Big Mac attacked

Ronnie Mc D is about to take another one on the chin. This time it's not from someone who is morbidly obese and claiming they didn't know that food was the cause.

Nope this time it's from a more unlikely source.

Seems that Mickey D's has not been "consistent" in their labeling practices and they are on the verge of the Mother of all public relations Migraines with this one.

Here is how the deal went down.

Mc D's released a statement last week that their fries contain milk and wheat products.

Somewhere slightly off the beaten path of mainstream disease came the din of disgruntled sufferers of gluten sensitive enteropathy (GSE).

GSE in case you didn't know is a real disease that causes real misery among real people. In my practice of 5000 people I had about half a dozen or so folks with this illness and a few more that I suspected but couldn't prove.

The other name for GSE is celiac disease and current estimates guess it to be happening to about 1 in 250 adults.

Here's the thing though. It may be minimally symptomatic in a large majority of people thus not causing a whole lot of issues.

Anywho, there are a vocal group of folks who feel that they have been duped by McD's because of the wheat and dairy products in the fries.

If you add GSE to all the lactose intolerants out there (of which I suspect I am one) you have a thunderin' herd of upset people.

But wait there's more.

Turns out ol' Runnie Mc D hired a world expert to check on them thar frenchifyied fries and lo and behold he found and this here is a direct quote:

"Scientific evaluation by one of the world's leading experts on gluten sensitivity and allergenicity, Dr Steven Taylor of the Food Allergy Research and Resource Program of the University of Nebraska, has confirmed again that our fries are gluten free and allergen free," said McDonald's senior vice president Jack Daly in a statement."

In other words there ain't no problem with the fries after all!
OOOPPPS, I guess there must be another reason y'all been fartin' up a storm.
The lawsuits are already swirling (surprise) even though they may have no merit.
But it raises another interesting point. Who knows what really is in the foods if the manufacturer doesn't, and has to hire a nationally renowned expert to figure it out. Makes me think of those old rat tail and band aid stories I used to hear about hot dogs when I was a kid.
Cured me of that addiction right quick.
Now lest there be someone who might have or thinks they have this illness out there I say again I sympathize with your plight and provide the following info for you about the illness so that you might be better educated.

There are anti-body tests your doctor can order to pick up most cases of the illness. They have names like anti endomysium, transglutaminase, and gliadin.

If you have a family history of the illness or have type 1 diabetes yourself you are at increased risk. If you have a constellation of the following have chronic diarrhea, unexplained anemia, chronic fatigue, or unexplained weight loss.

If the illness is not treated early the person can go on to develop soft bones, malnutrition and low blood count in addition to the years of misery from loose bowels "terminal" flatulence and bloating.

That said, you might just observe what food don't agree with you more closely and remember that there are a lot of mild cases out there that don't need an insurance biopsy to diagnose and treat.

Also I'd like to remind the people who brought those lawsuits that an overall healthy approach to diet is especially important to anyone with this illness whether they have a severe case or a mild case.

And last time I checked French fries were not on ANY healthy diet list.

I suppose I should remind you that spilling hot coffee on your lap may also take away your psychic powers.

If that happens get to my site immediately and restore them with fish oil and Instant Einstein*

In the meantime I am writing to Mc Donald's and telling them to change the red and white sleeves on Ronald to red and white circles as we find on targets.

And I remind them "The best way to be a target is to have deep pockets".

No where did I put those psychic powers. Oh there they are under that pot of boiling water. Yeeeooocch!

*I am only half joking here as I have had more than one person tell me they had an ESP experience on this brew!

Best,

Dr Dave

The End of The Internet As We Know It

Recently a very big change has occurred on the internet. The popularity of blogs continues to rise while the use of email becomes more and more restricted.

The events of the past month have really drawn this to a head for us here at Dr Dave's Best. All was running smoothly until late January when, for no apparent reason, a large percentage of our emails stopped going through. I would not have known this were it not for the kind inquiries of our readers which started to pour in.

"Doc, are you OK? I haven't seen an email from you in a couple of days."

"Doc, is something wrong? Your emails aren't coming through anymore."

Interestingly enough, our email server, who will remain unnamed to protect the guilty, didn't say a word about it. They happily continued with their daily pop ups, telling us how much they were doing to help our on-line business with all their free teleseminars, forgetting to mention the most important fact that an on-line business needs.

The reliable delivery of its emails. The reason for the above delivery issues is not clear, but there are two possibilities that seem most likely. The first is that the server was not careful enough in policing its users and was black listed by a major internet provider, AOL. To explore this possibility, both I and my webmaster emailed the technical support crew. We got two somewhat different answers. I simply asked if there was a problem. The answer was "We are working to resolve some technical difficulties." There was no mention of black listing.

My webmaster, however, used the term black listed and received a reply that basically said "Well, err, yes, we have block listing issues."

I thought it was interesting that they did not come out and volunteer the information unless you specifically asked them. I also thought it was interesting that they euphemistically tried to soften the commonly accepted term "black list" by making it "block list".

As part of my investigation, I also communicated with other people who email through this server. None of them were aware or informed of this black listing problem and all of them were suffering because of it.

And now, into the next possibility which may have happened at the very same time.

Internet provider giant, AOL, may have been flexing its cyber muscle. You may or may not know it but the internet has become the haven of small businesses like mine. It offers world wide communications at a price you can't beat.

Up until now, it was free.

