Paradigm Change

What do you believe about health? What makes you healthy? We are being told that going to the doctor for regular checkups, getting your screening tests, shots, and taking your medications is the way to be healthy. Let’s see if it’s working.

America spends on healthcare more than any other country in the world! This should lead to greater health and longevity in the American population. But it doesn’t! We are number 48 on the longevity list of developed countries! We are behind Panama, Poland, Slovenia, Greece, Israel… Countries that spend 1/10th to ½ of what we are spending on healthcare.

Our health spendings grew to $4.5 trillion in 2022, or $13,493 per person, and accounted for 17.3% of Gross Domestic Product. We spent $14,423 in 2023. In 2024, per capita healthcare spending in the United States is projected to be around $21,927 or $4.9 trillion.

With all this money spent, we are facing a health crisis. According to The New York Times, this generation of our children may live shorter lives than their parents.

"Obesity is such that this generation of children could be the first basically in the history of the United States to live less healthful and shorter lives than their parents," said Dr. David S. Ludwig, director of the obesity program at Children's Hospital Boston.

We must be spending money on the wrong things! Clearly, obesity is on the rise and it brings with it a higher risk of diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and other inflammatory health conditions. What’s the answer? Pharmaceutical companies have a solution for this problem: GLP-1 drugs.

As always, it is a lucrative proposition to just take a pill or a shot and make all your problems go away. Let’s see what these drugs do for us at an average cost of $16,000/year.

It is true that most people will experience weight loss while taking the drug, if they stay on it in spite of side effects. The weight typically plateaus before a healthy weight is reached, with most people still being obese on the drug. Once the weight is lost, you have to continue the drug for THE REST OF YOUR LIFE. If you stop, the weight comes back immediately. As any drug, these are not without side effects, ranging from nausea and diarrhea to constipation and intestinal obstruction, which is a life-threatening condition often requiring surgery.

Only 60% of the weight loss is fat, the other 40%? It’s muscle! Muscle mass is what helps us burn fat and stay strong and agile as we get older. Losing muscle is a huge health risk and makes it harder to lose or maintain weight in the future.

Even if the medication is covered by insurance, think about the financial burden for the country: almost doubling how much we spend per person.

The truth is, GLP-1 drugs can help you lose a few pounds relatively quickly, but will they make you healthier? Being on an expensive medication for the rest of your life, with multiple side effects, including an increased risk of cancer and depression, still never reaching a healthy weight… It does not look like a good solution to me.

We need to shift our paradigm from waiting for a doctor, a drug, or a procedure to fix us to taking health into our own hands. There is a better, cheaper, healthier option: lifestyle change and a diet based on whole foods and rich in plants. This way of eating is natural to humans. It is how people eat in Blue Zones (areas of the world where many people live for over 100 years). When we eat the way nature intended, everything in the body works better: unwanted weight comes off effortlessly, inflammation decreases, blood sugar, blood pressure, cholesterol… all come to normal levels. I like to say that instead of side effects, you get side benefits. They also include improved mood, less anxiety and depression and more joy and gratitude in life.

Are you interested in learning how to eat for optimal weight, health, and longevity? Reach out to me and let’s talk.