By Jonathan Chu, MD
Interventional Pain Medicine
PM&R

From my earliest clinical rotations as a medical student, up until my fourth year as an attending physician in clinical practice, I noticed a disheartening trend among not only the patients I’ve seen, but also, the larger population in the United states

And that trend is this…

Over the years…in general…the American people seem to be getting sicker.

You probably notice this trend as well, even if you don’t work in healthcare.

You notice it every time you go out to the grocery store or simply walk about town or your local community.

Americans just seem to be declining in vitality and energy, even when compared to just one or two decades prior.

At first, I thought that this could just be the observational bias of a single physician.

But when I looked into this more deeply, I found that the data very much supported what I had been seeing with my own eyes. The health and quality of life in America has been clearly and steadily worsening.

Obesity has been steadily increasing, especially in just the past two decades. And this trend isn’t stopping. A 2019 study conducted by the Harvard School of Public health projected that 50% of Americans will suffer from obesity by the year 2030.

Furthermore, over the past few decades, cardiac disease and high blood pressure have both been rising.

Depression and anxiety diagnoses have been increasing, along with prescriptions for anti-depressant medications such as SSRIs.

Substance abuse has been rising.

In fact, the cdc estimates that 51.8 percent of all American adults live with some type of chronic disease.

Yes, more than half!

But why is this happening? Is it because our healthcare system is broken? This is one factor, of course.

Though our country may be the most powerful in the world in terms of economic power and military might, our country is frequently listed far behind most other developed countries in terms of quality and access to healthcare.

In fact, depending on the source and what metrics are evaluated, the quality of US healthcare ranks anywhere between a paltry 30th and 37th in the world.

And yes, having worked in healthcare for more than the past decade, I can say that our system is almost hopelessly broken in so many ways.

Our system is full of competing interests, inefficiencies in delivering care, slow innovation due to groupthink, petty corporate politics, poor communication both between and within health systems, a complex and bewildering insurance and payment system, to name but a few of the flaws.

Even as a physician, I will admit, the US healthcare system and its myriad of problems are too extensive for even me to fully understand, much less come up with unifying solutions for reform.

But our healthcare system and its complex problems are not the focus of this film.

In fact, I would even argue that our healthcare system should not even be the focus of our efforts.

Furthermore, I think that the actual role of our healthcare system is much misunderstood by our entire society at large.

Health does not begin with the doctors and nurses of our healthcare system.

It does not begin with surgeries and prescription medicines.

Our healthcare system in actuality is much like a last line of defense

When a patient is suffering from obesity, diabetes, and extensive coronary artery disease, and has been admitted to the ICU for a second heart attack and ventricular failure, the doctors and nurses rushing to care for this patient are part of a rescue effort aimed at preserving a patient with problems that have been brewing for decades.

Quite simply, the healthcare system is not meant to be utilized to the extent at which it is being used today. The healthcare system is meant to be merely a capstone upon a much larger structure that promotes the health and well-being of Americans. And what is the broad foundation to this structure meant to be?

Prevention.

It is an aspect of health that has been thoroughly neglected by politicians, health system administrators, insurance companies, and our society as a whole.

Yet, every wise physician knows that prevention is infinitely more valuable than treatments, since even our modern treatments for most chronic diseases are not only incredibly costly, but also are designed to be predominantly management tools, and are not curative.

And what exactly constitutes good prevention?

It is a nation that embraces a healthful lifestyle and culture. Yes, the health of a nation begins with the culture and the society itself.

It is the absolute foundation upon which the health of the American people rests. And unfortunately, to say that the foundation of American health is crumbling would be very much an understatement.

In the simplest terms:

Modern American life has an absolute excess of factors detrimental to health, and is increasingly becoming devoid of the things that promote health.

Take a moment and take a step back, and try to view our society from a bird’s eye view.

In almost every aspect, modern American culture promotes illness and not health.

Now before I move on with this film, please understand, I am not saying any of this to be judgemental or negative in any way towards the American people. In fact, I would say that the patients I saw through the years were, on the whole, the most wonderful and down to earth people a physician could ever hope to care for.

However, I do believe that you need to fully and accurately identify a problem before you can propose meaningful solutions. And anyone who is paying attention is able to see that there is an absolute health crisis in modern America that needs to be addressed. As an American, you need to know that your health is absolutely under attack from multiple fronts, and I believe that all Americans NEED to learn exactly what is happening, and how to fight back.