Those of us who use daily email to communicate with our customers are certainly not surprised that email is now going to be a "taxed" entity. Here is what seems to have happened. It appears that AOL decided to block emails sent out by our server which is used by the large majority of small internet businesses as a kind of bow shot warning us that the time to pony up is at hand. Here's how the deal goes down.

You pay a "white listing" fee. (Notice this is not an "unblock listing" fee. This fee is supposed to signify, along with some paperwork, that you are a legitimate on-line business. Then, you pay per volume of email you send out.

At this point, no one is sure how much this fee will be but it could easily run into thousands of dollars a month. This can only serve to discourage the growing number of entrepreneurial Americans who are trying to make ends meet via an internet business. I immediately thought of my neighbors; young, maximally extended and with three kids to put through school and college. They can ill afford thousands of dollars a year in internet tax in this new pay-to-play scheme.

Now here's the funny thing, the reason given for this registration/taxation is 'it's supposed to cut down on SPAM'. Up until now, all SPAM issues were free, so it's pretty clear this is another scheme to "tax" small business and changes the freedom of the internet for good.

In my opinion, the giant internet providers are the worst SPAM offenders ever. When you sign up and go to their homepage, you're continually bombarded with unsolicited advertisements and can get emails from people they endorse that you have no way of blocking.

Though I can't say that the taxation of the internet is a big surprise. Nor, am I surprised that they don't want to call a spade a spade.

I am a bit surprised at how slow the government has been to catch on to this scheme. Perhaps they need a little Instant Einstein.

A $10 tax per internet user by the government could yield upwards of $2 billion per year in revenues by it's users.

Next, states and municipalities could jump in as well. In my home state of Pennsylvania, a well founded rumor is circulating that says a large part of our state budget will be provided by a dramatic increase in speeding tickets.

I'd almost prefer an internet tax.

Which brings me to my final point.

Currently AOL and Yahoo are the only ones seriously entertaining "internet taxation." Once the money starts rolling in however, how long do you think it will be before other internet providers jump on the bandwagon?

All of this leads me to the final conclusion. I need to blog more and email less.

As much as I've enjoyed writing you emails every day, there are advantages to the blog. Among these are that there have been no serious attempts at taxation, censorship or filters.

Yet.

So, each day I'll be directing you to these pages where you can read "Dr Dave Unleashed" and witness the effects of Instant Einstein,
fish oil, and Instant Endurance on my creative powers.

If you thought the emails were wild, wait till you read the blogs.

I will, of course, continue to provide you with as much health-giving information and advice as I can pack in. It's just gonna have a little bit more spice.

So welcome to my blog and thanks again for your continued understanding and support.

All the best,

Doc

P.S. As you'll see, I am not new to blogging nor to writing opinionated pieces. Just a few of my original blogs are already posted for your enjoyment.

America the beautiful

A couple weeks ago I had the occasion to be in Las Vegas to speak at a conference.

During the cab ride form the airport to my hotel I had a long discussion with the cabbie.

Turns out he was from Croatia although I didn't catch where.

He had been in the U.S. for about 6 years now basically as a war refugee.

His mother, father, 2 brothers and 2 sisters were all murdered during the war.

His home was destroyed and he had no money and no assets after that.

He arrived in America with one set of clothes and $100 in his pocket somehow gotten from his church in Croatia.

Before working as a cabbie he helped build homes in Vermont. At the end of this year he planned on going back to Vermont as he was not fond of Vegas.

Too dangerous he said. He then detailed the story of how he had been held at gun point for drug money by one of his fares.

He said it was a lucky chance that he was not killed.

They caught the assailant 30 minutes later with the $80 still in his pocket.

He had not yet had a chance to buy the drugs. The cabbie's son went to a school that he considered "dangerous".

The cops were outside every day at schools in and school out.

I had to ask him after all this what he thought of America.

He replied, "America is a beautiful country. Compared to my old home my family is safe and I have a future. There I had nothing".

Then he laughed and said, "When I go back to Vermont it will be really beautiful and safe!"

America the beautiful.

In spite of its problems there is no place I'd rather be.

Every time I travel abroad I enjoy it. Every time I come home I enjoy it more.

Love this land

Dr Dave

Six Year Old Suspended for Touching Classmate

Dear Friend

The new age hillbillies have emerged from their bucket shop
again, this time in Brockton, Massachusetts, an area represented
by that famous bow and arrow duo, Kennedy and Kerry.

This time their target is a six year old boy who put two fingers
inside the waistband of a classmate, and has drawn a three day
suspension as a result. Brockton Buckwhits, I mean the school
officials, refuse to comment on the three day suspension, which
the boy's mother can't explain to him because he is too young to understand.

A little Instant Einstein might be in order here for all the buckwits involved, including
Superintendent Basan Nembirkow, who would only say that
sexual harassment charges are always investigated and officials
are trained to deal with them.

It surely isn't the child who is at fault here. It doesn't take
much brainpower at all to figure out that six year olds aren't
capable of sexual harassment. And why would you enforce a
rule that you can't explain to the child?

Nan Stein, a senior research scientist at the Center for Research on
Women, located at the semi-enlightening Wellesley College,
says, "First graders who repeatedly touch classmates
need to be disciplined and taught what is appropriate. But don't
call it "sexual harassment" because first graders just don't get it."

Now Nan could use a double dose of Instant Einstein.

The way I interpet Nan is that we should still have the goofy
program, but if we call it another name. It will make it more
acceptable.

Common sense would tell you that only in very, very extreme
circumstances can children that young truly sexually harass one
another.

When I was a kid we called this playing.

All the best,

Dr. Dave