Since 2008, I have extensively studied the writings and tested out the diets of four medical doctors who promote plant based diets that claim to reverse disease. My online interactions with these doctors and study of their books, listening of there tapes, and watching of their YouTube videos have taught me a lot about how to tell if they are conspiring for money, or generally hoping to reach and help as many people as possible.
Here are the characteristics that I have learned that are warning signs of a wolf in sheep's clothing.
1. They charge exorbitant amounts of money for you to gain full access to their program. I don't mean huge amounts of money to buy their books or tapes, per say, but to gain clarification of their program you have pay a subscription on the their web site to have access to them, or staff that they have hired to take their place in giving you further counsel.
2. They promote themselves in various forms on TV, i.e. public television.
3. They show up on Doctor Oz on a regular basis
4. They fail to provide studies or concrete evidence that their findings do as they say. Maybe their theories are too new to provide data, which is a warning sign because the other doctors have data dating back to ancient times because they have studied the human population and have found what promotes longevity.
5. They make generalizations in their claims.
6. They have an online store that sells vitamins. I mean if you need to sell vitamins, then can the diet stand on it's own in giving you all of the nutrients that you need? And if you are taking a supplement, then how do you know if it's the supplement of the diet that's doing the trick?
7. Their books cost more than $20.00 on Amazon, or they sell DVD's, books, and cassette tapes in one package for one to education themselves on the program. If you need to digest that much material to learn the program, than how easy is it to follow, and to remember how to live on a daily basis? A healthy diet plan should be so cut and dried that a person could easily know what is fine to eat and what is not, even if they are miles away from their resource materials.
8. They make general promises with amazing claims like.... "if you need a stent and delay your angiogram for 12 weeks, you can avoid surgery by following my program".
9. If you make a comment derogatory to their claims on their public media or social media sites, they delete it. I mean if they truly have faith in their program and that their claims can hold up to scrutiny than they shouldn't feel threatened by any dissenting views, and they can feel confident that consumers can decide for themselves.
10. They get very defensive when placed in a debate with another health guru on the topic of which diet is best.
11. They contradict themselves.
12. They provide point systems for you to decide which foods to eat. One should not have to count anything when deciding what foods to eat. They should be able to know right off the bat if that food should go in their mouths or not, and that food would be nutritious no matter what their score is, and the person would know it immediately without having to think about it.
How to tell if your guru is not a wolf in sheep's clothing....
1. His success in helping others has stood the test of time. Meaning that before he puts his information out there, he has patiently gathered his data over years, and proven it out before writing and publishing a book on it, and after that book has been written and published the public seeks him out to provide testimonial and many, many testimonials can be found in many public venues.
2. He does market things on his web site, but not vitamins and supplements, but items that help you to help yourself, i.e. cooking tips, books. And those things are provided ala cart so you can pick and choose what you want for a reasonable price. They try to help you become more self-reliant.
3. They don't charge a monthly subscription to gain access to their advice.
4. They make themselves as accessible as humanly possible to the general public. For example, one man can not address the queries of every single individual that wants to have a piece of their advice, but they will continually provide free videos online of their counsel, and make available all of the material of their program in various forms for free for those that are looking for it. You should be able to find every piece of their program online for free by gathering from the materials they provide for free online. Not that it will all be in one place, but you can easily put together all of the information of the program yourself by your own research by finding material they have made available, not by material that others customers have made it available. In other words, they are truly trying to reach as many people as possible to share their message without those people having to pay money to gain their information.
5. You find that many others have claimed to be able to talk personally to gain free knowledge from this person.
6. High profile people that have been on their program have be shown to stay on it for a long time and appear to keep their health. For instance, I have been following the life of one woman that cured herself of cancer following a certain health program, and she has been on the program for decades, and continues to be able to be cancer free and run marathons in her 80's.
7. They freely associate with other health gurus that follow the same principles of access, and don't view them as a threat, but collaborate and work with them to bring more good to the world.
8. They associate with others that help the public to gain access to knowledge for free through social media venues.
9. The medical community has gained curiosity about their long term findings and provides resources for further studies, and in time those medical communities promote their programs, i.e. Kaiser Foundation embracing education to patients on the low-fat plant based diet for heart patients.
10. They have many resources and studies to back up their claims.
11. They do not delete you when you make any comments on their Facebook or blog posts that challenge their claims. They know their program can stand on it's own and are not afraid to let their readers decide for themselves.
12. They do not contradict themselves. For instance, one guru said, I can cure and reverse your heart disease, and then in another sentence on his post he said, those with severe heart disease need further guidance.
13. They practice what they preach, and have the health and longevity they are promising you.
In a nutshell, I don't care if the guru who is a wolf in sheep's clothing has a good program that promotes health or not. If you are regularly spending money on them, they are a wolf in sheep's clothing. And, if your guru is not accessible to you without feeling like you are shelling out money here and money there, maybe his program is not dangerous, but it could be, but maybe it's not the best that is out there, and maybe it provides health but not optimal health.
I want to say, you shouldn't have to spend a lot of money to gain access to a healthy nutritional program, because healthy nutritional programs were developed over hundreds of years. They are not developed. They are discovered and exposed. To do this, you have to be willing to stand the test of time. You have to discover and promote what others have discovered and lived...what has worked through the ages, and then you have to use yourself as the guinea pig, practice what you preach, and then stand the test of time yourself.
