Dude. Really took the gloves off on this one. In a good way. And with helpful facts and info that actually arm people to make better decisions. Thanks for writing. I learn every post.
Been thinking about why there aren’t more doctors who speak up about this. People who are SUPPOSED to care.
Realized the whole system—that they spend over a decade in training, and go into massive debt, means that by the time they are actually getting paid for the first time in their life in their late 30s or early 40’s, with hundreds of thousands in debt and perhaps the beginning of a family, must make it a pretty terrifying prospect to speak up against the medical establishment. Better to not look into it or question it. Too much on the line.
Thankfully some amazing doctors. Just thinking about incentives and how the ridiculously long, difficult and expensive path to earning an MD also happens to be a very good way to control people.
Great work here Justin. I like how comprehensive yet simple you made it.
"industry spends hundreds of millions of lobbying dollars to convince you that obesity is genetic and the chronic disease crisis is complicated."
I couldn't agree more. The "it's genetic" non-explanation is one of the biggest farces in the health conversation.
I was just thinking about how the plague of what is called "mental" illness is surpisingly solvable. Pathological anxiety appears to be rampant. The cure is often simple and free, which I detail in Experience of Anxiety. But when I go Googling, the top results (drugs and talk therapy) are expensive, and in my experience, ineffective.
I get the feeling America's health is bottoming out, so in the long term, I'm optimistic.
The past few days, I've been thinking about how I could help others transcend pathological anxiety as I helped myself do so. Considering creating ZeroAnxiety.club and put up an anxiety-reduction blueprint, plus a coaching call link for same-day or next-day support. I think that could be helpful. Curious to hear your thoughts on this
Great article Justin, with clear explanations and good examples. I moved to New Zealand from England 15 years ago and I had no idea just how much better tasting and more nutritional locally grown fruit and vegetables were, Along with grass-fed cattle and sheep, and of course olive oil, you get used to incredible flavours and quality from almost everything you eat, which is in stark comparison to when I spend time back England. One of the biggest issues I feel is that children who grow up on "junk food" really struggle to like the flavour of natural produce so the key seems to me to be to try to feed babies and young children as natural a diet as possible so that they are more likely to dislike food with added sugars and additives as they grow older. Easier said that done I know, but well worth the effort when you consider the statistics.
Around 55% of obese children become obese adolescents. [1]
Around 80% of obese adolescents become obese adults. [1]
You nailed the simplicity with the captive animals metaphor. Natural reactions to unnatural conditions. Posterity will judge harshly our current approach to health and the list of FDA/USDA/NIH atrocities. Even bloodletting and lobotomies were at least earnest attempts to treat or cure.
Love what you and Calley are doing with TrueMed and spreading awareness. Feels like America is finally waking up and critical mass is imminent. Plenty to be done to build default healthy societies, but fixing our food and incentives is a first-order priority. Hopeful new govt will accelerate it too...
Yes, to all you've written re: food. AND we've ramped up vaccinations in our youngsters to grossly unnecessary and deeply damaging levels. Ask anyone in my gen (1953 model) how many vaccines we had. And compare that to what a single child gets today, before entering first grade. It's truly criminal, based entirely on profit, and killing us faster and at the same time, more chronically than food.
We can change diets in a day and have a positive outcome in a week or a few. But, get a combo vaccine today, and you'll pay for that for the rest of your life. True in the animals, true in the humans.
I'd love to learn more about vaccinations and health impacts. It's not something I know a ton about, and wonder the extent to which it has an impact on the chronic disease crisis.
I learned in my homeopathic training that chronic disease could not be cured without and unless "vaccinosis" (200 year old term coined during the smallpox vax days) was specifically addressed in the process of prescribing for the individual. A seminal book by the physician who coined the term, J. Compton Burnett, is Vaccinosis and Its Cure by Thuja, still in print and even free online. Horrendous, extended suffering in those cases he presents, as well as remarkable cures with this remedy.
Animals in the wild are not healthy. They don't get any medical treatment, die from any mildly serious disease; infested with parasites; and generally live much shorter lives than in captivity. By thinking that all wild animals are healthy you're exposing the survivor bias that you have here. You can read about this in Gerald Durrell books (who was collecting animals for zoos).
I do agree with your claims regarding obesity, but I would attribute it more to the fact that in US there are sweeteners in everything. As a person who many times tried to live a ketogenic lifestyle and checked the labels for any food that I got, I realized that its near impossible to buy packaged food that has no sweeteners in it.