The first chapters of this video will thus be spent identifying the aspects of health where our society is absolutely failing. Then the later parts of this film will discuss how to make positive changes in each of those areas, and hopefully begin to help our nation begin its journey back to health and vitality once again.

Now let’s start to break it down to the main pillars of health and how each one is under unrelenting attack.

Great health and prevention are actually quite simple, and can be thought to rest upon 4 main pillars.

These are nutrition, exercise, sleep, and mindset.

Let’s start with nutrition.

The human body can be seen as an infinitely complex and elegant biological machine; after 4 years of studying it in medical schools, it is almost impossible to not see the human body as a miracle of divine engineering.

As such, it stands to reason that a sound and healthy body absolutely requires the proper building blocks and fuel in order to function properly.

This means that for the human body to sustain itself properly, it requires the proper intake and balance of macronutrients such as protein, fats, and carbohydrates, as well as vitamins and minerals and other micronutrients.

Most people do not realize how finely calibrated the human machine is. They do not realize just how critical the proper balance of each nutrient and chemical component is to the human body.

Let’s look at one common example. Most people think little about Vitamin C and their fruit and vegetable intake.

However, what happens to people who completely lack this vitamin in their diet?

A disease known as scurvy occurs, which commonly plagued the sailors of centuries past. Sailors with scurvy would suffer from bleeding, lethargy, fevers, convulsions, and eventually death.

Take a moment to think about this.

Death was the result from simply the lack of fresh fruits and vegetables in the diet for a period of several months. Let me repeat this, it was not just feeling unwell, or mild symptoms. The result was death.

There are innumerable other serious diseases that result from the lack of a nutrient that we take for granted.

Iron deficiency leads to anemia.

Vitamin D deficiency leads to rickets, which involves poor bone development and bowed legs in children.

Thiamine deficiency can lead to heart failure, various forms of nervous system disease, including confusion and deranged mental function.

Iodine deficiency leads to goiter, hypothyroidism, muscle weakness, and fatigue.

These are but a few examples illustrating how the lack of a single micronutrient can prove disastrous and life-threatening.

Nutrition is often an afterthought in the collective mind of our modern world, but I cannot emphasize enough how critical nutrition is to the proper functioning of the human machine.

While extreme cases of specific forms of malnutrition are mainly seen in the third-world, and not in the United States, this does not mean that the average American is getting optimal nutrition by any means.

In fact, a trend that I noticed among so many patients was this:

They were simultaneously overweight and undernourished at the same time.

It is a phenomenon happening throughout the so-called developed world, and was even described in the Lancet as “the double burden of malnutrition,” that is, concurrent obesity and undernutrition.

More and more people are getting an excess of cheap calories from poor quality food, leading to weight gain, yet not getting anywhere near the amount of optimal micronutrients that are needed to thrive.

Let’s take a closer look at what is oft termed “the Standard American Diet” to see why this is the case.

Most people in modern day America are relying predominantly upon fast food and pre-packaged foods to form the bulk of their diets.

Take a drive through any typical American town throughout our nation.

What do you see?

Fast food restaurants are abound. You can’t drive very far before you run into one, or more likely, multiple.

McDonald’s, Burger King, Taco Bell, Kentucky Fried Chicken.

Healthy food options are quite difficult to find and take a great deal of effort to seek out.

Walk down the aisles of the typical American grocery store.

Packaged and processed foods fill the majority of the aisles, and are usually the much more affordable option.

Fresh fruits, vegetables, meats and fish take up a relatively small portion of the grocery stores, and are also considerably more expensive.

Again, the healthier options are just not as prevalent, and also more difficult to purchase from an economic standpoint.

So in modern day America, poor quality food is easy to come by and cheap, and healthy food is harder to find and more expensive.

The incentives are completely the reverse of what they should be, and so it is no surprise that so much of the population subsists on such a poor diet.

Across the United States, most Americans are getting an excess of:

Refined sugars and refined carbohydrates.

Hydrogenated oils and trans-fats.

High-fructose corn syrup.

Artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and other synthetic chemicals.

And most Americans are deficient in the foods that most promote vitality and wellness.

They are lacking in fresh fruits and vegetables.

