Baby Boomers, Diabetes, and the Pinocchio Syndrome

With all the last minute push to get the vote out earlier this week, I was invited to urge my Facebook friends to vote. It was easy enough - I just clicked on "Contact". The only problem was remembering where my Facebook friends live. I slipped up and invited someone from Ireland to vote.

Apparently I wasn't the only one who did that because another Facebook friend, Happy Days Goldfinder, who lives in Cornwall, UK, posted that he was going to vote for Pinocchio.

My immediate response, which I posted back to Happy, was "At least we'd know when he's lying."

It is so hard to know when individuals, groups, or organizations are telling the truth and when they are lying.  It is hard to know when someone's intentions are good or when they have an ulterior motive.

Baby Boomers and those older are particularly vulnerable in this regard, I think, because we are approaching an age when health becomes an issue.

Do you trust your doctor who may be beholden to a pharmaceutical company?

Do you trust the Center for Disease Control when they trumpet about the increased incidence of Type 2 Diabetes if Americans don't make  more trips to the gym or take immediate steps to shed extra pounds.

Do you trust national organizations such as the American Diabetes Association when they conduct a "Diabetes Awareness Campaign" (November is Diabetes Awareness Month) that urges  Type 2 diabetes to monitor their blood sugar, use drug therapy to reduce their glucose numbers, and take more drugs ("protective drugs") to protect themselves from the complications arising from diabetes?

It does make you wonder, doesn't it, if the CDC and the ADA aren't like Pinocchio before he wished upon a star (according to Disney) and became a real boy - that is, if they are puppets being manipulated by someone else.

Well, let's see.  Exercise gyms and coaches are big business.  Weight loss programs abound.  and the drug companies....

How do you know who to trust?  I have a tendency to trust those I know personally, those whose trust-worthiness has been proven to me over time, those who are recommended by people I trust, and those who do not stand to make millions of dollars if they can keep me dependent upon drugs.

For instance, I know a blogger whom I trust because I have followed his blog long enough to feel that he is trustworthy.  When he recommends another blogger, I'm apt to check out the second guy.  I read over his material, see if or how he stands to benefit from the information he posts, and decide whether or not I can trust him, as well.

When this second blogger tells me that I can control Type 2 diabetes by reducing my consumption of refined carbohydrates and sweeteners, insulin-provoking foods that  turns glucose into fat (triglycerides) and stores in it your fat cells, I have a tendency to believe him because other people I trust have said essentially the same thing.

If you would like further information, so that you can decide for yourself who you can trust, I would recommend http://www.marksdailyapple.com, www.uswellnessmeats.com and http://myhealingkitchen.com.

In the interests of full-disclosure, perhaps I should tell you that I am not affiliated with any of these site beyond subscribing to their blogs.  I will not benefit financially from recommending them to you.  I don't even buy their products.  Oh, and I don't have diabetes.  But I know and love people who do.