Here are the characteristics that I have learned that are warning signs of a wolf in sheep's clothing.
1. They charge exorbitant amounts of money for you to gain full access to their program. I don't mean huge amounts of money to buy their books or tapes, per say, but to gain clarification of their program you have pay a subscription on the their web site to have access to them, or staff that they have hired to take their place in giving you further counsel.
2. They promote themselves in various forms on TV, i.e. public television.
3. They show up on Doctor Oz on a regular basis
4. They fail to provide studies or concrete evidence that their findings do as they say. Maybe their theories are too new to provide data, which is a warning sign because the other doctors have data dating back to ancient times because they have studied the human population and have found what promotes longevity.
5. They make generalizations in their claims.
6. They have an online store that sells vitamins. I mean if you need to sell vitamins, then can the diet stand on it's own in giving you all of the nutrients that you need? And if you are taking a supplement, then how do you know if it's the supplement of the diet that's doing the trick?
7. Their books cost more than $20.00 on Amazon, or they sell DVD's, books, and cassette tapes in one package for one to education themselves on the program. If you need to digest that much material to learn the program, than how easy is it to follow, and to remember how to live on a daily basis? A healthy diet plan should be so cut and dried that a person could easily know what is fine to eat and what is not, even if they are miles away from their resource materials.
8. They make general promises with amazing claims like.... "if you need a stent and delay your angiogram for 12 weeks, you can avoid surgery by following my program".
9. If you make a comment derogatory to their claims on their public media or social media sites, they delete it. I mean if they truly have faith in their program and that their claims can hold up to scrutiny than they shouldn't feel threatened by any dissenting views, and they can feel confident that consumers can decide for themselves.
10. They get very defensive when placed in a debate with another health guru on the topic of which diet is best.
11. They contradict themselves.
12. They provide point systems for you to decide which foods to eat. One should not have to count anything when deciding what foods to eat. They should be able to know right off the bat if that food should go in their mouths or not, and that food would be nutritious no matter what their score is, and the person would know it immediately without having to think about it.
How to tell if your guru is not a wolf in sheep's clothing....
1. His success in helping others has stood the test of time. Meaning that before he puts his information out there, he has patiently gathered his data over years, and proven it out before writing and publishing a book on it, and after that book has been written and published the public seeks him out to provide testimonial and many, many testimonials can be found in many public venues.
2. He does market things on his web site, but not vitamins and supplements, but items that help you to help yourself, i.e. cooking tips, books. And those things are provided ala cart so you can pick and choose what you want for a reasonable price. They try to help you become more self-reliant.
3. They don't charge a monthly subscription to gain access to their advice.
4. They make themselves as accessible as humanly possible to the general public. For example, one man can not address the queries of every single individual that wants to have a piece of their advice, but they will continually provide free videos online of their counsel, and make available all of the material of their program in various forms for free for those that are looking for it. You should be able to find every piece of their program online for free by gathering from the materials they provide for free online. Not that it will all be in one place, but you can easily put together all of the information of the program yourself by your own research by finding material they have made available, not by material that others customers have made it available. In other words, they are truly trying to reach as many people as possible to share their message without those people having to pay money to gain their information.
5. You find that many others have claimed to be able to talk personally to gain free knowledge from this person.
6. High profile people that have been on their program have be shown to stay on it for a long time and appear to keep their health. For instance, I have been following the life of one woman that cured herself of cancer following a certain health program, and she has been on the program for decades, and continues to be able to be cancer free and run marathons in her 80's.
7. They freely associate with other health gurus that follow the same principles of access, and don't view them as a threat, but collaborate and work with them to bring more good to the world.
8. They associate with others that help the public to gain access to knowledge for free through social media venues.
9. The medical community has gained curiosity about their long term findings and provides resources for further studies, and in time those medical communities promote their programs, i.e. Kaiser Foundation embracing education to patients on the low-fat plant based diet for heart patients.
10. They have many resources and studies to back up their claims.
11. They do not delete you when you make any comments on their Facebook or blog posts that challenge their claims. They know their program can stand on it's own and are not afraid to let their readers decide for themselves.
12. They do not contradict themselves. For instance, one guru said, I can cure and reverse your heart disease, and then in another sentence on his post he said, those with severe heart disease need further guidance.
13. They practice what they preach, and have the health and longevity they are promising you.
In a nutshell, I don't care if the guru who is a wolf in sheep's clothing has a good program that promotes health or not. If you are regularly spending money on them, they are a wolf in sheep's clothing. And, if your guru is not accessible to you without feeling like you are shelling out money here and money there, maybe his program is not dangerous, but it could be, but maybe it's not the best that is out there, and maybe it provides health but not optimal health.
I want to say, you shouldn't have to spend a lot of money to gain access to a healthy nutritional program, because healthy nutritional programs were developed over hundreds of years. They are not developed. They are discovered and exposed. To do this, you have to be willing to stand the test of time. You have to discover and promote what others have discovered and lived...what has worked through the ages, and then you have to use yourself as the guinea pig, practice what you preach, and then stand the test of time yourself.
Loved this article! Very good!
ReplyDeleteThank you. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Thanks for taking the time to look over my blog. Have a nice weekend.
Delete