That’s Nuts. 

I was speeding through Logan Airport on my way to San Diego for a seminar by Dr. Loren Cordain, the uber-authority on genetically congruent lifestyles. I was still reeling from the security line shake-down; having had to give up the unopened bottle of water that I had just paid four dollars for – my bad. I stopped at the post-security Dunkin Doughnuts to re-purchase what now felt like an eight dollar bottle of water. 

While standing in the check-out line I noticed a large cardboard cut-out of a doughnut fixed above the register. There were bold red letters that stated: “Warning Health Alert: Doughnut Contains Almonds”.

I had one of those surreal moments when you actually stifle your natural reaction long enough to suspiciously look around for the hidden camera.  Surely this was a set-up. Someone must have arranged to have me standing in this very line, at this very moment, reading this very sign.  

Unfortunately, there was no set-up. The joke is on all of us.  We have actually come to the point where we can intellectualize the need for a warning sign about almonds on a doughnut.  Please don’t get me wrong; I am totally sensitive to the nut allergy issue. I have cared for hundreds of families who are faced with this serious challenge – an issue that has a made a recent appearance on our list of new healthcare epidemics.  In fact, it adds to the irony of this situation. 

How we have lost sight of the forest for the trees?

The only “food” in this picture is the almonds. The only element in this picture that was “food” 100 years ago is now being identified as a threat. Albeit, there is a growing population of our children that are mysteriously allergic to nuts – everyone is at risk from every other element in that doughnut. 

A doughnut is nothing short of a delivery system for high fructose corn syrup, refined flour, sugar, saturated / trans-fats and a multitude of other chemical additives and preservatives that have been unequivocally proven to cause diabetes, heart disease and cancer. Where’s the Health Alert cardboard cut-out?

At risk for inciting an airport security call; I held my comments to myself, paid my four dollars and boarded the plane. I relaxed back into my seat, comforted by the fact that I was flying to a place that would be filled with the people that are moving the nutritional IQ of this country forward.

“Nuts?” asked the flight attendant as she rolled the snack cart passed my seat.

“No thanks.”  I said “I brought my own.”

Vis Medicatrix Naturae*,

Dr. Stephen Franson

*Latin: the healing power of nature