They are also lacking fresh sources of healthy protein, such as grass-fed beef, poultry, pork, lamb, and wild fish.

And to top it all off, much of the food supply in the United States is laden with increasing amounts of various toxins.

Much of our nation’s agriculture is sprayed with profuse amounts of pesticides and herbicides.

In fact, many of our modern crops are genetically modified organisms, otherwise known as GMOs.

Changing a plant’s genetics to increase the size and yield is not inherently bad by any means, and humans have been selectively breeding for the best crops since the beginning of civilization.

However, many modern GMOs are engineered specifically to be resistant to pesticides and herbicides, so that much larger quantities can be used, which certainly does not bode well for humans.

Furthermore, plastic containers and other materials ubiquitous in our environment contain chemicals that leech into our food and water supply. These are chemicals like BPAs and phthalates.

These toxins have various harmful effects on the human body over time.

For example, glyphosate is the most widely used weed-killer in the world and has been around since the 1970s, and is the main chemical in Round Up. There exists considerable evidence that glyphosate is a carcinogen, meaning that it increases the risk of cancer. In fact, a study by the University of Washington that reviewed epidemiological data and animal studies concluded that exposure to this compound increases the risk of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma by 40 percent.

Furthermore, the International Agency For Research on Cancer, IARC, which is a part of the World Health Organization, came to the conclusion that glyphosate was most likely a carcinogen to humans after reviewing hundreds of studies. In fact, this evidence was strong enough that several European countries created strong legislation against its use, including Austria, Germany, Denmark, Belgium, among many others.

Interestingly, the United States EPA did its own review of the literature, and did not think that there was robust enough evidence to back IARC’s claim. Personally, I obviously side with IARC and the European stance on this particular issue, but the most important thing is that you understand that this issue exists and do your own research, and make up your own mind about what is going into your body.

Now moving on, glyphosate is not the only suspected culprit. There have been a number of studies linking common pesticides such as organochlorines and DDT to increased cancer risk as well.

In addition, these are not the only effects of the chemicals in modern food products.

Many of these chemicals are also thought to be obseogens and diabetogens. This means that repeated exposure increases the risk for becoming overweight and developing diabetes.

One example is TBT, which has been widely used as a fungicide on crops and also as a fungicide in industrial water supplies. Furthermore, it is also present in some PVC plastics.

This chemical has been clearly shown to induce obesity in multiple animal models. Researchers found that TBT promote specific proteins that activate genes responsible for increasing fat cell production – this is also known as an epigenetic mechanism, a term you may have heard elsewhere.

Lastly, many of the chemicals in plastic packaging, such as BPAs and phthalates, are known to be endocrine disruptors. This means that they interfere with the normal functioning of the human hormonal system, usually by mimicking the effects of natural hormones produced by the body.

It has been shown that these endocrine disrupting chemicals can disrupt the functioning of estrogen, testosterone, thyroid hormones, as well as the hormones that regulate hunger. This can lead to issues in both male and female reproductive health, as well as metabolic disease and even cardiovascular disease.

Lastly, the combination of toxic chemicals in much of American food, in combination with the imbalanced nutrition profile of these foods, is thought to have an adverse effect on the gut microbiome.

That is, the digestive system of a healthy person has an adequate balance of microorganisms in the gut that have a symbiotic relationship with humans. These good microorganisms help us to digest and absorb nutrients properly, and also protect us from the bad microbes.

There is increasing evidence that highly processed foods select for unhealthy bacteria that promote inflammation and metabolic disease.

This is currently an area of intense scientific interest and needs a great deal of further study to fully understand, but there is already mounting evidence that poor diet leads to a deranged gut biome, which has multitude of effects upon the human body and overall health.

The next pillar of health I want to discuss is exercise.

It is common sense to everyone that exercise is critical to sound health.

When I was working as a rehabilitation resident in New York, I saw extreme examples of lack of any exercise and the profound detrimental effects on the body. Many of my patients during that time had recently been discharged from a lengthy stay in the ICU for some type of critical illness. This means that they had been bed-bound for weeks, and sometimes even months. These patients literally had to learn how to walk again once they were discharged to the rehab unit. In the most extreme cases, they didn’t even have enough strength to sit up unsupported.

As a physician working in these circumstances, you learn a very simple concept.

