By: J. Renae Norton
Today the United States is the wealthiest/unhealthiest country in the world, with the highest rate of obesity, children who will live shorter lives than their parents, and a population that is aging backwards, i.e. instead of living longer, we are living shorter lives. This wasn’t true 30 years ago when we were one of the healthiest countries in the world.
So the question is what has changed over the past 30 years? The thing that stands out more than anything else in my humble opinion, is that beginning in the mid-1990’s we started eating genetically engineered crops sprayed with Glyphosate aka RoundUp. Today we consume 34% of the world’s glyphosate while representing only 4% of the world population which may explain why we are the most obese as well as one of the unhealthiest/wealthiest countries in the world.1
Glyphosate has been shown to be a carcinogen, obesogen, autogen, psychogen and allergen and has been linked to celiac disease, leaky gut and leaky brain as well as several cancers. Most Americans eat their weight in GMOs sprayed with Glyphosate each year, making this the most likely culprit for birth defects and deaths among infants as well as all manner of other toxin induced disease. Our government refuses to regulate it. Governments in other countries outlaw glyphosate completely or at least heavily regulate it.
In the following quotes from an article written by an esteemed colleague of mine and fellow researcher, Dr. Stephanie Senef, and her co-author, Dr. Anthony Samsel make a strong case for the dangers of glyphosate:
“Celiac disease, and, more generally, gluten intolerance, is a growing problem worldwide, but especially in North America and Europe, where an estimated 5% of the population now suffers from it. Symptoms include nausea, diarrhea, skin rashes, macrocytic anemia and depression. It is a multifactorial disease associated with numerous nutritional deficiencies as well as reproductive issues and increased risk of thyroid disease, kidney failure and cancer.” 2
Here, we propose that glyphosate, the active ingredient in the herbicide, Roundup®, is the most important causal factor in this epidemic. Fish exposed to glyphosate develop digestive problems that are reminiscent of celiac disease.
In addition, these researchers show that the body will not properly detox, have access to vitamin D3 or A, or produce the bile acids needed for healthy gut functioning (proper pooping) when it is exposed to glyphosate.
It turns out that deficiencies in iron, cobalt, molybdenum, copper and other rare metals associated with celiac disease can be attributed to glyphosate’s strong ability to chelate these elements. (Effectively deactivating them.) Finally, deficiencies in tryptophan, tyrosine, methionine and the selenomethionine associated with celiac disease match glyphosate’s known depletion of these amino acids.
The question is why do we Americans just stand by and let ourselves be poisoned in this way? One reason that we do not flap about the poor quality of our food, and in so doing begin the process of solving the health crisis we are facing in the U.S., is that we have accepted the theory that we are to blame. An entire industry has grown up around this thinking. I am talking about the diet industry.
The diet mentality is so illogical it mimics a mental breakdown. It goes something like this: I need to lose this flab. I will cut back on the number of calories for a couple of weeks, lose the weight, and then go back to eating the foods that I love ( aka the foods that caused the weight gain).
In other words, while we know what we are eating is somehow to blame, we resist the idea that we will actually have to change what we eat. Instead we glom onto the idea that the problem is how much we were eating. So we just eat less (for a while) until we lose the weight. When the weight comes back we start the process again, often paying handsomely for the latest diet program. This is the diet mentality!
The diet industry encourages us to cut back on the number of calories, not the quality of the calories. Even if they do tell us to focus on the type of food they usually tell us to cut back on the wrong things, fat being the best example. Remember, fat is not fattening. Sugar and/or foods that raise blood sugar levels are fattening, not fat, otherwise Keto would not work.
Our relationship with food in the U.S., or the lack of one, is analogous to meeting someone on a dating app, getting engaged on the first date, getting married on the second date, (exhibiting crazy trust) and then finding out that you married a psychopathic liar. But instead of ending it, you keep hoping that this time the lies will somehow be true. So you stay and watch as s/he drains your bank account and ultimately leaves you high and dry gasping for air and in this analogy even heavier than you were before.
