Solo Episode: The State Of Our Health

I wanted to dedicate this episode in light of what happened in front of the Senate on the state of our health, specifically the food system. It was a monumental moment and I  am optimistic that it hopefully made an impact finally for good.

Health professionals:

• Hani Vari (aka TheFoodBabe) - https://instagram.com/thefoodbabe
• Max Lugavere - https://instagram.com/maxlugavere
• Dr. Will Cole - https://instagram.com/drwillcole
• Dr. Josh Axe - https://instagram.com/drjoshaxe
• Dr. Mark Hyman - https://instagram.com/drmarkhyman
• Brigham Buhler - https://instagram.com/ferrisbuhler81

My E-Book: Healthy Grocery Shopping On A Budget 

• Click HERE to donate $5
• Click HERE for free resource

Functional Health Coaching

• Click HERE for your free consultation

Transcript

Solo episode- The state of our health 

 Hello and welcome to another episode. This is the Root of our Health podcast. I am your host. Elizabeth, a National Board certified health and wellness coach, is Certified Functional Medicine Health Coach and an employee wellness Coach. Each and every other week, I bring to you either solo episodes or interviewing episodes with people, the professionals in the health space to for either men or women over 40, to arm you with education and knowledge for vitality and the second half of your life. Again, like I said, this is educational purposes only, so if you have any issues or conditions, please do seek out a physician, hopefully a functional medicine or integrative and uh, yeah. So this will arm you with that education to take with you. Today's episode is a solo episode, and I wanted to dedicate this episode in light of what was happening in front of the Senate, uh, the past two weeks, or at least I think a week or so ago, um, specifically in the food space food industry. There were many health advocates. Um, there were many health, uh, doctors. And like I said, advocates who sat there in front of the Senate and basically just told them the truth of what is going on in our food system and, uh, basically, yeah. What's going on? Right. It was a monumental moment. And really, I'm an optimistic person in general. And I feel that with what has been said, again, this isn't all anecdotally. This isn't all like whatever is out there in the social media. This is actual evidence, scientific proof of things that are happening here in the US versus what's happening in Europe, in other countries, basically. So I am optimistic that, um, we are taking steps and, and, and better steps basically to get to hopefully, um, more cleaner, more unprocessed foods on the shelves for our own health and those I want to kind of reference back to those health advocates, um, the health advocates that I'm referencing, uh, if you heard or not heard of, she is known as the food babe on social media. Her name is Bonnie Harry. She has been a big, huge, actually huge proponent for, um, against these food companies that are putting these dyes and chemicals in our foods here in the US. Same foods in Europe are banned. Europe, Canada, like I said, in different countries banned because it is harmful, especially to kids. I'll talk about that in just a moment. But other advocates have the advocates. But again, um, you know, professionals in the health industry, Maxwell era was another one of them. He is a health and science journalist and again, very reputable, Brigham Buehler. He is co-founder of Wheeze to Well, which is a functional and regenerative care clinic, um, amongst so many others. So they sat in front of the Senate speaking the truth. Again, this is not only from experience, not only from what they see in front of them, but again, these are scientific proof of what these chemicals in the ingredients in these packaged foods, ultra processed foods could be also, um, you know, McDonald's or fast food restaurants here in the US. So it's facts and data on how corrupt our food industry really is. Our country is going through a health crisis. Don't know if you know this. An epidemic, if you will. So just to compare it 50 to 60 years ago, somebody say 1970. Not that long ago. Right. So 1,975% of children were obese, 5%. Now it is well over 20% of children. And most of it is contributed to the food dyes again. And chemicals and products here in this in the US, here only in the US. Same thing with ADHD. We keep hearing ADHD. Now I understand ADHD, ADHD these things are out there. But why are we seeing such a rapid increase in the last 20 or so years? It is because of what is in our foods. And, um, I'm going to go ahead and talk about a little bit of the statistics. So obesity overall overall, excuse me, has climbed from 13% in 1970 to over 40% today. So I talked about kids 5% to 20%, 13% back in 1970 to 40% of people today are obese. 