February 17, 1992
Thu Feb 17, 2011 5:43:26 pm

---

I was often ill when I was young. I had anemia, irritable bowel syndrome, frequent nose bleeds, frequent respiratory infections, and autistic tendencies. My mother insisted on using the services of only one doctor. He was somehow distantly related to me, and that was the basis for the loyalty. He was very incompetent and had no idea what was wrong with me. My sister also had various health problems that he couldn't solve, although they were very different from mine. He gave antibiotics for absolutely everything, with the exception of iron pills for the anemia, which made things worse, because my anemia was caused by intestinal ulcers and iron causes constipation.

On February 17, 1992, I was listening to a radio program on WBAI. It was Natural Living With Gary Null. I had already been listening to his program for over a year. He had discussed numerous natural healing techniques. Everything he said made sense, seemed right, and was backed by research, but I had never tried to apply it. On February 17, he did not discuss any new research, as he often did on the show. Instead, he discussed how people often don't make the necessary changes in their life despite knowing what is right.

I had influenza that day, which made me feel like I was dying. My heightened suffering while listening to the radio program made the words more meaningful. I decided that I didn't want to be sick anymore. I finally understood that I had to do something instead of looking for something to be done to me.

I started by eliminating all junk food/fast food, and I began to take nutritional supplements. My mother initially thought I was taking recreational drugs. When she asked my sister about it, my sister didn't know the proper Chinese words for "nutritional supplement". She tried to say "dietary supplement", but that wasn't said properly and what she said was closer to "diet aide". My mother thought I was taking weight loss pills despite not being overweight. She didn't like it, but she also didn't stop me.

I noticed significant improvements with each dietary adjustment, exercise, or supplement that I tried. This is what keeps me away from fast food. Some of it still smells good to me, but it's very easy to resist the temptation just by recalling how life was before.

Sometimes I encounter skeptics who say it was all placebo effect or there might have been other influences that I don't know about. There is plenty of research that both supports and discredits my methods. I don't care, because it worked for me. Even if it's 100% placebo, I'll stick with it because it works. However, I seriously doubt it. There is plenty of valid science and I have studied it extensively for years.