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THE BLACK RING

Why So Many Struggle

The food industry didn’t fail us by accident. And the damage goes deeper than what ends up on the plate.

Look around. Out-of-shape people vastly outnumber in-shape people — and there is a reason for that. We wake up, eat something loaded with carbs and sugar, sit in traffic or at a desk all day, snack on ultra-processed food, come home exhausted, eat something fast, deal with life, watch television, sleep, and repeat. To make it worse, the food industry has gone out of its way to engineer exactly this lifestyle.

Fifty-five percent of adult calories in the United States come from ultra-processed food — and 62% for children.¹ These products are designed to be cheap to make, last forever on a shelf, and override the body’s natural signals to feel full and stop eating. That is not an accident. That is a business model — and it is destroying our health.

“The food industry has gone out of its way to engineer a lifestyle that keeps you buying. That is not an accident. That is a business model.”

Consider this: imagine a plate of cooked potatoes placed next to a plate of potato chips. Most people eat a portion of the potatoes, feel full, and stop. The chips are different. That feeling of fullness never quite arrives, and you eat most of the plate before you realize it. That is engineered. It is not a coincidence.

Similar to the 401K article, a little bad food here, a little more there, over a very long period of time adds up. Even when it does not show on the outside, the inside of the body is under stress and inflammation. When we consistently put damaging things into our bodies, the body works overtime trying to clean up the mess — but it cannot do everything at once.

The Immune System Under Siege

Think of the bad cells that form from inflammation, potentially cancerous ones, as thugs hanging on a street corner. Your immune system is the local police force, constantly patrolling to make sure those thugs do not cause real trouble. But when the immune system is consumed by fighting the inflammation from a poor diet, the police never make it to that corner. The thugs grow bolder.

That is one of many reasons why some people develop cancer and others do not. The body finishes developing around age 25. It then takes roughly 30 years of bad habits for the damage to fully surface, which is why so many serious health problems emerge in people’s 50s and 60s.

The Hidden Weight of Trauma

What makes the situation even worse? Childhood trauma. It could be parents who ignored you, the early loss of a parent, or in the worst cases, physical abuse at the hands of someone who was supposed to protect you. This does not just change you, it changes your brain and how you respond to everyday situations.² With that kind of stress locked deep in the body, the immune system is never fully off alert. The police are always responding to another call.

Mental illness has been linked to nearly every major health condition.³ Solve mental illness and you solve far more than “bad thoughts.” This is why the Physical and Mental legs of health are never truly separate, they are the same body, under the same pressure, fighting the same battles.

So the next time you see someone who appears to be struggling with their health, resist the easy judgment, that they are lazy, lack willpower, or simply choose to be unhealthy. Consider instead that this person most likely carries some kind of burden, consciously or not, that has shaped their health over a lifetime. It is not a simple choice. It is a lifetime of development.

— Steve Barthelmes, Founder, Live Prescription Free