46 of an increase in irritable bowel disease. So we're talking now autoimmune diseases. Again the crops that have been grown, glyphosate that is practically almost in every single thing because it's been sprayed around, um, on these crops out of these mono crops. And so they are seeping in to our, our, obviously our bodies, but just in general in our, in our air. So when we think that, okay, we're, we're eating clean, right. There are certain things that we can't get away from. And glyphosate pesticides, those are extremely hard to remove, especially when they are literally all over everything. So according to Pub Med, neurodegenerative diseases are expected to rise from 31.6 million. Uh, so in 1990 it was 31.6 million. And in 2040. So this is expected to 68.1 million. So neurodegenerative diseases called um Alzheimer's dementia, they're now called uh type three diabetes and has jumped exponentially double in what, 20 years or actually it's going to be about yeah, 40 years, 50 years. That's crazy. Now we go on to cancer. This is another one that has increased exponentially. You either know somebody, know somebody else who has cancer or you had cancer or have it is crazy how much of these conditions have risen and are out there. And we think that is what it is. It is just because we're getting older. It's just because it is what it is. I do not like that answer, and I don't think a lot of people like that answer either. It's literally what we're eating are basically lifestyle. And I'm just going to just focus literally today on only food because this is just got to keep focus really. So it's what we are eating because I have to tell you, these chemicals that are in our foods are so addicting. And I'll get to that and again in a second. I'll probably reference it during this whole thing, but are so addicting. And they have all cause, cause mortality, like linked to these chemicals and these food dyes. All because we want it to be palatable, selling on the shelf longer, all of these things. And yes, I get it. We as a nation, as a as a country has grown. Right. So obviously we need to get back to that regenerative, um, farming. Like how can we make that sustainable? How can we make that sustainable for everybody, or at least to, you know, look at that as an alternative, more so than what it is now and not so damn expensive. Speaking of which, I'm going a little off of my notes and topic, but we think that organic is expensive, and they do that for a reason. Obviously they don't want you to buy it. But think about this how much does it cost for you to grow your own fruits and vegetables? How much does that cost? Then think about how much does it cost to make that packaged good with 2830 or so man made chemicals in a factory, maybe even cows in a factory, or, you know, chickens at Farm Farm, you know, factory farming. It takes a lot of mentally energy. But the genetically modified foods antibiotics and you think just a whole host of things that go into making that one thing. And yet that is cheaper than growing your own fruits and vegetables or having that, um, regenerative farm organic non pesticide. Make that make sense. It may take a little bit of carbon footprint. Yes. If you have, you know, cows in the pasture, if you have chickens in the pasture may take a little bit, but I'll be damned if it's $3 more than something that has a lot more into it, especially when they put chemicals on, especially when they put, I'm going to say an apple and an apple. Right. An organic apple versus a non-organic apple. Well, what do you think is going on there now? Appeal, right? Wax or some form of, um, you know, a waxy substance to keep its color. To keep the shelf life. Yeah, that's not good, because what's on there is in you. And then it basically kind of goes into this whole thing, um, to where they want to keep us sick. And there's a reason for that. And I'll get to that in just a moment. There is a saying that, um, that we follow or that we, we see I've seen it everywhere. I'm sure you have to. Health industry does not care about the food, and the food industry does not care about your health. Now I'm paraphrasing. I'm sure there's not the exact quote, but it says something, doesn't it? You go to health care or you go to a doctor. They're, you know, they're for acute care, right? They're not for these, um, you know, chronic diseases or prevention. They're not for prevention. And it is just basically like, okay, I have a headache. Great. I'm not getting to the root cause let's treat the headache medications, whatever that is. Not looking. Well, what are you eating now? Looking at its diet. Now I'm not saying all of them because I've heard and this is going through conventional, um, doctors and heard some conventional doctors are bringing up now more than ever food, nutrition. Amazing. But look at our food in the hospitals. Yeah, I go back to cancer. Cancer patients are being fed sugar. What do you think is feeding the cancer? My mom, when she was in in the hospital, she had, um, she couldn't eat. Um, you know, she had basically, uh, quadruple bypass surgery, so, of course, lower the, you know, salts, sodium intake, all of that high blood pressure, all of that. Uh, so lower the sodium. Great put her on a low sodium diet that consisted of ultra processed foods without any salt. Okay, again, make that make sense. Like they don't care about our food, but the food system does not care about our health, so we're just kind of going into this yo yo. Well, that is why it is so important to understand the state of our health. Okay. Um, I talked about this a little bit, and it's sad that they are blatantly. In front of our faces putting these dyes. And I'm talking about I think it's like color, you know, these these colors, these blue and reds and things like that to make it more vibrant for kids. Right. So kids see it. They Froot Loops. So this is one body Harry showed, um, you know, as, as an example. Fruit Loops. It is basically almost white to no color in Canada. Here it is like right? It is full of color because of the dies and those dyes has been proven to show that it causes endocrine disruptions and could lead to cancer. You go to Europe. Um, and I'm