That's not normal

That’s not normal

This little burr has been under my saddle for some time.

Have you noticed lately how normal sounding drug company’s ads for Ozempic and other GLP1 meds are?

Whether we are talking TV, radio or streaming - it does not matter. They portrait the need for it as normal.

 “Get the life you deserve back on track” {music playing, people walking around in the back yard - a BBQ maybe, people laughing. kids playing. Everybody smiling and bubbly} …. “Ask your Doctor about Ozempic – You deserve it. “

No folks, that’s not normal.

It is not normal that we need a pill or shot to get normalcy back in our life.  Are some folks predisposed to serious problems – maybe…………

But by in large I think if someone is living any level of balance in their life and are at least curious about what’s unhealthy – the issues they do have should be aggravations …. not debilitating conditions requiring costly intervention.  

No - something is not right.   

It also says something about how manipulating the marketplace is to even suggest that this is ok. Chew on that a bit.

No, it’s far from ok……..We have a systemic problem in this country that costs us about $73 billion a year in medication costs alone.

 That’s right …… Pharmaceutical spending in this country for all illnesses and disorders per year is ~ $800 billion and of that 800 billion, almost ~ 10% (73+billion) was attributed to obesity and related GLP1 drugs.

Damn – even me rolling the acronym GLP1 off like that says something is wrong. The acronym is prevalent in marketing these days. Not normal.   

To put that kind of spending in perspective- we spent about the same amount of money ($ 81 billion) in the USA for ALL cancer drug costs in 2022. Wow.

No folks, this is not normal.

So why is there so much $$ being raked in by pharmaceutical companies?  Because there is a market for it. You can’t blame them.

Maybe we can blame the food industry (?) - big food, fast food etc. - yeah, they seem legitimately guilty for sure ……. ….. But again - they have a market.

Perhaps there is some legitimate blame in governmental oversight of these food manufacturing guys over the years.  There is probably a book to be written there. But I digress…………...

Anyway – If you have issues now (which according to the CDC, 1 in 6 Americans do), It does not matter who is to blame.

What matters is action. Action by you.   

Years and years ago while serving overseas we had access to an English-speaking radio station and tv station while in the host country. The broadcast station was called AFN. Armed forces network. It played music and community infomercials.

In place of commercials (zero) it featured PSAs - public service announcements. These PSAs covered a broad range of things from how not to be a victim, to basic emergency home readiness, safe driving, healthy habits to basic civic knowledge of US geography (what’s the capital of to Kansas).

Anyway…. I have fond memories of those funny AFN spots, and it makes me think -

How refreshing would it be to hear a commercial highlighting a known healthy habit as opposed to hearing a commercial advocating something you inherently know is unhealthy (fast-food, sports drinks, booze etc).  

Refreshing? perhaps…………. but you’ll never hear one.  

Lets get back to action. We all have free will in this great country of ours. Free will to live, play and eat however we want.

With free will – you can decide. You can make eating choices deliberate actions …. And then you can change it based on new info and then decide again …. Always going toward good………… Good health is not accidental.  

It’s not a product of the unconscious mind, nor is it a product of those who just go with the flow.

No, the food flow in this country is dominated by the giants messaging, manipulation, marketing and targeting of your taste buds and biochemistry.

You have to get out of the flow and grab that rock as it goes by and pull yourself onto it - and say- I am standing here. You folks can keep going with the flow if want…… but I will stand here.

Good health is not accidental. It does not happen for those who don’t have an opinion about what’s good or what’s bad in the food department either.

Form an opinion. Pick a rock and stand up  – there is only one person who can do that for you – and that’s you.