Dr. Mercola here. In today's video, I'll be sharing an interesting story with
you about my own family. A few weeks ago, I went to a birthday party for my
niece. I hadn't seen my family for a while, and it was a nice opportunity to
get together with them.
As I was sitting next to my small niece, I found it really interesting that
she was having some dessert, some really great strawberries, and she was dipping
them in piles of Equal, or NutraSweet. It was a real challenge for me to watch
her do that. This is my brother's daughter. I love my brother dearly, but he
and his wife don't really understand the dangers of NutraSweet. But I just bit
my tongue and let my niece continue to consume Nutrasweet-coated strawberries.
Now, in case you are unaware of the dangers of NutraSweet, you may want to
read my book called, Sweet Deception. It's a phenomenal book that really goes
into specific details, primarily about sucralose, but also about all of the
artificial sweeteners. NutraSweet is clearly something that's been well documented
to have significant adverse effects, and has a variety of chemicals that rapidly
break down, often causing significant problems, especially when used regularly
over time, and specifically in young children.
It can produce problems such as seizures, headaches, migraines and even brain
tumors in some cases. So, it's certainly something you'll want to avoid, and
not even limit, but simply avoid altogether.
My brother-in-law, (under 50 years of age) who was also at the birthday party,
had suffered a heart attack a few weeks ago, and had to have open bypass surgery.
Thankfully, he's doing quite well following that. But his physicians who are
monitoring him actually suggested that he avoid all red meat and to stop using
salt.
Again, I had to bite my tongue because, avoiding red meat, though it may be
a wonderful move for some people (some should never eat red meat, primarily
those who are carb nutritional types) if in fact you're a strong protein type,
that would be the worst thing you could do. If you're a protein type, eating
red meat and dark meat regularly will help the extra purine proteins, and the
fat will actually help lower your cholesterol and normalize your physiology,
helping to reduce the risk of heart disease.
It's very difficult to give a broad nutritional recommendation for everyone,
unless of course, it's simple basics, like avoiding sugar. As we know, sugar
isn't good for anyone, no matter what their nutritional type is.
I thought it was interesting though. I've written two New York Times best-selling
health books, have a website with a million subscribers and many people are
interested in what I have to say about health and the years of research I've
done. But my own family has really chosen not to believe what I was suggesting
might be helpful to them.
My guess is that you are also going to encounter similar challenges in your
own families, and I just want to mention that it's to be expected.
Fortunately, I have other family members, such as my parents and one of my
sisters, who actually adopt most everything I suggest, and have had enormous
improvements in their health. My dad specifically almost died from complications
of diabetes before I made a diagnosis of iron overload and got him on a good
program which controls his diabetes. My mom is doing great too.
So most likely, it will be similar with your own family. Some will believe
you, and some will not. We feel the tendency to continue to preach to them on
a soapbox and explain things to them. But it's just like with someone who is
smoking. They have to be self-motivated.
So, my advice to you is, if they ask your advice, clearly, share it with them.
But if they don't, you're just going to have to bite your tongue and just hope
for the best for them. Everyone has freedom of choice in life, and even if it's
your own family members, frequently, you're not going to be able to influence
them.
This of course doesn't mean you should abdicate your responsibility to understand
critical health information. Ultimately, we're our own physicians, and we don't
want to completely abdicate this responsibility to physicians or other family
members. You'll really want to take control of your health.