Thank you for this article. We are poisoning our population to make money then building a profit centered healthcare system to treat them. It is nuts. My only comment is the right diet for an individual will vary greatly. Whole, fresh food is critical. My father, brother and brother-in-law are all doctors and have no idea about nutrition. I have started following a Ayurvedic diet and it has transformed my health. For many of us (I did the Atkins and Paleo diet for years) a vegetarian diet works best that integrate with the season.
I appreciate you writing this piece, Justin. Even though we've never met, I can tell our views of the world overlap almost entirely. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can return more to that natural environment and *stop* all of these useless (at best marginally helpful) band-aid behaviors. As you say: "When an animal is in its natural environment, the natural state of that organism is health. Wild animals don’t do cold plunges, they don’t diet, they don’t take 18 supplements every morning. They simply live as nature intended, and health is the default outcome. " BOOM.
This hit too: "...obesity, chronic illness, poor health...all of this is incredibly unnatural. Your great-grandma didn’t fast, didn’t think about keto vs. vegan vs. Atkins. She simply participated in a food environment with no toxin exposure: one that was local, seasonal, and organic by default."
The world I'd love to see come to life is the one where we can *stop* talking about hacks and return to a state where we're default healthy.
This perfectly summarizes everything I learned after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and struggling to find answers on how to reclaim my health. Functional medicine teaches many of these principles, but isn’t widely accepted by Big Health because of the same incentives you outlined for Big Food. Thank you for shedding light on the most important issues of our time. It all comes back to making health simple and accessible.
The FDA is the one to blame. They basically run the healthcare industrial complex. It will all make sense when it is acknowledged that the FDA works only for the healthcare industrial complex, and not at all for the taxpayer. This is because the healthcare industrial complex is what gives funding to the FDA via fees and other legalized bribes.
Dude. Really took the gloves off on this one. In a good way. And with helpful facts and info that actually arm people to make better decisions. Thanks for writing. I learn every post.
Been thinking about why there aren’t more doctors who speak up about this. People who are SUPPOSED to care.
Realized the whole system—that they spend over a decade in training, and go into massive debt, means that by the time they are actually getting paid for the first time in their life in their late 30s or early 40’s, with hundreds of thousands in debt and perhaps the beginning of a family, must make it a pretty terrifying prospect to speak up against the medical establishment. Better to not look into it or question it. Too much on the line.
Thankfully some amazing doctors. Just thinking about incentives and how the ridiculously long, difficult and expensive path to earning an MD also happens to be a very good way to control people.
Thanks man!
Great work here Justin. I like how comprehensive yet simple you made it.
"industry spends hundreds of millions of lobbying dollars to convince you that obesity is genetic and the chronic disease crisis is complicated."
I couldn't agree more. The "it's genetic" non-explanation is one of the biggest farces in the health conversation.
I was just thinking about how the plague of what is called "mental" illness is surpisingly solvable. Pathological anxiety appears to be rampant. The cure is often simple and free, which I detail in Experience of Anxiety. But when I go Googling, the top results (drugs and talk therapy) are expensive, and in my experience, ineffective.
I get the feeling America's health is bottoming out, so in the long term, I'm optimistic.
The past few days, I've been thinking about how I could help others transcend pathological anxiety as I helped myself do so. Considering creating ZeroAnxiety.club and put up an anxiety-reduction blueprint, plus a coaching call link for same-day or next-day support. I think that could be helpful. Curious to hear your thoughts on this
Fantastic piece.
Great article Justin, with clear explanations and good examples. I moved to New Zealand from England 15 years ago and I had no idea just how much better tasting and more nutritional locally grown fruit and vegetables were, Along with grass-fed cattle and sheep, and of course olive oil, you get used to incredible flavours and quality from almost everything you eat, which is in stark comparison to when I spend time back England. One of the biggest issues I feel is that children who grow up on "junk food" really struggle to like the flavour of natural produce so the key seems to me to be to try to feed babies and young children as natural a diet as possible so that they are more likely to dislike food with added sugars and additives as they grow older. Easier said that done I know, but well worth the effort when you consider the statistics.
Around 55% of obese children become obese adolescents. [1]
Around 80% of obese adolescents become obese adults. [1]
Source: Predicting adult obesity from childhood obesity: a systematic review and meta-analysis [PubMed link]: [1] (https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26696565/)
You nailed the simplicity with the captive animals metaphor. Natural reactions to unnatural conditions. Posterity will judge harshly our current approach to health and the list of FDA/USDA/NIH atrocities. Even bloodletting and lobotomies were at least earnest attempts to treat or cure.
