Life Expectancy vs Healthcare Expenditures

Exactly. Taste is the hook and sugar is the bait. Those are only a few of the companies. It's so overwhelming both structurally & culturally that other than specialty companies involved in whole/organic & grass fed/finished foods etc. nearly every food co/restaurant pumps their foods with sugar, refined/fiberless carbs, and all sorts of artificial additives or natural additives of unknown origin (there are something like 150 *natural* additives that companies do not have to list in the ingredients). The problem *begins* perinatal, if there is a starting point at all in this continuum.

 

Well for starters our FDA approves crap that others countries do not and they are in bed with the Monsanto's of the world.

So while I agree that visiting the Dr more may help you get educated and improve your health, there is crap on our shelves that should not be and that really wont get countered by doctors who frankly are often not nutritionists.

Ever see the doctors trays in a hospital cafeteria. (White bleached bread. Nitrate filled deli meats, Nutrition-less iceberg lettuce, diet pepsi etc)

The drop off here is nutrition. Period. Full stop. That is based on many factors.
Availability of genetically modified (yummy) poison, lack of real nutritional oversight from the agency that is supposed to protect us and advise us and yes a poor health care approach (system and strategy).

 

So it (life expectancy) doesn't have anything to do with our healthcare system and lack of access to healthcare for many lower income Americans?

 

Sure our agencies have let us down, but the bottom line is our obese culture is our own damn fault. If we had listened to our Mothers and Grandmothers we would have eaten 3 balanced meals a day with lots of fresh vegetables and not snacked between meals and we would be a lot better off. We can always run out and get that fresh Wendy's double or have Doordash deliver us a pizza at 10PM...but should we?

 

This is true, but the real culprit here is not the ineffectiveness of FDA oversight, it's the overwhelming political and capitalist economic forces that control the system and ensure ineffective oversight. And the public at large gives the food industry the power since other than with GMOs, people scream socialism, nanny state, authoritarianism(!!!!) at every opportunity for even some of the smallest efforts to limit the harm.

 

I went pre-diabetic last fall and had to cut out any added sugars. I was shocked how much added sugars were in cereals, even the ones advertised as healthier. the only two I can eat now are original cheerios and original oatmeal. I've lost 20 pounds cutting out sugar and cutting back on carbs

 

To the contrary, note the last line of my post:

I also consider the FDA to be part of our health care system because it is the source of much of the info that doctors or at least nutritionist should be able to use.

 

Agree 100%. Just pointing out its much more complex than just the health care system as it is often thought of

 

100% but on the other side when you have Monsanto bosses given the keys (appointed by the namesake of the ACA) to the FDA who are we supposed to trust?

 

Not an unfair question, and I don't have a good answer. All I know is that this is a socio/politico/eco structural problem dominates our food culture and dietary habits and problems with foods, including GMOs. It's our history of refining grains to the point that even whole grains are a problem. it's a problem with what we feed animals used for food consumption etc. As bad enough as Monsanto was (which is now owned by Bayer), it's nearly every food company. Think Kraft, General Mills, Nestle, Coca-Cola, Unilever and on and on. It's corn subsidies etc. It's fast food, restaurants. It's the entire ******* shebang.

 

The largest brands of foods in the US are basically sold by international conglomerates at this point. It is hard to point out ingredients that are drastically different in most of the world. If you look at international reports, we aren't performing much better or much worse than many other developed countries.

For example, let's compare the US to Australia in terms of nutrition.

Country Nutrition Profiles
Country Nutrition Profiles

So we relatively eat less fruit, fish, and whole grains, but Australia eats less nuts and legumes and more dairy and red meat. So slightly different profiles, but not where it is obvious one is considerably better than the other. Not on those charts, but they also consume more alcohol per year.

Monsanto has a huge presence in that country. There is freedom to choose foods. The global conglomerates all have big presences. You can get a McDonald's burger very easily there as well.

