U.S. Food: Poison For Profit?

By: Dr. J. Renae Norton

When I began my research over a decade ago into the catastrophic health problems plaguing Americans, I was clueless as to the reasons. I simply could not come to terms with the notion that the U.S. food supply was knowingly and willingly polluted to increase profits for Big Farming, Big Food, and Big Pharma. I also found it very hard to believe just how polluted the U.S. food supply had actually become. But what I could see was how unhealthy we were compared to all other wealthy nations. As you can see from the graphic above, we were very close to the bottom ranking list for life expectancy, despite being the wealthiest country in the world.

In my practice, I could also see what it was costing us on an individual basis in terms of human suffering. You see, I was in a unique position to notice these problems. As a psychologist treating specific eating disorders (ED) and obesity, I was seeing dramatic changes in the complications that my ED and obese patients were displaying. These “new” complications among my patients were posing a threat to their recovery. If I couldn’t get a handle on what was happening to them, and why, I might not be able to help them. 

The shift in the types of complications I was seeing in a population that I had been treating for many years focused primarily on gut issues and skyrocketing anxiety. I was an early adapter when it came to the use of the term “leaky gut.”

What I ultimately discovered was that you cannot have an autoimmune disease without having a leaky gut. I’m not even sure that I really understood what autoimmune diseases were back then, but I know now that that was a big part of what I was seeing in my ED patients; symptoms of Alopecia Areata, Urticaria, Psoriasis, Systemic Scleroderma, Renaud’s, Lupus, MS, Vitiligo, and Thyroid diseases like Hashimoto’s and Grave’s Disease were all accompanied by the bloating caused by leaky gut syndrome (LGS.) 

As to the unusually high levels of anxiety, it turns out that 90% of the body’s serotonin resides in the gut. Serotonin is the neurotransmitter that regulates mood. If we lose most of it due to a leaky gut, anxiety is going to be a problem. In addition, if we have a leaky gut, we may also have a leaky brain, which means, you guessed it, more anxiety. 

But most importantly, for this discussion is the fact that the percentage of obese patients I was seeing had quadrupled over the course of 15 years. It was no longer a rare condition, it was epidemic in our country, with nearly 60% of my age group, either overweight or obese. But the most terrifying thing of all was that today in the United States of America one in every five US children are presently obese! 

Why is this so terrifying?  Because when I was a child only one in every 10 children were obese and today 70% of my generation are either overweight or obese. Given that one in every five US children today are obese, the current projections are that 100% of them will be obese in their 60s and 70s. 100 percent! 

Well, fact of all it is psychologically painful to be obese. In addition being obese costs a fortune. It is the biggest financial burden we have as a nation when it comes to medical expenses.

Historically, great wealth has always meant great health. Although we are still the wealthiest country in the world, we are also clearly one of the unhealthiest. As such, we are at the bottom of a long list in terms of life expectancy. 

Let’s summarize:

We are the most obese country in the world with the most obese children. We have the lowest percentage of the population that lives beyond 65 years of age (14.1%) compared to all of the other wealthy nations. In fact, in Japan, 25.1% of the population is over 65 in comparison. Wow.

Poison for Profit?

I had to ask myself again and again, how could these problems be occurring in the wealthiest country in the world?  What was the common denominator that was putting the health of so many Americans at risk?  I eventually put it together that it was our food. It was polluted and it was killing us. Literally. But it took years for me to convince myself of this. 

That is what I want to talk to you about. Many of you already have life-threatening conditions, or you are losing the battle with your weight, or you have a sick child and you do not have years to figure this out. You need help now. 

Having spent the better part of 15 years studying this issue, I can tell you that the evidence is overwhelming, and although I resisted the notion that our food supply in the U.S. was polluted, I finally came to accept that U.S. foods were knowingly, willingly, and systematically contaminated to increase profits at the expense of the consumer. They win! And unless we stop buying their polluted foods we lose.

Stay tuned for the next article on how to avoid food pollution. In the meantime, if you are struggling with your weight, anxiety or your health, please reach out. I am the Mind Weight Wellness Pro and I can help! 🙂