He was a bright man who loved his job and loved life.
He was also incredibly healthy.
An avid sportsman, he boxed for the U. Penn team.
And he skied. His specialty was downhill jumps, an unusual sport way back in the early 20th century.
My grandfather used to share his views on nutrition with me.
I remember him telling me over and over, “No sugar! Do not eat sugar!”
He took a lot of his inspiration from the legendary boxer, Archie Moore.
Moore was the longest reigning World Light Heavyweight Champion. He held that title from 1952 to 1962.
And he upheld the same belief I now espouse.
That, from an evolutionary standpoint, human beings are carnivores. Our bodies are made to consume meat.
Therefore, the best way to get into super shape and stay that way is to consume meat, and nothing artificial.
Sugar compresses and damages the body’s peripheral nerves.
This can cause plenty of ailments your doctor may not be able to diagnose, including rashes, headaches, mood and energy swings, fatigue, and gallbladder issues.
Between classes, my grandfather got involved in various building projects, such as homebuilding.
One of his projects even led him to Central America where he worked on the Panama Canal.
Sadly, he never graduated from U. of Penn.
My grandfather contracted Malaria while working abroad and later died from that.
Experience counts in life, but it counts a lot when you’re a physician.
I was born in Germantown Hospital on Penn Boulevard in Philadelphia on March 10, 1943.
This means that, as I write this, I’m 80 years old and closing on 81.
Philadelphia was my hometown until my family and I moved southeast about fifty miles to a little spit of land sticking out into Great Egg Harbor Bay, due south of Atlantic City.
That town was called Ocean City, New Jersey.
I went to high school there but Philadelphia kept calling me back.
I studied chemistry at Villanova University, on the northeastern outskirts of Philly. After which I went to the Pennsylvania College of Podiatric Medicine.
I even did my medical residency in Philly. I’m a diplomate of the American Board of Podiatric Surgery and a member of the American Podiatry Association.
I finally broke Philly’s orbit by moving to Scottsdale, Arizona.
Scottsdale has been good to me and my work. My wife and I raised our family here.
I co-founded the Scottsdale Healthcare Wound Management Center and served as president of both the Arizona Podiatry Association and the Association of Extremity Nerve Surgeons.
Currently, I’m considered one of the country’s leading peripheral nerve surgeons specializing in the treatment of neuropathy.
Peripheral neuropathy is when the nerves outside the spinal cord become damaged.
Which, in turn, can cause all sorts of problems including pain, numbness, and weakness, most often in the extremities—hands and feet.
However, neuropathy can also affect other bodily functions such as digestion and urination.
It’s a fascinating study and I’ve always enjoyed learning about it.
Peripheral neuropathy is a very dangerous disease.
It occurs when the nerves located outside the brain and spinal cord are damaged.
This condition can cause weakness, numbness, and pain, usually in the hands and feet.
It also can affect bodily functions such as digestion and urination.
Peripheral neuropathy can result from traumatic injuries, infections, metabolic problems, inherited causes, exposure to toxins … and of course diabetes.
My personal thesis is that sugar corrodes peripheral nerves, and indeed every nerve in the human body.
I’ve witnessed this happen firsthand at 3.5x magnification through surgical loupes.
You can see clearly how nerves travel through tunnels all throughout the body.
Also how, when they get compressed in these tunnels, the nerves cause sensations of numbness, tingling, burning, and—finally—the utter loss of sensation.
But the problem doesn’t start there.
Sometimes, particularly in the case of diabetics, the loss of sensation forms calluses on the bottom of the foot.
First, the callus hardens. Then it gets red. Then infected.
The infection goes into the bone.
At that point, it’s called osteomyelitis, which eventually turns to gangrene.
By this point, the leg is essentially dead.
It has to be amputated lest it take the entire body with it.
Each year, about 1.5 million legs are amputated worldwide from patients who are diabetic.
Must all of these legs be amputated? In my opinion, no.
There are many new solutions which, admittedly, some folks call controversial.
But I’ve used them in my practice for decades. And they work.
If you’re interested in learning more, please contact me. I’d love to tell you more.
What if it’s sugar, not cholesterol, causing heart disease?
Dr. John Cooke is an MD with a PhD in vascular biology.
When I first met him, he was head of the Metabolic Clinic at Stanford University.
I told him my theory of nerve compression. He invited me to work with him on the molecule he was studying, asymmetric dimethyl arginine.
We conducted a test of about 160 patients who suffered from diabetic neuropathy.
We found that all of them had elevated levels of asymmetric dimethyl arginine in their systems.
But it wasn’t just diabetics.
The same could be said for patients with multiple sclerosis. And plenty of other maladies.
Now we were on to something.
The problem, it turned out, is sugar.
For instance, Dr. Cooke explained to me how the lining of our blood vessels, called the endothelium, is smooth as Teflon. Or it’s supposed to be.
But whenever we eat sugar, the liver secretes cholesterol which is pushed through the blood and accumulates over time on the walls of the blood vessels, causing plaque.
The more plaque that builds up, the harder it is for blood to move through the vessels.
This leads to a condition called atherosclerosis, better known as “hardening of the arteries.”
The arteries literally thicken and lose flexibility.
Which, in turn, causes heart disease—but again, the problem isn’t cholesterol.
That’s just a symptom.
The problem is sugar, which far too many of us consume in increasingly vast amounts.
This is just one more example of how a diet rich in sugar—now so common in Western culture—is causing consistent and terrible damage.
I consider it a modern plague, and insist that it must be stopped.
If you’re currently suffering from any number of diseases you’re having a hard time overcoming, consider giving me a call.
I’d love to hear about your medical history and strategize how we can get you back to enjoying your life.
