Yes, Virginia; there ARE Biologisch Hot Dogs…even here in the Netherlands!
I was on my way home from my morning shift at the office, and I was very peckish for lunch (the auto correction on my Word doc just corrected it to “puckish,” which I am…but I digress).
So when I got off at my stop and saw a new snack stand nearby, one that says it has biologisch snacks (organic fast food), I was thrilled.
There were a man and a woman who were working that stand. They did not look like teenagers; meaning, I think they knew each other and that this was their venture. The manner in which others were hanging around chatting with them also lent itself to the impression that this was their business.
I am all about supporting local businesses who want to add to my mission to make the world as natural and clean as possible. I made my way over.
First of all, there was a sandwich board by the bikepad to advertise the stand. The arrow, supposedly there to point toward the stand, was pointing the other way. That should have been my first clue.
But being who I am, I turned the sandwich board around, so it actually pointed to the snack stand, and trotted over.
It is a Dutch stand, not far from a hospital. I am trying to learn Dutch, so I can read the signs pretty much.
The friets (fries) are biologisch. The suiker (sugar) is biologisch.
Not much else.
Still, I remained hopeful. There were hot dogs rolling away on a hot dog cooker/roller thing, and I like hot dogs.
So I asked the woman behind the counter, “Zijn de hot dogs biologisch ook (are the hot dogs also organic)?”
She answered me back, in English, “No. They don’t make biologisch hot dogs.”
She chuckled, as if at the thought, and repeated louder, “They don’t make them.”
While its true that I have, up to now, not had a hot dog in the Netherlands – I don’t normally eat fast food – I have, indeed, had many organic hot dogs back in The States.
Maybe they don’t make organic hot dogs here. I don’t know. All I know is that I didn’t want fries, so I went off home.
As soon as I got home, before I fixed my lunch, I looked up on the Internet, “biologisch hot dogs.”
Hear ya go.
With links, just because they exist, and I WANT TO SUPPORT SMALL BUSINESSES THAT GIVE A DAMN.
Yes, Virginia; there ARE biologisch hot dogs…even in the Netherlands!
I hate it when people in positions of authority (and if you own a snack truck that says “biologisch is lekker” on it, it implies that you are an authority in organic fast food) just SAY THINGS THAT AREN’T TRUE.
Not only is it not true, it’s not true that she even looked.
And it’s only midday.
My day, up to this point, has been full of hearing reports of these so-called, “authoritative” opinions.
Before I left for home, I ran into one of my ex-patients. He told me that the hand brace he’s been wearing for 6 weeks for De Quervain tenosynovitis (no imaging – standard of care says it’s not “necessary”) is not working, so “they” are going to try surgery.
I asked, “Have you worked with a physical therapist? Have they tried ultrasound? Laser therapy? Mobilization? Anything like that?”
No, he answered. But he trusts them. They only do hands.
“They only do hands.”
This is why he’s my ex-patient. As much as we like each other and as much as I care, he trusts people who deal with the body like it is a machine with separate, mechanical parts. I treat the body like it’s a whole being that works synergistically. Our world views are different.
Still, I care, so I referred him to a very good sports medicine center in Amstelveen. Here they are, because I CARE.
And then before that…
Before that, I have a patient who has been dealing with debilitating back pain for a few weeks.
He’s been visiting me and a physiotherapist, and we both agree there’s probably a herniated disc or two in his low back.
If I was in The States, I would order imaging to rule out herniation and spondylolysis. But I can’t do that here. I have to rely on his huisarts (primary care physician) specialist to make that call.
I wrote a nice note to the doc, hoping it would help.
It did not help.
The huisarts specialist said he didn’t need it because “its really something that is not that.”
???????? First of all, what does “that” mean in that context?
Second of all, HOW THE HELL DOES (S)HE KNOW THAT WITHOUT TAKING A F*@&ING PICTURE?
It drives me CRAZY when people, who we are supposed to trust with our health – and that means, with our lives – say and do things to influence their patients without even trying to find out what’s going on, and whether or not they are saying and doing the right things!
We have a responsibility to say, “I don’t know.”
More: as humans, we all have these responsibilities:
- To say, “I don’t know,” when we don’t know.
At this point, we are obliged to either:
- Find out
- Send them to someone who knows
- Send them to someone who might know, or
- Admit we don’t know and we don’t know anyone who might know, but we will try to find someone who might know
As health care providers, we are doubly responsible to do so.
And above all else:
Stop acting like an authority in EVERYTHING just because you are an authority in SOMETHING.
The snack stand owner may know how to run a snack stand, but she doesn’t know how to please her supposed-target customer.
When you put, “biologisch en lekker (organic and tasty)” on your sign, you’re calling to me. Biologisch food is very, VERY important to me.
When I ask you about your product, and your branding is all about biologisch, you better bet that I know something about it too, or I wouldn’t be interested at all.
Stop branding with my values.
If I am not your target, stop calling to me.
It’s insulting to me that you’re branding with my values, and they are not your values at all.
It is INSULTING.
If you brand yourself as a health care provider, and you do not provide health care, it is insulting to me that you are branding with my values when health is not your value at all; and, in the process, mishandling our patient, who wants help.
If you brand yourself a health care provider, provide health care.
This evening, I am going back to the office to see my late afternoon-evening patients, and to host a monthly event called, the Functional Forum Amsterdam Meetup.
It is an event for medical and other health care providers who are interested in incorporating functional medicine into their practices.
I, personally, am not interested in incorporating functional medicine in my practice.
That’s not why I am holding these monthly events.
I AM interested in partnering with health care providers who share my values, so I can refer my patients to them when I need to.
What is my brand?
I am a chiropractor who loves to deliver chiropractic. Chiropractic is my product.
My BRAND, though, is living well in harmony with nature, connected to your body and to Source.
It is VITALISM.
Vitalism takes into account the whole of human experience — body, mind, and spirit.
I want our spiritual beings who are having human experiences to have the most effective, vitalistic human experience possible.
Chiropractic can help that happen.
When it comes to health care delivery
I am not the whole. I am part of the whole – a vital part, to be sure; but not the whole part.
I need you for that.
Does this all resonate with you?
Be real. Be human.