“Don’t it always seem to go that you don’t know what you’ve got ‘til it’s gone,” sings Joni Mitchell in Big Yellow Taxi. Busily living our lives, we often forget to stop and look back to see if we are indeed missing something, something as important as our health.
Thanks to RFK Jr. the conversation on population health has entered the public sphere. This gives us all an opportunity to reflect on our own health and our futures.
The numbers are not in our favor. In July of 2022, Tufts University research team published startling statistics in the Journal of American College of Cardiology. They found that only 6.8% of US adults screened between 2017-2018 had optimal metabolic health parameters. CDC data bank claims that six in 10 Americans have a chronic disease. The National Health Council published an editorial in March of this year, alarmed at the exponential rise of autoimmune conditions among adults and adolescents in the USA.
And although there is some contention about whether the average American is as strong as our pioneering predecessors, the Journal of Hand Therapy published a paper in 2016 stating that grip strength declined in the 20-34 age group as compared to 1985 data.
Yet, US health expenditure is only growing, having reached 4.5 trillion in 2022, according to CMS. Three hundred and twenty billion dollars are spent on cardiovascular-related disease and $412.9 billion are spent on diabetes. On the flip side, the gym and fitness club industry in the US is also growing, having reached the expenditure of $30.6 billion in 2022. The supplement industry reached a whopping $40.9 billion in 2023.
Why are we not stronger, happier and leaner than our ancestors? Why are the billions spent within the health industry producing a weaker, sicker, fatter, sadder population? The answer to the question lies in several simple yet complex factors. One of these is metabolic health. And metabolic health stems from food.
By making choices of what we put on our forks, we become the masters and orchestrators of our own health and longevity. We guide our cells in energy production and direct the effectiveness of our bodies’ mechanisms through personal choice of eating. Through ingestion of multiple foodstuffs, we directly influence our immunity, our sleep, our hormone production and our energy levels.
This realization that we are the masters of our fate, our health and our legacy through simple meal choices is the first step on a path to wellness.
Dr. Camilla Petersen is the owner of Petersen Concierge Medical, an innovative concierge practice that focuses on metabolic health and peak human performance, providing bespoke comprehensive wrap-around primary care.
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