talking now about the, uh, the wheat and the, um, let's say Italy. Right. You go to Italy, you eat the passing the pasta there, you're fine. You don't get bloated, you don't get an autoimmune disease, you don't get those things. You feel fine. You eat the pasta and pizza here. You feel like you just ate a brick. And then the gluten, obviously the gluten in our foods, some can tolerate it. Um, I'm one of those. But still. Why? Why do we need gluten in these foods that are sprayed again with pesticides and grown? And just like unfair conditions, basically, it's just not good. It is sad. It is blatantly in our faces that they do not care. The US government does not care about your health and well-being. Does it care? You may think they do. You may think that they have your best interest, but who knows better? Your doctor? Not really. They may know professionally what what's going on. But you, you know best. You know your body best because you live with it 24/7. So I just want to I, I want to emphasize this and I'm going to emphasize it again and again and again. Um, so we gotta wake up, right? So we gotta wake up in terms of. Reading the ingredients of understanding that. You know, I did a podcast, um, a long time ago. A while ago, I should say, uh, with Doctor Joan Iselin about how our government is making us sick. Reference. Uh, episode 121. It was replayed. This is one of the most downloaded and also the most watched episode. For a very good reason. She says in there, and I agree that it is not 100% your fault. So it's just basically the food industry is out there to, um, make you a paying consumer and they'll put addictive substances. It's a it's a drug, basically. I in these in these foods, in these packaged foods. And so it's a great episode. I definitely want you to listen to it. She is a great, um, has great knowledge in food addiction. Wrote a book. Um, so yes, definitely reference back episode 121 now the food industry. Let's talk about this. The food industry works with big agriculture. So these modern crop farmers now I'm not I'm not. Demonizing farms because again, we have to make a living, right? People have to make a living. And it's unfortunate that these, these governmental companies or these higher companies take these farms over or say, hey, I'll pay you X amount of dollars if you do X, Y, and Z. This is where we get the money crops, right? This is where we get um, yeah. Just basically monarch crop agriculture. So the food industry works with big agriculture, works with Big pharma, works with the health care industry. To loop. It's a loop and a web that you do not want to get into. It is a loop that starts again with your food. And all of those works with the government or puppets being led with puppet by puppeteers. Now I bring this up. So our key junior, um, is a huge. So he's an environmentalist, right? So he is a huge advocate to fix this broken system. And he has a slogan now, I'm sure you heard it. Make America healthy again. I want to be very, very, very, very clear. This is not a political situation or an issue. This is a human issue. These are our lives. It doesn't care. It doesn't matter. Right, left, conservative, Republican or Democrat does not matter without the help of our country. There is no politics. There is nothing. So I want to be very clear with this. If you are against our key juniors, make America healthy and you don't have to obviously like him or whatever, or even whatever the case may be. Understand that he has a point. How are you feeling today? What are you eating today that's making you feel either. I'm feeling great. Great y y is that? Is what we put on our forks, right? I feel like shit. Why is that? It's what we put on our. In our fork, on our forks. So I want to say this because. Being healthy does not serve our government. It goes back to that loop. Being healthy, being your own advocate does not serve what the government wants. And I'm not usually like, uh, maybe I am anti-government a little bit, but it's only because there has been distrust a lot. A lot of distrust a lot. And I see it with my own two eyes. And so this is something that. I want to put out there and want you to hear and understand that. Again, it's a human issue. We're human beings. We should be looking out for each other. We should be looking out for our health and each other's health and well-being. At the end of the day, at the end of your life, does it really matter who is left? Who is right? Who is again, political? No. At the end of your life, you're going to be saying, am I? What did I do? Everything I could to be healthy. Or are you just saying I don't care, I don't I don't care about my health because it's it's a political issue. That's crazy. We look at our health care industry, right? The doctor, if you're not going to a functional medicine doctor, you're going to conventional. And you all know this. You've all been there where you sat in their office for maybe 30, 40 minutes to an hour, sometimes go in there, you know, nurse checks on you. They come in there after a few questions, 15 minutes tops, and then send you on your way, either with a diagnosis of something that they can prescribe medication for. Um, tell you it's in your head, uh, you know, all of those things just make you feel like. And I'm not saying all the time and not all doctors. I'm not generalizing, but this happens more often than not. So again, it's it's unfortunate because we're being treated like the cattle that's in these farming