Allergies, quack remedies, and high-calorie religious TV

One of the things for which I'm afraid my family is famous is our food allergy. My dad and I and, to some extent, my sisters, are allergic to tree nuts (not peanuts, though - thank God!), bananas, and the melon family (watermelon, honeydew, canteloupe, etc.). We also have athsma.

I had a chiropractor recently tell me he could fix that. I was a bit skeptical, but excited. To make a long story short, he didn't fix it. And I got pretty sick. (At this point in the story, Aaron and Tim, my former roommates, are laughing uproariously. They used to put nuts in my food on purpose so they could watch me run to the back door and spit. Sadists.) Chiropractors are great for fixing the odd aches and pains, but the wonderful results others have had with "holistic" medicine fixing chronic breathing disorders and allergies have yet to be seen by me.

Cindy and I were listening to the radio while driving across the Mojave Desert in June. There was a Christian station that was airing a talk show. On this show were several "holistic medicine" doctors who were just complete wackos. They said it was a "well-documented fact" that acetimenophen (Tylenol) killed more people than any other commonly taken medicine. They said you shouldn't take Tylenol or aspirin or ibuprofen. They seemed to class these, together with all other drugs made by the pharmaceutical industry, as heinous poisons. And they were trying to equate their "holistic" medicine with Christianity somehow, while associating Tylenol, etc. with the liberal humanistic establishment.

It was a perfect example of how religious media often tries to subvert Christianity to serve its own special pet interests.

And while we're slamming religious media (the easy way out for a cynical person like myself, I admit), read this about how women who watch religious programming are more obese.

Next post will be something more cheerful, with a bit about cookies. I promise.