In the absence of exercise and movement, the human body will simply wither away.

Now while most Americans are certainly not bed-bound, they certainly are not getting anywhere near the amount of exercise they require for optimal health.

In fact, according to the CDC, only one out of every four adults is getting enough physical activity, and only one out of every five high school students are getting enough physical activity.

In other words, the vast majority of American kids and adults are not moving enough!

Sadly, though the CDC is well aware of the hazards of physical inactivity, stating that lack of exercise is costing the American healthcare system approximately 120 billion dollars each year and markedly contributing to chronic disease later life such as heart disease and diabetes….they seem to be doing very little about this.

It has been common sense knowledge for millennia that exercise and regular physical activity has fantastic health benefits.

In fact, the ancient Greek physician Hippocrates was noted for often prescribing exercise for his patients as a form of medicine.

In modern times, the amount of research supporting the multitude of benefits of exercise is, as expected, absolutely overwhelming. Strength and cardiovascular training combats overall functional decline in older adults, increases bone density, increases lean muscle mass, improves blood and lymphatic circulation, prevents diabetes, decreases visceral fat, decreases blood pressure, and a litany of other benefits.

The ancient Greeks were right. Exercise is not only a form of medicine, in many ways it is the ultimate medicine.

Yet, the sedentary lifestyle has become a norm in modern day America.

In fact, it has been said that Americans spend more time sitting now than ever before in the nation’s history. Since the 1950s, sedentary jobs have increased by 83%.

Furthermore, Not only are they not moving, they are spending much of their time in non-ergonomic positions, placing a great deal of repetitive stress on their necks and low backs. This has led to the overwhelming amount of chronic neck, low back, and musculoskeletal pain in the American population, which I saw first hand in my pain medicine practice.

So the effects of widespread poor diet are compounded by the lack of exercise and physical activity. Obesity itself is already a major health concern, but when coupled with insufficient lean body mass and a poorly trained cardiovascular system, the results can be quite devastating.

Quite simply, the modern sedentary lifestyle has left the majority of Americans far less robust as the men and women of preceding generations at the same age. Americans, on average, simply do not have the same strength, speed, and endurance that they once did.

This brings me to the next major pillar of health I want to discuss.

Sleep

The people of modern western society are the most sleep-deprived population in all of human history.

In the modern era, we are surrounded day and night not only by electric lights alone, but an infinite number of sources of entertainment and stimulation, in the form of the internet, television, and videogames.

In just the last decade, all of the most addictive forms of electronic stimulation are readily available on a single device that has taken over the entire globe: the smartphone.

A device that rarely leaves our hands or is more than a few feet away from us at any given moment.

The smartphone is changing our entire society, in various ways, and has become entangled in every aspect of our lives, to the point where it may even be changing human consciousness itself. It also is having a profound negative effect on how much sleep society is getting as well.

Screens emit blue light, which has been shown to suppress secretion of a hormone known as melatonin, which is critical for regulating sleep and a healthy circadian rhythm.

A mentality that is often pushed by modern day hustle culture, is that “sleep is for the weak,” and that you should sacrifice sleep for productivity.

Unfortunately, this sentiment is very much misguided, and I think few people understand the profound importance of sleep in regard to health and well-being.

Dr. Matthew Walker, is a research scientist who has spent his career studying sleep, and has called sleep deprivation in modern society a “silent epidemic.”

He also has stated that, “No aspect of our biology is left unscathed by sleep deprivation,” and that “Sleep, unfortunately, is not an optional lifestyle luxury. Sleep is a nonnegotiable biological necessity. It is your life support system.”

He has years of data to back up these assertions.

There is a wealth of research showing that chronic sleep deprivation can cause a multitude of issues.

Lack of sleep decreases the brain’s abilities to form new memories, and hence can be disastrous for adolescents and their neural development. It also greatly decreases reproductive health. In young men, sleep deprivation can decrease testosterone levels to that of someone a decade their senior.

Furthermore, it also decreases immune function, especially natural killer cells. This point is especially important because these specific immune cells are critical for targeting and destroying cancer cells. The link between sleep deprivation and cancer have become so apparent in recent years that the World Health Organization has classified night shift work as a probable carcinogen.