factories. Factory farming. So when you go to a functional medicine or integrative doctor, that is not the case. They sit with you for an hour. They go over your history. They see, you know, obviously from birth, pre-birth with your mother, you know, and father their history, all of that genes. They sit with you and understand you as a as a human being, as a mechanism. Right. We're we're a system. This is why I went into functional medicine is because this is the the approach that's a holistic and and humanistic approach. But because I care because I say functional medicine, it's it's either quackery and I don't know if that's the case anymore. I see it more prevalent than than before, which is amazing. They're still out there though. Saying, yeah, it's that there's no scientific data. There's no it's all woo woo. It's all in your again in your head. And, and it could also be that you're more conservative than normal. I don't buy it. I don't buy it. The other thing that I want to bring up and I of course, is this is not going to be all doom and gloom. This is not all going to be negative, because I do have, uh, ways that you could, uh, you know, tips and things like that. But the other thing that I just saw this and I'm sure a lot of people, because I've seen reels and posts here and there, um, is that there's a brand called Select the Race out of Austin, Texas, and they put out products that are green free. So these are alternative healthy products, right? So chips, cookies, um, wraps, taco shells, things like that, that what I said before about the autoimmune diseases skyrocketing the gluten industry or you know, the that that that was skyrocketing. Well this was able to help it to, you know, coaching clients of mine and even people that are looking for a healthier alternative. This was their go to or one of the go tos. There are others out there, of course, but this was a great brand, great tasting, one that people can trust. They got bought out by PepsiCo for over $1 billion. I at first, of course, I think we all were on this attacking train, right? How could they? Especially the health, the health, um, industry, how could they, um, you know, they sold out and for a very good reason. When you hear PepsiCo, do you really think healthy? No you don't. So their tragedy might be diminished. I kind of I'm I've been understanding of the business aspect of it. Right. I get scaling your brand. I get that you're small and that you, you know, there's more demand out there and you need to scale your brand. There are other ways to do that. Then sell your company to a company, to a company like PepsiCo. I am hopeful again. I am, I am optimistic, well, hopeful this point that their integrity is not jeopardized, that they stay on brand, they stay true to what they have. Um, you know, they've had they have done. I don't know, though I do not know. And it is sad to say that because every single product that PepsiCo owns. Nothing but harmful. We shall see. So first of all, um, why am I telling you all of this? Right? Why am I saying all of these negative things? All of these? It's again, it's not to scare you. These are the reason is because it's education and knowledge. That's why you're here, listening to me or listening to this podcast is education. That's why I said in the beginning, this is for educational purposes only. To arm you with the knowledge of what's going on out there, and to be your foot on the ground, so to speak, to be your guinea pig. I've gone through it. I've had harmful products. And just thinking that I'm eating healthier, you know, doing the healthy thing, not so much. So I've gone through it. I understand how addicting some of these things can be, especially sugar. Um, but again, education, and not just from my own experience. I listen to many, many podcasts. Many. And these are with scientific doctors. These are with, again, doctors that have done the research, that have seen and heard and been through again on their own, um, of of basically what is out in the world and not only the food, fitness, you know, all all of those things. So they are reputable. I take notes. Some of the times. Sometimes I'm listening to it in the car or while I'm cleaning, you know, things like that. But so it is. I'm getting my information and I'm also researching. I'm also looking at the science side, um, scientific data. So with that, I'm hoping that you're going to get some. Education, some knowledge of what to do, of how to do it. And I'm also doing this and putting this podcast out for you and this and and my passion being fired up. I want to get you fired up. I want to get you pissed off because it is. It is such a slap in the face of what these corporations. Are doing and government are doing to you, to us. And I want to get you fired up because you know why? The more you are fired up, the more action you will take. Let me repeat that. The more you are fired up, the more action you or the more action you will take. And now, with that action, I am actually going to give you some tips that you can use on your own. How you can take action is by voting with your dollars starts with your grocery store list. It starts with you writing down things that you are going to buy. Plan. Plan ahead. What are these things and stick to the list, right? Now, I know that's easier said than done because again, what do I buy? What do I buy if I have a family of four? And the kids like these things and, you know, my, my spouse and partner or whatever likes this, and