Kevin Trudeau's Natural Cures. Is it worth a read?
For one example of a book which includes natural cure procedures is called Blended Medicine: ‘The Best Choices in Healing’ which is dubbed on the cover “the Breakthrough System that Combines Natural, Alternative & Mainstream Medicine.” In this book, Michael Castleman includes chapters on low-fat lifestyles, vegetarianism, vitamins and mineral supplements, elimination dieting, exercise, meditation massage, and more, discussing Ayurvedic and other medicines as well as including a massive section on curing yourself using blended medicine—curing everything from congestive heart disease to constipation, incontinence to insomnia.
Again, many of us swear by the book, natural cure and natural treatment, homeopathic self-applied treatment. But what if the book natural cure offer made by a less than reputable author? Or a disreputable author? On 20/20 last week, one such snake oil salesman was discussed. Kevin Trudeau has written book natural cures one and two: Natural Cures “They” Don’t Want You to Know About; and the same book with just the title (the first having his face on it—on the cover). The issue is not only the book, that has disappointed, ill-treated, and even killed (purportedly) a number of suckers, but the issue is the author.
Kevin Trudeau started out as the king of home-shopping/infomercial fame. John Stossell, the brilliant investigative reporter of 20/20, though, has pursued the man’s habits—which amount to his (Trudeau’s) yielding millions of dollars. First, Stossell reports, Trudeau does jail time, twice—once for swindling a bank, once for credit card frauding his customers. Out of jail, Trudeau is on TV, claiming he is a memory expert (and, of course, selling tapes for memory improvement). Then he is on TV, pushing cancer cure tapes and pain elimination tapes.
Then the government would bust him. The government would begin efforts to take Trudeau to court for fraudulence, but he would get out of it with what are called consent order settlements (where you deny doing anything wrong but promise not to do it anymore!) and with fines. But Trudeau would continue to sell fantastic products and claims…until the government extracted from him 2 million in fines (which he paid by relinquishing two homes) and a guarantee he would NEVER sell products again.
So what does the swin-swam man do? He writes and sells a book, natural cures that will save your life, etc., etc., and because books are not “products,” per se, he is untouchable.
The book is a bestseller and those who have unwittingly contributed to its fame and success have paid in ways beyond that of the amount of the book Trudeau can now buy more houses with: one person stopped taking synthetic meds and had a seizure—because Trudeau proposes drug companies are evil and doctors’ prescriptions are deadly. Another person with Cancer bought the con man’s book for pain-free cures, but found there are none…though he advertises there are.
Trudeau makes false claims, tells lies, and is taking money and justifying his guru status…though doctors, institutions, investigators, the government, and news reporters like John Stossell consistently find his statements and claims absolutely fallacious and erroneous. And still he profits. So do we choose to be gullible? Or are the criminals getting smarter or nastier, keeping one step ahead with their snake oil remedies and book natural cures claims that we somehow want or need to be suckered by?