Sleep deprivation also increases blood pressure and worsens blood cholesterol levels. A good night’s rest is the time for the circulatory system to reset, and if it isn’t given that opportunity, it can definitely worsen blood pressure over time, increasing the risk of the lifetime heart attack.

Furthermore, sleep deprivation of course also increases the risk for depression and anxiety as well.

Also, lack of sleep is also associated with increased rates of diabetes, weight gain, as well as pain disorders.

Thus, getting healthy sleep is massively important; I would argue that it may be even more vital than the prior two pillars I spoke about. Yet for most people today, it is no more than an afterthought.

Even people who are high achievers and very health conscious often neglect this particular aspect of their health. A strong willpower can overcome sleep deprivation in the short run, but doing so does come at considerable cost to your body.

In spite of all of the negative health effects of poor sleep, the modern societal norm is to sacrifice sleep for just small increases in productivity, or in many cases, just the perception of increased productivity. Sadly, as in modern American society, there is a stigma with getting healthy amounts of sleep, as it is often seen as lazy or unproductive. Yet what could be more productive than optimizing your body and your health?

Mindset and Mental Health

Unfortunately, depression rates have been increasing in the United States during the past decades, among both adults and adolescents.

This increase has only become even more pronounced since 2020, for obvious reasons, given the society-wide stressors and social isolation.

As a result, prescriptions for anti depressant medications have obviously been rising in response.

In addition to this, very sadly, another societal response to this has been increasing abuse of recreational drugs and alcohol, being used as a form of self medication and escape. This is obviously horrible, because it means that people who are already in poor health are routinely putting addictive poisons into their body, making their situations far worse.

People may not realize this, but beyond just resulting in sadness and increased risk of suicide, decreased energy levels, and decreased productivity, the effects of depression extend far beyond just the mental sphere.

Major depression is strongly associated with a number of chronic medical conditions, including heart disease, high blood pressure, arthritis, low back pain, asthma, and migraine headaches.

The mind-body connection is something I witnessed first hand every single day in my medical practice, and I’m sure that many other physicians could attest to the same. That being said, this is an extremely complicated phenomenon, and while I doubt anyone could deny the profound effects the mind has on the body, and vice versa, I think that modern medicine is far from being anywhere close to fully understanding the mechanics behind this.

However, just from a common sense standpoint, it makes sense that people suffering from depression would have higher rates of physical illnesses, because they have less energy and motivation to engage in all of the healthy behaviors that were discussed earlier. They have less energy to take the positive actions that protect and improve their health, like exercising and improving their nutrition.

Furthermore, looking at it through the lens of traditional medicine disciplines and from a more spiritual perspective, I personally believe that the mind and consciousness itself has direct physiologic effects on the body, even beyond the concrete examples I described above, and may influence on aspects of the body like inflammation, blood pressure, hormonal balance, and even epigenetics and gene expression. Of course, keep in mind that this is the opinion of one physician, and I think that overall I am just a more spiritual person than most physicians as well.

In either case, whether you believe in the spiritual side of this phenomenon or not, it is well established that depression leads to increased rates of a wide variety of physical diseases. Of course, this becomes even more problematic because it often leads to a vicious cycle.

When a patient suffers from worsening physical health, for example worsening back pain or worsening numberless due to diabetic neuropathy, this will obviously cause their depression to worsen, which will lead to more unhealthy behaviours, and so on.

As you can see from the examples above, mental health is extremely important to overall well being. Depression, anxiety, PTSD... these conditions are all so much more than just isolated feelings of sadness and stress. These conditions have profound effects on physical health as well.

In spite of this, mental health is very much neglected in modern society.

I mean, beyond just, oh, you’re depressed? Here, have an SSRI. I’ll see you again in six months, next patient please.

Now of course, keep in mind, I am not in any way against the use of anti-depressants. In fact, I prescribed them quite often in my practice, especially for patients who suffered from concomitant depression and neuropathic pain. They are useful tools that definitely have their place.

However, these medications are not a replacement for robust social support networks, consisting of strong familial relationships and deep friendships.

Most people in America just don’t have the same powerful support systems that earlier generations had.

In so many ways, American society has just become so compartmentalized and so atomized. Though in some respects it is easier to keep in contact than ever before with the advent of social media, I don’t think there has been any other time in history that people have been so lonely.

This, compounded by the stressors of recent global events, has led to just unacceptably high rates of depression and anxiety in the united states.