I like this, but how can we come together and have the same meal? Quick, easy. All of those things. Well, I got you covered. I actually have an e-book out there. Um, basically, it is, uh, healthy grocery shopping on a budget. Um, and what this is, this is a book that is chock full of healthy meal ideas, tips, recipes, and even healthy, kid friendly meals all on a budget. And this could be for one person. This could be for two people. It could be a family up to four. So this is again arming you with that resource that you could take with you when you're grocery shopping or you're making your list. So you could. There's two ways you can get this. You can either help support this podcast and with a donation of $5 for this book, or you can get it for free. Um, and again, you know, this is, uh, for your use and resource. I will link both of those how both of those links of either the donation or the free one in the show notes. Another way you can start and stay on track is to get that account accountability partner. So it could be your spouse or partner, a friend, a family. It could also be reaching out to a health coach. Now reaching out to this health coach not only for the accountability part, but also again for the resources that you are going to need and the going, you know, moving through those barriers and challenges that come up. I have somebody who knows how to, you know, obviously goes in with a great. Um, store list really healthy. But then see these sugars and candies and there's something there that's not connecting, right? There's like, I gotta have this, so we gotta we gotta move through that. You have the store list. You know exactly what you're going to get, but you go off of the list because you are addicted to the sugar. So let's work on that first. And that's where our coach comes in. Um, you can reach out to me if you don't have a health coach or you don't know where to start, you can reach out to me for a free consultation and just see, just see, this is free. So just see if coaching is good for you. Um, consultation. I mean, excuse me. The the link for the consultation will be in the show notes as well. And the last tip to stop eating overly processed foods, packaged foods, all of that sugars is to educate yourself. And that is why you are here. But in addition, I'm going to give you some names that you could follow on social media. Reputable health experts will call doctor Josh, X-Men, doctor Mark Hyman. Vonnie, Harry, uh, who's under like I said, the the food babe. Uh, Max Lugovoi here. Um, there are just so many others. Mark Sisson you know, these people are have been in this space for you very, very, very long time. They're either functional medicine, integrative know that, or, you know, go by the approach of functional medicine. And so again, podcast articles, videos things like that. Arm yourself. Educate yourself in this. And those are the great tips. Um, actually, I have one more. Excuse me. There is an app that is out there. So if you're still having issues with your grocery store list and you want like, say you want to, um. I'll say a candy bar or a dark chocolate bar, or even a protein bar. Let's give that, for example. You want to increase your protein but don't know which protein bar to to have. There is an APT app, excuse me, called the UGA y Uka, and I think I mentioned this before too. Um, I have no affiliation with this company or with this app. I am literally telling you this because it is a great app. Uh, when you scan. So the free version is you can scan items, uh, on the package and this app, it'll come up with a rating out of 100. So it'll be like 90 out of 100. Good. 195 out of 100. Excellent. All of those things. But it also gives the reasons for the rating. So if it's, you know, poor okay. Could it be that it has processed um chemical than it is a pesticides. Is it high in sugar. High. You know, things like that. It'll tell you. So again, you could see for yourself what the product is in front of you instead of going into the ingredients and being like, is this good for me? Is this not good for me? Obviously we want to eat whole foods, but again, packaged foods not all deemed bad. They're just in moderation. Good. Now, I'll leave you with this. Ultimately, we have the power to choose what we put in our bodies, on our forks, knives, whatever. Spoons. And yes, the food system is designed and rigged to get you to addicted to the ultra processed crap. But we have a voice, a vote in our own well-being. So let's take this step together and fight this fight for good. I really hope this has been beneficial for you. Everything that I mentioned in terms of links, episodes, all of that and names will be in the show notes, so please reference back to that. Um, I am actually launching a website this coming week. Um, another great thing that's coming up. Make sure you tune back in December. Excuse me. Not December yet. October 26th is the, um, relaunch of this podcast. So we'll have a little bit of a whole new look. Uh, but definitely, you know, the same, same understanding and feel of of who I want to reach out to and, uh, you know, health and wellbeing. Got it. Got to keep going with it. So I do hope that this has been really great. Please do share this around, uh, share this video. Share the audio. However you think is going to be listened or watched and um, yeah. And please do rate review, reach out to me if you have any questions. All of it in the show notes. Thank you so much. Have a good one. Be safe.