Love what you and Calley are doing with TrueMed and spreading awareness. Feels like America is finally waking up and critical mass is imminent. Plenty to be done to build default healthy societies, but fixing our food and incentives is a first-order priority. Hopeful new govt will accelerate it too...
That was amazing! Thank you Justin.
I would love to see more foods compared to between EU and US/Canada. We can learn lots about the regulations they have in place.
God bless you and this tour de force Justin!!
I just realized your bone broth is in my fridge - good stuff! Thanks!
This was by far your best newsletter yet. Amazing read!
Yes, to all you've written re: food. AND we've ramped up vaccinations in our youngsters to grossly unnecessary and deeply damaging levels. Ask anyone in my gen (1953 model) how many vaccines we had. And compare that to what a single child gets today, before entering first grade. It's truly criminal, based entirely on profit, and killing us faster and at the same time, more chronically than food.
We can change diets in a day and have a positive outcome in a week or a few. But, get a combo vaccine today, and you'll pay for that for the rest of your life. True in the animals, true in the humans.
I'd love to learn more about vaccinations and health impacts. It's not something I know a ton about, and wonder the extent to which it has an impact on the chronic disease crisis.
The fact that you’re able to say this shows you’re an independent thinker
I learned in my homeopathic training that chronic disease could not be cured without and unless "vaccinosis" (200 year old term coined during the smallpox vax days) was specifically addressed in the process of prescribing for the individual. A seminal book by the physician who coined the term, J. Compton Burnett, is Vaccinosis and Its Cure by Thuja, still in print and even free online. Horrendous, extended suffering in those cases he presents, as well as remarkable cures with this remedy.
I also have a series on vaccines, which I have long called out as the #1 most significant decision any pet owner will make. http://vitalanimal.com/vaccinations-consider-carefully/
Animals in the wild are not healthy. They don't get any medical treatment, die from any mildly serious disease; infested with parasites; and generally live much shorter lives than in captivity. By thinking that all wild animals are healthy you're exposing the survivor bias that you have here. You can read about this in Gerald Durrell books (who was collecting animals for zoos).
I do agree with your claims regarding obesity, but I would attribute it more to the fact that in US there are sweeteners in everything. As a person who many times tried to live a ketogenic lifestyle and checked the labels for any food that I got, I realized that its near impossible to buy packaged food that has no sweeteners in it.
Thank you for this article. We are poisoning our population to make money then building a profit centered healthcare system to treat them. It is nuts. My only comment is the right diet for an individual will vary greatly. Whole, fresh food is critical. My father, brother and brother-in-law are all doctors and have no idea about nutrition. I have started following a Ayurvedic diet and it has transformed my health. For many of us (I did the Atkins and Paleo diet for years) a vegetarian diet works best that integrate with the season.
Totally agree with you!
I appreciate you writing this piece, Justin. Even though we've never met, I can tell our views of the world overlap almost entirely. I spend a lot of time thinking about how we can return more to that natural environment and *stop* all of these useless (at best marginally helpful) band-aid behaviors. As you say: "When an animal is in its natural environment, the natural state of that organism is health. Wild animals don’t do cold plunges, they don’t diet, they don’t take 18 supplements every morning. They simply live as nature intended, and health is the default outcome. " BOOM.
This hit too: "...obesity, chronic illness, poor health...all of this is incredibly unnatural. Your great-grandma didn’t fast, didn’t think about keto vs. vegan vs. Atkins. She simply participated in a food environment with no toxin exposure: one that was local, seasonal, and organic by default."
The world I'd love to see come to life is the one where we can *stop* talking about hacks and return to a state where we're default healthy.
Amen and thank you for writing this, brother.
pretty amazing piece about health and food and why it matters.
This perfectly summarizes everything I learned after being diagnosed with an autoimmune disease and struggling to find answers on how to reclaim my health. Functional medicine teaches many of these principles, but isn’t widely accepted by Big Health because of the same incentives you outlined for Big Food. Thank you for shedding light on the most important issues of our time. It all comes back to making health simple and accessible.
The FDA is the one to blame. They basically run the healthcare industrial complex. It will all make sense when it is acknowledged that the FDA works only for the healthcare industrial complex, and not at all for the taxpayer. This is because the healthcare industrial complex is what gives funding to the FDA via fees and other legalized bribes.