May 17, 2017
Click here for the full written transcript of this podcast episode.
I first introduced you to the brilliant, well-spoken and outside-the-box physician Dr. Thomas Cowan in the podcast episode entitled “How (& Why) To Eat More Vegetables, Why A Plant Is Like An Upside-Down Human, Little-Known Superfood Plants & More!“.
Dr. Cowan then returned to the show for the mind-blowing episode “Why Your Heart Is Not A Pump (& What Most Doctors Don’t Know About The True Cause Of Heart Disease).”
On today's episode, Dr. Cowan is back, this time to delve into shocking story of vaccines and specifically what happened regarding vaccinations in the last 100 years, the toxicity of prenatal ultrasounds, childhood play (including defending his controversial comment “don't play with your children”), and many other topics from the book he co-authored with Sally Fallon Morell entitled “The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby & Child Care“.
Dr. Cowan discovered the work of the two men who would have the most influence on his career while teaching gardening as a Peace Corps volunteer in Swaziland, South Africa. He read “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Weston A. Price, as well as Rudolf Steiner’s work on biodynamic agriculture. These events inspired him to pursue a medical degree and he graduated from Michigan State University College of Human Medicine in 1984. After his residency in Family Practice at Johnson City Hospital in Johnson City, New York, he set up an anthroposophical medical practice in Peterborough, New Hampshire. Dr. Cowan relocated to San Francisco in 2003.
He has served as vice president of the Physicians Association for Anthroposophical Medicine and is a founding board member of the Weston A. Price Foundation™. During his career he has studied and written about many subjects in medicine. These include nutrition, homeopathy, anthroposophical medicine and herbal medicine.
He is the principal author of the book The Fourfold Path to Healing and is the co-author of The Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby & Child Care. He writes the “Ask the Doctor” column in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the foundation’s quarterly magazine, and has lectured throughout the United States and Canada. He has three children and three grandchildren and practices medicine in San Francisco, where he resides with his wife, Lynda Smith.
During our discussion, you'll discover:
–Why kids are getting sick nowadays far more than they used to get sick…[18:20]
-Why fevers should be allowed to run their course, rather than being shut down with toxic compounds such as tylenol…[23:00]
-How drinking more good water can get rid of most chronic diseases…[35:48]
-Why Vitamin A is one of the best things you can give to a child who has had a fever…[38:05]
-Whether Ben vaccinated his kids, and Dr. Cowan's take on vaccinations…[46:40 & 50:15]
-Why you should not shut down a cell-mediated response and you should “let a child” be sick…[49:00 & 54:00]
-Ben and Dr. Cowan's clashing educational philosophies…[61:00]
-The reasoning behind Dr. Cowan's controversial statement that you shouldn't play with your kids…[69:20]
-And much more!
Resources from this episode:
-Use code BEN and get 15% off on your order of any of Dr. Cowan's vegetable powders at Dr. Cowan's Garden.
-Click here to get a free copy of Dr. Cowan's book “How (& Why) to Eat More Vegetables“.
–Green Pastures Fermented Cod Liver Oil
Do you have questions, thoughts or feedback for Dr. Cowan or me? Leave your comments below and one of us will reply!
Huh…that’s interesting that Ben would say homeschooled kids are socially awkward. As a nanny that’s been around children for the last thirteen years, I’ve found just the opposite. Homeschooled kids (if homeschooling is done correctly) in my experience are the most socially mature/intelligent kids I’ve met. They’re usually smarter as well.
Having kids in schools for 8 hours each day actually destroys their creativity. Its also not normal to be around only people your same age. For example, a typical adult will encounter people of all ages on a day to day basis. However, if a child is 8 yrs old and in the third grade, is it normal to only be hanging out with 8 yr olds all day?
Last, do you really want your children learning social skills from other children (swearing, biting, hitting, bullying, immaturity, etc)?
I think people have this stupid idea that homeschooled kids stay home all day. A lot of homeschooled kids are travelling around the world.
SOCIALLY awkward in the sense that they don't fit well within SOCIETAL norms (ie. children associating w/ people their own age). I agree with you that homeschooled children can often be more mature than their peers, enjoy more rich education & have more "free" time to pursue creativity, passions and adventure. It's that very reason that makes them stand out as "awkward" amongst their peers… They simply don't relate that well.
I enjoyed this podcast and Ben your podcast is now my go-to, so thanks for that. Dr. Nasha Winters turned me on to you. Dr. Cowan said what I have believed for a long time, that fevers can help, vaccines seem wrong (generally). And Ben’s comments on preventing the flu and colds with common sense supplements, minerals, vit D, earthing, good water, exercise…. just makes good sense. My question is: How do you deal with the schools requiring a ridiculous amount of vaccines? The one that gets me the most is the Hep B @ birth – insane, IMO. I’m sure someone will tell me why I’m wrong and that’s ok – always happy to learn another perspective. Thanks again!
