We’re the Most Medicated Nation in History

I don’t have an issue with weight gain.

FYI: mine are not the rantings of a fat guy. I go 6-0 and 170 and my weight has not varied much fever the decades.*

*while working as a trainer, operating as my own lab rat, I decided to determine how hard it would be for a slender guy to lose weight. I ate one meal a day while increasing steps to 20,000. I got down to around 150 and it was abject misery.

 

I grant that this is a popular train of thought, but what medications are keeping us alive ?

As recently as 2008 not only were Americans living longer, they were living ACTIVELY longer based on assistance required as seniors.

 

I’ve already posted an article underscoring the problems with blood pressure studies and most heart attack victims had normal cholesterol at the time, summary …


AI Overview

While it's true that high LDL cholesterol (the "bad" cholesterol) is a risk factor for heart attacks, studies suggest that nearly 75% of heart attack patients do not have dangerously high LDL cholesterol levels. This means that many heart attacks can occur even when cholesterol levels are within "normal" ranges, emphasizing the importance of considering other risk factors.

 

Even conventional healthcare is turning away from (if slowly) BMI serving as a health proxy.

It’s not like Americans are beached whales. We see a 400-pounder and then imagine we see them everywhere.

The average American male over 40 is 5-9 197 and the average American female over 40 is 5-4 171.

The average American is chubby with the ponderously fat and the anorexic thin at extreme ends of the bell curve.

 

I am simply pointing to the irony in which the most weight-conscious people on the planet are shooting themselves in the foot!

 

Busted! At least you know I haven’t changed my views on weight in 10 years.

It was the changing paradigm on weight that led me away from the fitness space.

I regard movement as a positive. But everyone wants to lose weight.

 

I consider it an advantage that I’ve lived on both sides. And it’s not a positive to remain in the wrong for the sake of consistency.

BTW, the 180 didn’t come overnight. I initially considered the weight neutral perspective a threat to my livelihood and a blow to my pride.

 

Though slender and active my LDL has always been “high.” I share that profile with my grandmother and mother who lived to 92 and 85 respectively.

The last time I had a regular doctor, it’s been four years now, he recommended that I go on statins.

He cited a study that suggested that, without statins I had an 11% chance of having a heart attack over the next ten years.

I asked what my risk factor would be WITH the statins based on the study.

8%

 

LDL - low density lipoprotein

 

Also factor in family history …

• 11% vs 8%:
  An 11% risk indicates a higher probability of experiencing a heart attack within the next 10 years compared to an 8% risk. This translates to a higher chance of having a heart attack, with 11 out of 100 people in the 11% risk group expected to experience a heart attack, compared to 8 out of 100 in the 8% risk group.