As a doctor, I live to help people – but the ‘wellness industry’ doesn’t see it that way.
I always knew I wanted to be a doctor. I started out at medical school starry eyed. I was careful not to say it in the interview, because everyone warns you that’s the stereotypical answer, but I became a doctor to help people.
I still want to help people – but according to a very large and very vocal “wellness” industry, apparently I’m actually just an evil Boogeyman who is either on the take from Big Pharma or is part of a huge global conspiracy to cover up The Truth.
The Truth varies depending on who you talk to. Pete Evans favours no grains, no milk and something about bone broth by the glass. Jess Ainscough tried coffee enemas and juice (although sadly that didn’t end well). Sarah Wilson blames sugar. A homeopath will sell you very expensive water. For naturopaths The Truth seems to be quite variable, I’ve heard varieties of hair testing, electrodermal testing, odd thyroid testing and a bunch of other “tests”. None of these “experts” seem to think it particularly strange that they contradict each other. What they all have in common is a non-scientific base and a hefty price tag.
Pete Evans is a chef. I have 14 years of university and postgraduate medical training. But here’s the problem: when you get cancer, or autoimmune disease or diabetes everything I say is going to sound pretty bad.
Read more: Sarah Wilson: “Diet doesn’t cure disease and it’s irresponsible to say otherwise.”
The next problem is that I won’t be able to promise you a cure. I can’t. I’ll only be able to tell you the likelihood you might get better. I’ll probably prescribe you something nasty like chemotherapy, which will make you vomit, lose your hair and lose weight. I’ll probably frighten you with my diagnosis and the treatment – because they are both scary.