Robbing you of your health, taking your hard-earned money and leaving you high and dry is exactly what the food and diet industries are doing. Right under your nose and you never suspect a thing… not even when you gain all the weight back and then some and/or you get sick. It simply never occurred to you that the debilitating anxiety, joint pain, excess weight gain or life-threatening medical problems you have experienced might be the result of your diet.
If this is where you find yourself, it is not too late. It never is.
I don’t care how serious the condition you suffer from, you can drastically improve it and also lose the weight for good with clean food, good supplements, and lifestyle changes (exercise, sunshine, rest, and stress reduction). To be clear, lifestyle changes are not enough. You must also address the polluted nature of your food, or your efforts will be wasted.
That is exactly what happened to me. I was a sugarholic and could not stay away from the bread. I was having early signs of dementia (Alzheimer’s), and a propensity for high blood sugars. I also could not absorb vitamin D3. While I had 4 genes that predisposed me to these conditions, I was also eating conventional foods and drinking vodka tonics which contain high fructose corn syrup. But when I switched to clean eating, stopped drinking and replaced added sugars with natural sugars, the genes deactivated, the conditions resolved, and I began to age backwards. My nails, skin, and hair have drastically improved as has my cognitive functioning. I’m just saying. I am 76, so take it from me, it is never too late.
The Sloth Theory
The other thing that happens a lot today, as I mentioned in the introduction, is that if we do not blame ourselves, it would appear that someone else will. That person is often a doctor. How many times have you been told by your doctor that your weight/cholesterol/vascular problems are due to “poor choices?” We all know that this is a euphemism for “your fault.”
I call this the “sloth” theory. It really isn’t helping.
When I ask my patients who are physicians, how they handle obesity in their practices, most of them say they ignore it. When I ask why, they say it is because their patients never change, so why bring it up. They go on to say that their patients are not motivated to change. They believe that the patient prefers to indulge in bad habits rather than to be healthy.
Jaded much?
According to the available research, the majority of male doctors (not much research on female doctors) will not even bring up the issue of obesity when a morbidly obese patient has an appointment, especially if the doctor is also obese.3 The typical solution is to medicate. Everyone. For everything. This isn’t helpful in most cases, because it does not address the problem, only the symptom, and in many cases, it makes the problem worse, as many of the medications cause weight gain.
Admittedly this is a very complicated issue, but in general, doctors appear to be burnt out on the obesity issue. The feedback I get from many of the doctors I treat is that no matter what they do, their obese patients do not lose weight, so why bother discussing diet and exercise with them.
I believe that they are blaming the victim here and making a lot of assumptions. The most important one is that the US food supply is safe and that the fault lies with the consumer of the food and not with the producers of the food. I would argue differently.
The fact is that the US has some of the most polluted food in the world, and it damages the parts of the brain and the gut that regulate eating behaviors. But why is this happening? It’s simple. As Americans, we just haven’t been paying attention. We have trusted our government to protect us and our government isn’t doing that. We are paying a terrible price for this misplaced trust.
Maybe it’s time we wake up, face the music and get well. If you need help, reach out to me at drnorton@mindweightwellnesspro.com or call me at 513-205-6543. I can help.
- Fung, B. (2012, August 6). Is Your Doctor Healthier Than You? The Atlantic. Retrieved January 3, 2022, from https://www.theatlantic.com/health/archive/2012/08/is-your-doctor-healthier-than-you/260706/ pg.65 ↩︎
- Swanson, N.L., Leu, A., Abrahamson, J. & Wallet, B. (2014) Genetically Engineered Crops, Glyphosate and the Deterioration of Health in the United States of America. Journal of Organic Systems, 9, 6-37 http://wCenters for Disease Control and Prevention. (2022, June 22). Infant mortality. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved September 21, 2022, from: https://www.cdc.gov/reproductivehealth/maternalinfanthealth/infantmortality.htm pg. 65 ↩︎
- Childhood Obesity Facts | Overweight & Obesity. (n.d.). CDC. Retrieved January 3, 2022, from https://www.cdc.gov/obesity/data/childhood.html pg.61 Renata Micha, Yan Li . Yes, Food Portion Sizes and People Have Become Bigger…pg.63 ↩︎
