Be afraid. Be very afraid!
A discussion of self-help books would not be complete without mention of Kevin Trudeau, the best-selling author-turned-convicted-felon.
Sentenced to prison in 2014, his claims to cure everything from cancer to obesity were discussed at length in his infomercials and over water-coolers.
I believe he stumbled upon the perfect storm – and it was a good thing. For him. He was good-looking, smart, played well on television and offered what vulnerable people wanted/ needed to hear – a cure for whatever ailed them.
I should know. I was one of those people. And peeps, I gobbled it up.
Trudeau only said what so many of us were thinking… for example:
“The dirty little secret the food industry doesn’t want you to know. ‘It is always about the money.'”
Now THAT makes sense! Evil food industry. Right?
Maybe.
His books are legion, as are his infomercials, which live on in YouTube:
Is Trudeau a health advocate, controversial whistle-blower or a blowhard? I guess you’ll have to be the judge.
And really, this post is not about the man… it is about the book.
What can I say about it?
I believed it.
(I believed him. Damn. I can’t seem to separate the man from the books, after all.)
However, some of it sounded downright crazy. He talked about the notion of modified or … insert alarming music notes here… engineered food. It sounded impossible… or at least… far off… in the future. Hello, it’s the future. Can we say GMOs?
So much of what he shares is good stuff. Some is plain ol’ common sense. Some is junk.
It’s when he promises a CURE that the water gets really murky. You just can’t go around promising a cure for things that have no cure… or at least… no proven cure. It’s simply not right/ ethical/ prudent.
Now look… I love the whole “Natural Cure” idea as much as the next guy. If I can drink Cranberry juice and hold off a UTI instead of having to take a powerful antibiotic, I’m on board!
But would I recommend a book like this? Uh… maybe?… with a caveat: Don’t believe everything you read.
Er. Ugh.
Now, yes, keeping chemicals out of your body and eating right might prevent obesity and cancer… and a whole whack of other things, actually. But it’s not the same as a cure.
Ugh. Ugh. A million times, ugh. And a sigh.
Trudeau is currently serving a ten-year prison sentence and has a website dedicated to getting a presidential pardon. I read his letter to the POTUS and… wow… it surprised me… and not in a good way. I’m not touching that subject further. No way. No how.
In fact, I’m backing up very quickly. Yikes.
I changed my mind about the recommendation. No. Nada. Nope. I can’t in all good conscience recommend this book.
But it could generate some interesting conversations, I s’pose. Or not.
Ya know, I have never been more ambivilent about hitting the “publish” button. That probably says something important about my emotional state. Or not.
*sigh*
The Self-Help Whisperer® 