Laura and Nick Magrone, Jr. with Author/Film Director Jeffrey Smith and Author/Attorney Steven Drucker, JD who successfully fought the FDA


Every time I heard that phrase from a medical professional I wanted to bring up the countless medical journal entries, websites, integrative medicine books as well as the integrative published articles in sources such as JAMA, PLoS One, etc. and the hundreds of printouts I had that stated otherwise. And a few times I did just that. I am convinced that every article I handed to the many different professionals I dealt with may have been glanced over once at best. I will not fault them for not being able to change their entire way of thinking and practice based upon the information I provided, as it is mainly not a physician’s fault per se but merely the result of a fl awed medical system, skewed science and corporate interests. I also feel that belief systems play a big role in aspects of medical ethics and practices. If you don’t think so, ask your doctor about nutrition. Many belief systems have strongly infl uenced such an easy topic like nutrition. After all, who was I to question someone of such a high professional designation? I was just a young man trying to fi gure out how to better himself and possibly others. I should have listened to my inner physician and not my outer one. After those initial years, I made a lot of different attempts to keep my health the top priority—but in every area that I went to for answers (even health food stores), there were none to be found that really


14


helped me. I got better to the point that I was able to re-enroll at USF and pursue my degree again. I was hired by another large insurance company and felt I had made signifi cant progress in keeping myself relatively healthy. But there were a few things that kept resurfacing that I was not okay with and I had to go on leave for over a month. During this time, thanks to “corporate politics,” I was released from my job due to project timelines, budget concerns and other “gobble-dy-gook” from upper management. This was one week before Christmas. I once again had to withdraw from my degree program. It was, without a doubt, like an Oscar award-winning script that even Stephen Spielberg or George Lucas could not top. Only I was living it. There were a lot of other details that I will not bore you with, but you get the picture. Major things were changing in my life whether I liked it or not. If I had not embraced the changes, I would never have evolved out of the patterns that I still see today in many people who are in a similar situation. After my release from employment, I reached out to a large group of scientists, doctors and authors who were well-skilled in the area of autoimmune conditions, and I became part of the team who were attempting to bring answers to the public. I met with a lot of people who should be Nobel nominees in my opinion—but the structure of corporate interests and


Central Florida natural awakenings


other moral dilemmas will never allow them that recognition. I honestly liked the fact that these people were almost working in an esoteric nature for the sake of proving that the medical and scientifi c community needs greater transparency. If someone rolled up in a time machine and asked me to hop in and reverse, give me my job back, fi nish college the standard way, get promoted to mid- management and stay there for 15 years to pay off my student loans, get a mid- size SUV that fi ts my 2.5 kids and—sorry, please insert amateur movie reference again, “take the blue pill” and just go along to get along, I wouldn’t trade it… ever. The experiences I obtained from attending professional meetings, from volunteering my time in many places I was never told about by the mi s-leaders in medicine and politics, the people I have met that show sincere integrity in their profession and who objectively debate about the important topics that we all have to deal with, the countless email chains that I was involved with attempting to better the next young man or woman’s chances who were labeled “incurable” by some ICD code, the foods I have used to heal and not harm, the supplements that have helped me understand how the body actually works, learning how to use exercise to my advantage and not make it a disadvantage to my overall outcome with any health- related issue—there is no way I would have had the chance to better my outlook and my physical and mental health if my life had been any different. Not one of these statements would have occurred if I had taken the “normal” route. To bring the story to a close, after


working in the natural industry with both large and small companies, I see what people want. I see that we are no longer going to let a failed medical and political system dictate what we choose for ourselves and our loved ones. My


Major things were changing in my life whether I liked it or not. If I had not embraced the changes, I would never have


evolved out of the patterns that I still see today in many people who are in a similar situation.


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