And yet our outcomes are vastly different. They have much lower obesity rates and overall better health outcomes, as shown by their higher life expectancies and by a variety of underlying health-related metrics. I don't see evidence to support that our diets are drastically different than other countries. Heck, most food items here started as imports with immigrants, and those we came up with here are heavily exported everywhere. The evidence seems to show that similar diets are causing worse outcomes.


Edit: BTW, it is also interesting that the metrics on which the US is improving are childhood issues when children are some of the only people in this country guaranteed quality healthcare access (with the others being the elderly).

 

I don't think that gets into enough detail to really highlight the differences in our diets.

Take high fructrose corn syrup for example, it doesn't even get used in some countries. The US consumes 55 lbs per capita (as of 2012), compare that to Australia at less than 1 lb per capita, and that is a pretty significant difference. Especially given the increased rates of diabetes associated with HFCS.

 

Very possible on that ingredient, although the causal links are pretty complex on it, especially compared to other forms of sugar, which other countries consume in higher quantities than the US. But that isn't an unreasonable theory because there is a difference on that ingredient.

 

So true, but Monsanto has its fingerprints on almost every one of those companies and products. The % of farms that are controlled by them is staggering.

You mentioned the Bayer merger. Let that sink in. A company known for medicinal, health, pharmaceuticals etc merged with the company most responsible for poisoning our food.

So basically you have a company stripping nutrition from our food and spraying it with poison that is now owned by a company that could benefit from the bad health of the people consuming foods that make them sick.

Talk about a sound business model!

I hate it. It makes me angry. Our food has been turned over to labs and nutrition isnt even an afterthought. Then big pharma buys said company that makes people sick and joins portfolios.

In the meantime our actual healthcare providers would just as soon bankrupt you as make you better and many of them are clueless about nutrition.

It's infuriating.

 

I'll come back to this later--heading to the gym now--but let me say about my recent healthcare experience. For several years I've been suffering an autoimmune disorder that I've written about a few times and recently diagnosed with TII diabetes & hyperthyroidism (I was severely obese but now getting down quickly). As I mentioned on other threads, I became the poster child for Obesity/Metabolic Syndrome epidemic.

Both my GP & Endo are good docs, but not holistic practitioners. They're trained to treat problems with meds (or surgery), not food. Leaving aside profit motivation in healthcare, it's a paradigm problem. OTOH, the problem with holistic med is that it's chock full of cranks and pseudo-science.

Funny/not funny thing?

Both docs recommended surgery for me. GP: a bariatric lap band; Endo: a thyroidectomy. I didn't get mad at this since I recognize why in part--the paradigm problem and all they see is failure and when some don't want to change, they just want the pill or surgery like Metformin so they can continue eat/live how they want.

FWIW, I refuse to get surgery unless absolutely medically necessary. Determined to beat these diseases and get healthy through proper diet and exercise. It's easy and it's hard at the same time.

 

You'll do it Mutzy, because you get it. Thats most of the battle. Yes it will be hard work, but you get it.

 

Yes!

I have not started it yet but my wife started reading The Shift: The Dramatic Movement Towards Health Centered Dentistry. It sounds fantastic! Our Practice has always been patient centered. But in healthcare so many get in their lanes and things can get missed that might have been caught.

Sugars and the carbohydrates that can be turned into sugar are what the bacteria in our body feed on (the mouth is an incubator for bacteria). The connection with heart disease can be right in front of you. Along with many other things.

Our hope is to find like minded doctors (GP/ENT/Cardiologist/Sleep Doctor/Nutritionist) to work with for all of our patients. Ones that look outside the box for all circumstances.

 

I agree with part of this sentiment. It is definitely more expensive to eat healthy. But there are ways to do it cheaper. The problem is more freedom and many healthy foods don’t taste good. Once people enjoy the good tasting foods they struggle to control portions. Portion control can be a huge help. Even with the unhealthy foods. But certainly one should avoid a diet of basically unhealthy foods.

 

Starting to sound like you understand why a Djokovic and myself have decided not to get the Covid shots…

In all seriousness…Love Your Story!!! Keep it up. You are doing great and the way I would advise.