I recommend posting this to the Kion Community. It’s a completely free online community of like-minded people who both have advice and are seeking advice. Facebook.com/groups/GetKion/
Dr. Cowan mentions that there are a lot of strategies to keep children from become too sclerotic (so?) too soon, but what if they already have asthma, eczema, gluten insensitivity, etc? What do you do to bring them back out of this? My boys are 6 and 8 and they have these issues. Listening to this podcast was eye-opening but also crushing: I’ve done it all wrong. How can I now fix it?
I recommend you look up Dr. Andrew Kaufman and consider detoxification strategies. It seems there is great potential for improvement.
Hey Ben,
I love the podcast – I’ve been a subscriber since a couple of months ago.
I’d love to get the free Vegetables book, but I can’t get the link to work. Any tips?
Thanks!
Can you mention more about the Pre-natal Ultrasoud Toxictiy?
hi, the best source for an article on the dangers of pre-natal ultrasound is in the recent Townsend Letter magazine. Bottom line is like a lot of things in medicine there has no demonstration of the safety of ultrasounds to the developing fetus and the bulk of the evidence points to the fact that they are as damaging to the fetus as the long abandoned x-rays. Pre-natal ultrasound should be avoided as much as possible. TC
For a quick intro – read article and comments here:
https://www.electricsense.com/ultrasound-pregnancy-risks/
For a deeper dive:
The Dark Side of Prenatal Ultrasound and The Dangers of Non-Ionizing Radiation by Jeanice Barcelo.
https://www.amazon.com/Prenatal-Ultrasound-Dangers-Non-Ionizing-Radiation
For a quick intro – read article and comments here:
https://www.electricsense.com/ultrasound-pregnancy-risks/
For a deeper dive:
The Dark Side of Prenatal Ultrasound and The Dangers of Non-Ionizing Radiation by Jeanice Barcelo.
https://www.amazon.com/Prenatal-Ultrasound-Dangers-Non-Ionizing-Radiation
This is really eye opening… I have a 2 and 3 yr old and I feel terrible for everything that I’ve done. I never knew.. I’m reading Deep Nutrition now but your link for the “How to eat more vegetables” isn’t working. I would love a copy of that!
I say, definitely have a gaggle of children more! You and your wife have excellent genetics (and epigenetics), which should definitely be passed on. Also, I bet your boys would be awesome big brothers :)
Vaccinations is always a hot topic. I’m left with lots of questions. Like, shingles comes from having chicken pox, doesn’t a vaccine guard against this? Also, no mention of small pox, polio, or mumps which can take lives if not leave one disabled. Another question regarding fever. Ok, so fever is the bodies way of dealing with a illness, what about extreme fevers of 104° or above which can cause brain damage? It seems such a condition would definitely require more drastic measures to treat. Enjoyed listening, just seems like these subjects are hard to completely cover in a short discussion.
hi, i am in the process of writing a whole book on this subject so obviously i can’t go into great detail in a simple post. Suffice to say that shingles vaccine researchers knew that the best protection against adults getting shingles was for adults to be exposed through their lives to children with chickenpox. The shingles vaccine strategy was to wipe out the harmless chickenpox from the children knowing this would increase the incidence and severity of shingles in adults. Then they introduced the shingles vaccine.
Fevers of any temperature don’t harm the body, this is proven again and again, and utilized when people are given hyperthermia treatments for cancer up to 106 degrees. The underlying illness can be fatal (ie meningits) with a temp of 99.6 or 105 but it is the illness that is harmful not the fever.
As for the other illnesses, stay tuned for the book i’m writing or look up Suzanne Humphries or the book on the 400 studies mentioned in the podcast.
Well, my mother who had chickenpox. Ended up getting shingles in her 50s. I ended up catching those shingles within a week at age 15 after having chickenpox as a child, with no vaccines for. She had chickenpox as a kid as well. So how do you explain that?
Steve raises very valid questions.
Is there science involved behind this theory that you have Dr. Cowan?
Also hyperthermia for cancer(haven’t heard of that) But it’s essentially damaging and killing cancer cells if true. A drastic measure where the benefit could outweigh the risk. The question Steve asked was about brain damage. Not about it being fatal. Doctors seem to be in agreement that high body temps for a prolonged period of time can cause brain damage.
I have no idea why my input matters, but “yes” to another baby Greenfield or two. Great tie-in to your GAINSWave endorsement:). Personally, I’m cheering for a girl. How about podcasting on biohacks for gender choice? Lol All the best to you and your lovely family.
I will be purchasing Dr. Cowan’s book. Thanks so much for this podcast.
I would love it if you decided to have another child for very selfish reasons, let me explain, lol…I have been struggling with unexplained infertility for several years so it is my hope that if you decided to increase your family you would share more of your knowledge related to fertility and childcare!!
This podcast was great and gave me another resource (plus I will definitely be getting his book) for my situation that feels quite hopeless at times. Loved it and would love more like it. Thanks so much!