Exploring Health: From Personal Wellness to Soil Nutrition
I love learning about how our bodies work and what we can do to make positive changes for our health. I have always been active; I started lifting weights and running in high school.
While at college in Fayetteville, I continued to remain active as a walker/runner even On The Hill (which was big deal for this flatlander!) I love to get my lab results and look up all the different numbers. When I have had issues with my health, I have been proactive to do research and know many different outcomes that might be available to me. This is much easier today with the internet and so far, it has served me well.
As with most topics you must take what is published on podcasts (or blogs 😉) today with a grain of salt. What is factual or opinion? What assumed facts are only facts because they support the use of something the host or the guest is selling? Podcasts are mainly for entertainment purposes only and many have disclaimers stating as such. So, I listen and evaluate and then have ideas of topics to dig into deeper for clarity and truth. I hope you do the same.
Today, I listened to Andrew Huberman’s podcast Huberman Lab with the guest Dr. Casey Means. This episode was three hours long and it kept my attention for the entire time. I wore my ear buds and was folding laundry and prepping our food for the week, so my hands were busy while my brain took in and digested the podcast. I have followed both people on social media for some time now. Dr. Means is promoting her new book titled Good Energy: The Surprising Connection Between Metabolism and Limitless Health. This title and topic intrigued me and is along the lines of information I read or listen to regularly.
Andrew Huberman is a neuroscientist and has a dedicated following and very successful podcast and YouTube channel. His channel has 5.48 million followers and this episode at only 3 weeks out has over 367,000 views. I equate this with the fact that Mr. Huberman is reaching people and most likely the content he publishes influences how people behave as well. If you search “Huberman Morning Ritual” on YouTube, you will find thousands of videos from everyday folks like you and me who have tried his morning routine and made videos about how they succeeded or failed at the experiment in their own lives. Dr. Means is a Medical Doctor trained in ENT surgery. Her YouTube channel is not as popular with fewer followers, but not as much content either. I would like to think she has been writing her book and doing research to be able to confirm her findings instead of publishing social media content.
Generally, the podcast focuses on topics I would hope most Americans know very well. Basically, our diet is junk, and we are the unhealthiest developed country in the world. Some of the statistics quoted in the podcast are astonishing and really should shock us all into paying closer attention to what we eat, how we move, exercise, sleep and take care of our mental health. My interpretation of the interview is that our health care system is focusing on addressing the resulting condition and not addressing the habits and practices that if done consistently could PREVENT the health concerns in the first place.
Follow the money – if we are all exercising, eating whole healthy foods, managing our stress and getting sufficient rest, who profits? Each individual person profits from extraordinary health but this moves the money to a different hand – yours and mine. One statistic Dr. Means states is about the cost of Ozempic a new very popular weight loss drug. (Wegovy is another brand name, but the two pharmaceuticals have the same active ingredient.) The yearly prescription currently costs approximately $20,000 per person and it is on track to be the most profitable pharmaceutical in history. On top of that, she states that it is indicated to be taken for the rest of your life once you begin. When I googled how many people are taking Ozempic you get anywhere form 9 million to 15.5 million so who knows what could even be correct. Just for ease of math let’s say 5 million people use it for 1 year. That equals $100,000,000,000.00 – one hundred billion dollars! I can’t even conceive that amount of money, can you? Think of all the healthcare preventative education and training that could be provided for 100 billion dollars!!
As I listen to this and many other podcasts on subjects like it, the “experts” usually blame our food supply for the many health issues our country has on the rise today. We live very busy lives and quick, easy, convenient meals that began to come into the market when I was a kid has since filled our grocery stores. I have used many of them to feed my family during planting and harvest seasons and days in between. The economics of supporting a family today in America require two working parents generating income for the family to live. And yet, there are many instances when the second income may only cover childcare costs or the family’s health insurance.
There’s one comment that I have heard from many “experts” repeatedly gets me every time. They state that our soils do not produce the same level of nutrition in our food today as it did years ago. I have yet to hear any research sited when most quote this information. I have no idea if it is based on facts or not. I wonder how food produced decades ago is still around and fresh enough to compare its nutrition to today’s production. Maybe the old data is being compared to data taken today. I must believe that testing methods are drastically different simply based on the speed at which our technology has increased. Can that data reasonably be compared? Are the comparisons of the nutrient content done on differing soils? There are tremendous differences in soil composition across my own farm much less the state and country. We can probably all agree soil is a living organism and has changed, but how is the soil compared to decades ago as well?
As a farmer, maybe I am too close to the soil and take offense to these comments. My personal reality is that the soil that provides my livelihood and has provided for my family for the previous three generations. Am I arrogant to assume we, as farmers, are taking care of the soil?
I want to understand this issue of the depleted soils. Where is the research? And if these claims are true, where is the research being done to correct it? Maybe someone out there will read this and have some solid information to share. If so, I will follow up with you all what I find! I want the food produced on our farm to be full of nutrients to nourish the bodies that it feeds. My body, my health, my longevity depends on it.