is that it should be treated by medicine.
 
I don't think there's any degeneration here is there? It's just people posting food aphorisms.

Here's one from me; 'If you are what you eat, I'm dead meat.'

As a diabetic the key thing is not to 'eat normally' but to eat to control your blood sugars. The correct food was is and will always be the key to optimum health.

Best

Dillinger
 
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