An Inspiring Story
The Power of Nutrition
The people who attended The Wellness Forum's Fall Continuing Education Conference had the privilege of hearing Antonia Demas, Ph.D., speak about her program, which has helped tens of thousands of children to learn to appreciate and want to eat plant foods, and resulted in major changes in school lunch programs throughout the U.S. Dr. Demas' work is extraordinary and everyone became excited about getting involved in improving children's health through better nutrition.
At the end of her talk, Dr. Demas related a story about the power of nutrition that was incredible and definitely worth sharing with everyone. Some time ago, Dr. Demas was contacted by a woman whose son had been involved in an accident that resulted in his being in a comatose state. While hospitalized, he was tube-fed, and his diet basically consisted of corn syrup and water, standard fare for those who are comatose.
In spite of what the doctors told her, the woman was convinced that her son had the potential to wake up and wanted to place liquefied healthy foods into his feeding tube. The doctors refused to let her do it. They explained that he would never wake up and that even if he did, he would be severely damaged and have no quality of life.
Eventually the doctors suggested that they certify to a court that this young man was beyond help so he could be transferred to a hospice-type facility, at which tube feeding would be discontinued, resulting in death. The woman agreed to this because she had an ulterior motive - to begin tube feeding healthy foods once he was removed from the hospital.
Dr. Demas prepared a densely nutritious vegetable soup, liquefied it, and began placing it into the feeding tube, and within only a few days, the young man woke up and began talking. He is now fully functional and he and his mother were presenters at Dr. Demas' Baltimore conference just a few days before ours. He stated that during the time he was in the coma, he could hear the doctors talking about his being a vegetable, that there was no hope for him and that they did not know why anyone was wasting their time on him. Thank God his mother had faith that he could be restored and was tenacious enough to find a solution.
This story has a happy ending, but unfortunately, most similar stories do not. Although people in hospitals are sick and should be getting the best nutrition possible, most of them get the worst food imaginable. How many comatose patients would come out of their comas if they were given something other than corn syrup for food? And why would doctors object to trying improved food at the request of a parent or guardian, even if the hospitals continue to serve only the worst possible fare? It is criminal, in my opinion, that people do not have the authority to make decisions about their own healthcare and the health of their children and insist on things like nutritional excellence in a hospital!
Have a great day, everyone! And remember: Eat Healthy!!! Live Happy!!!
