RFK Jr. is a divisive topic in the United States. The mainstream media is attempting to discredit him, which makes me pause and ask, “Why?” Anytime I see legacy media try to derail a person or a topic that hard, I always question why. It’s not hard to guess the answer, though—legacy media relies heavily on advertising dollars. Two of the biggest are pharmaceutical companies and multi-national food companies. They would rather the USA doesn’t change that much. It’s quite profitable for both sides.
This has caused many liberals to declare how bad he is suddenly. To me, this is odd. Before the COVID years, the Crunchy Mamas were usually liberals. I wrote about this a while back, how it sent them into a fear-driven world where they suddenly wanted the safety of Big Pharma.
So, while RFK Jr may be divisive, he has plenty of good to say. MAHA. Make America Healthy Again. And I have been listening hard. I know we have things I can do so much better with in my life, in my family life. If I don’t put the effort in, who will?
Kirk and I have been working hard this fall to take our clean living much farther. I am not perfect by any means. Living a clean life sustainably and cooking everything from scratch is hard. It takes a lot of time daily, and it requires commitment. I take Kirk’s meal planning and adapt it to feed the boys (low carb/high protein for us, but I add a bit of carb for them). But it also requires me to make them bread from scratch and treats as well, for their lunch boxes. We’ve lived the “homestead life” but not fully. I own up to that. It’s easy to go to the store and buy a box of treats to put in their lunch boxes. To buy bagels to make sandwiches with.
I saw an article on CNN (pretty much anything they publish is bought propaganda these days) about the use of the newer “miracle” weight loss medications and how wrong RFK Jr. is on his stance. Yet, I understood what he was saying. While they criticized him, I wanted to scream, “He isn’t wrong!”.
What it was on was the now heavy use of those medications. Every day I am on social media, I am shown at least a DOZEN ads a day, on Instagram and Facebook, for various weight loss drugs. Touting how I could lose weight with barely any effort. For just $198 to $800 a month, out of pocket. In tiny font, a warning that the medications are made in compound pharmacies that are not FDA approved. That in itself was very troubling. Did I have enough trust in the safety? Where are these pharmacies? India? China? They constantly use the brand names Ozempic and Wegovy in the ads, but you are not getting that.
RFK Jr. said that these medications are not miracles. First, we must solve our problems to get sustainable, clean food in stores. We must help Americans work on their issues with food, learn to make wiser choices, remove BE (bioengineered) and GMO food, lower sodium and sugar dramatically, get rid of artificial colors and flavors, and use heavy preservatives—all the things that fill modern food in stores.
CNN, instead of saying, “Hey, this is a good idea,” doubled down with a quote from a medical professional: “Doctors who treat people with obesity suggest that fixing the food system shouldn’t be mutually exclusive with using weight-loss medications, when appropriate.”
So, instead of saying, “We need clean food and help people detox mentally from how they eat,” they’d rather have people taking medications.
The problem is that those medications are not sustainable. When they started coming out, I did look into them. Even $200 a month isn’t affordable. Even if one is wealthy, can you justify it? Will you change how you eat? How do you view food? What happens when a person taking them can no longer afford it? Or do they have side effects that make it so they must stop taking it?
The weight will come back. That is medically confirmed. Will that crush them mentally?
But you haven’t healed your issues with food.
I know I have a lot of issues with food. I grew up in abject poverty, where we didn’t always have enough food. And when we did have food, it was often dull and bland due to my Dad. So when I taste commercially processed food, it does something to my brain. Is it the high sugar? I often wonder. Or is it the intense flavors that food science creates? I don’t know, but when I eat food like this, I cannot turn off the desire to keep eating. It’s been that way for at least the last 30 years of my life. Chips, crackers, pastries, even lattes. It tastes so good you just want more. I smoked cigarettes when I was in my teens and early 20s, and stopping smoking was incredibly easy. One day, I had my last smoke and threw the pack away. I have never craved them. Same with alcohol. I quit drinking in general years ago. But sugar? Highly processed food? Shopping has become so hard. On a trip this week to the store, all I bought was dairy, produce, and meat. I realized I could not go down the aisles anymore. I will buy things I shouldn’t eat. I felt like a pathetic addict.
I have paid for it by repeatedly gaining weight. In late 2019, I lost three clothing sizes and have kept them off (I did it through exercise). But I am still too heavy. I wear a size 14 in general (it depends on the brand), but I’d like to be a size 10 to 12 to help my varicose veins return under my skin again. So that I don’t have the aches of “getting older”.
It’s tempting to listen to those ads and take the medication. Because I’d get there faster, it would block the cravings. But then I ask myself: Is it worth it? What happens if I get a frozen stomach or nausea from them? Because I HAVE to conquer the addiction part now.
Instead, I remind myself to work out with Kirk, do some cardio, and start weight lifting again to strengthen myself. I also remind myself to keep cooking all our food with simple, clean ingredients.
To opt out of the system.
I won’t judge you, though. If you feel the medication is worth it, I will support you. But we have to heal our food system. It is destroying our country.
~Sarah