Learning From the Healthiest Cultures On Earth

So I have explained all of the ways that health in the United States is under absolute, multi front attack.

So how do we begin to improve it?

I think a great place to start, is to look to the healthiest, and longest lived cultures in the world, and see what they are doing, and then start to strategize about how to model their behaviors in our own society.

Two cultures that are famous for their longevity, happiness, and great health, are the Sardinians and the Okinawans.

In Okinawa, there is even a stone marker with a quote written in Japanese that says:

“At 80, you are merely a youth. At 90, if your ancestors invite you into heaven, ask them to wait until you are 100—then, you might consider it.”

They are very disparate cultures, located in two totally different areas of the globe, yet there are a number of prominent parallels between the lifestyles of these two peoples.

Though both cultures have very different diets, they are both exceptionally high quality and nutrient dense.

The average okinawan gets more than five servings of fruits and vegetables per day. This includes foods like bitter melon, seaweed, and leafy vegetables, all of which are anti-inflammatory. They also have a great deal of fresh fish in their diet as well.

Sardinians also have a diet rich in locally grown vegetables and wild fruits, frequently exchanged among neighbors, and it is clear to outside observers that Sardinians share a deep connection with the local earth and soil. As far as protein sources go, their diet is also rich in freshly caught fish, as well as fresh sheep cheese. Furthermore, the sheep are free range and grass fed, increasing the nutritional value of their milk. Lastly, their bread is incredibly famous, not only for the quality and freshness, but also for the high content of probiotics in the bread.

Furthermore, both cultures have a very laid back and relaxed mindset and lifestyle. In Japan, they even jokingly refer to this as “Okinawa time.”

There are also excellent social support structures available in both cultures, especially for the elderly. In both cultures they strive hard to maintain and cherish lifelong friendships.

In Okinawa, they have specific social groups known as Moai, which meet regularly and are based around common interests.

Okinawans are very loyal to their Moai, and it is not uncommon for some people to have been part of the same groups since childhood.

In Sardinia, the focus of life is not on career or material things, but on family, and it is typical for family and friends to share lunch every day. Furthermore, the elderly in Sardinia are well respected for their wisdom and life experience, and are closely involved in the lives of their grandchildren and larger communities. Also, the catholic faith is extremely important in their culture, giving them a sense of spiritual purpose and spiritual community.

Social cohesion and support is so important for mental health. As one of the researchers in the Okinawan Centenarian study stated:

“Loneliness is as bad for you as smoking.”

So is it feasible for Americans to get the same benefit from this type of lifestyle?

Another one of the principle investigators on the Okinawan Centenarian study, Professor Wilcox, has stated specifically that:

“About two-thirds of longevity is related to diet and way of life, the rest is genetics.”

I find this quite encouraging, as one of the main scientists who has studied the Okinawans for decades, has concluded that the majority of longevity and great health is related to lifestyle, which means that it is something we can all control for ourselves, and is definitely not set in stone.

Conclusions

I truly believe that Health is the foundation of a nation.

This is not hyperbole or exaggeration in any way.

Without a healthy, happy, and robust population, there is no viable country.

People need to be in good health to be productive workers and business owners. Students of all ages need to be in good health in order to learn effectively and develop into the next generation of leaders and reach their potential. Only people in good health have the energy necessary to build thriving families, which are the very building blocks of a society.

The entire paradigm in american healthcare needs to change. For so many decades, the focus has been solely on treatments. Treatments are where the financial incentives are, and these incentives have essentially shaped and structured the entire modern American healthcare system, with all of its dysfunctions. However, the focus needs to shift to prevention!

I was trained as an allopathic physician, and I don’t want to downplay the achievements of modern western medicine. A hundred and fifty years ago, if you developed sepsis, or a bacterial infection in the blood, it was a death sentence. However, today, this is easily treated in any American hospital.

Allopathic medicine is great for saving your life from acute illnesses like pneumonia or kidney infections.

However, the biggest problem facing Americans today is chronic illnesses. And the best treatment for chronic illnesses is to prevent them in the first place.

I would argue that much of the responsibility for this is largely beyond the realm of the healthcare system, and belongs to the larger society itself.

In an ideal world, Here’s what I would recommend

The importance of health, and healthful behaviors, needs to be instilled into our youth from a young age. I would say that as early as middle school, kids should be getting regular instruction on everything necessary to promote great health. Most schools already give some instruction on avoiding alcohol, tobacco, and recreational drugs, which I think is fantastic and should continue, but I believe that this needs to be expanded upon heavily. This means kids should be getting extensive teaching on proper lifelong nutrition, proper sleep habits and sleep hygiene, regular exercise, and flexibility. I also think that they should be taught the fundamentals of a healthy mindset as well, and be taught coping strategies on how to handle the inevitable setbacks and hardships that everyone will face in life.

Furthermore, I think that school breakfasts and lunches need a big upgrade. The government needs to invest in providing nourishing meals to our nation's children and teens, that include fresh meats and fish prepared in healthy ways, as well as copious fresh fruits and vegetables. Many kids do not get adequate nutrition in their homes, especially if raised in a household of lower socioeconomic status, and for many kids, school meals may be the only good meals they have access to. Improving the food served to our youth in schools would help ensure that kids have the nourishment they need to develop properly, especially from a neurologic standpoint, so that they can excel in their studies. Furthermore, getting kids used to eating healthy meals from an early age will help instill the positive habit of healthy eating that will hopefully persist for their lifetimes.

There should be government programs that incentivize the purchase of healthy foods such as fresh fruits and vegetables and fresh fish and meats, making it far more affordable for those of lower socioeconomic status. The government should also provide financial assistance to help this population get gym memberships and perhaps even exercise classes.

Of course, this will cost money. But I believe that over time, this would turn out to be one of the best investments that the government could possibly make, since a healthier country would lead to higher productivity of American citizens overall, and thus a much stronger economy.

Furthermore, the costs to implement such changes would pale in comparison to the trillions of dollars spent on wars in the middle east, which themselves lead to horrific loss of life and injuries to our great american servicemembers, the loss of life of many civilians caught in the crossfire, and really only serves to benefit a small elite within the military industrial complex. If the US government can afford to spend unfathomable amounts of money on foreign wars, it can afford to spend the necessary money to ensure that the children of our nation have the adequate nutrition to ensure proper growth and development, and that its adult citizens can live healthy and productive lives.

So, the nationwide health programs I described earlier are what I would love to see take place in an ideal world.

However, it is obvious that the modern United States government is a highly dysfunctional and bloated bureaucracy that seems to only be getting less efficient every year, and So I am not hopeful about the U.S. government being able to implement such actions anytime soon.

This means that if you are an American watching this, the responsibility really does rest on you as an individual.

It is my belief that every American family deserves to be in great health.

But you have to understand that the system, as it currently stands, does not care about your health, or in some cases, is actively against you.

Healthcare is delivered by large corporate machines at this point. Though your physician and nurse may care about you as a person, the system does not. It actually sees you as no more than a number to be milked. Do they really want to see you resolve your hip pain through weight loss and exercise? A hip replacement is far more profitable for them, and healthcare systems are now run predominantly by businesspeople, not physicians, and in the end, numbers are all that really matter to them.

Does the fast food industry care about the long term consequences of basing an entire diet around their food? No, they only care about earnings and pleasing their shareholders every quarter. What does this mean for the consumer? When profits are the only thing that matter, it means they need to manufacture massive quantities of food as cheaply as possible, and then make it as addictive as possible, which will allow them to sell as much of this food as possible.

Do the executives at Facebook and Instagram care that they are making people depressed through the constant comparison and fomo? Do they care that you are losing precious sleep due to addiction to their products? No, they want you to spend as much time as humanly possible on their platforms, because it results in more advertising dollars for them.

As you can see, the entire system is rigged against you.

I am urging all Americans to make a stand for your own health, and the health of your families. Educate yourself on the pillars of health and prevention, and take positive actions every single day to invest in your own health. If you’re just starting out, it could be as simple as eating extra vegetables or going for regular walks.

Your body is your one vehicle for navigating this world, and as such, your health is your most precious asset in this world. Without health, you are not able to engage in any pleasurable or meaningful activities at all.

I hate to break it to you, but The government and large corporations care almost nothing about your health.

Thus, I am urging you to take responsibility for your own health. It will take effort and discipline, and it may not be easy, but I can assure you that it is well worth it, and is truly the best investment of time and energy that you could possibly make.