How Our Food System Harms Humans And The Planet

Feb 19, 2020

Dhru Purohit, CEO and partner of Dr. Mark Hyman and host of 'The Broken Brain Podcast', dives into the urgent issues of our flawed food system. He discusses how current agricultural practices worsen health and climate crises while advocating for regenerative agriculture. Dhru emphasizes the need for systemic reforms to tackle chronic diseases tied to processed foods. He passionately argues for personal and collective action to shift our food culture, highlighting the powerful connections between nutrition, health, and sustainability.

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INSIGHT

Food as the Top Killer

Food, not smoking or guns, is the number one killer, causing 11 million deaths yearly from overconsumption of processed foods and inadequate whole foods.
This "invisible problem" lacks the global attention given to infectious diseases, despite causing more deaths.

ANECDOTE

South Carolina Family Transformation

Dr. Hyman recounts helping a South Carolina family struggling with obesity and diabetes due to a lack of nutritional knowledge.
Through basic cooking education and access to whole foods, they achieved significant weight loss and health improvements.

INSIGHT

Systemic Health Inequities

The poor and minorities are disproportionately affected by diet-related chronic diseases due to limited access to healthy food and education.
Personal responsibility alone is insufficient without access and resources.

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The way we grow food now is destroying our ability to grow it in the future. And the way we’re growing it now is making us sicker and more broke than ever before. Food is our #1 killer, even more so than smoking and guns.Our government supports the overproduction of the top crops for processed foods—corn, soy, and wheat—and Big Food reaps the benefits by turning them into sugary, starchy, highly addictive foods that cause chronic diseases. Diseases that are killing us and could be prevented.

This all comes down to our food system. The way food is grown, transported, processed, consumed, and wasted in our country is contributing to these problems and so much more—especially some of our most urgent ones like climate change. That’s why I wrote my new book Food Fix: How to Save Our Health, Our Economy, Our Communities, and Our Planet—One Bite at a Time. And today on The Doctor’s Farmacy I’m excited to trade places and be the interviewee with my good friend, business partner, and host of The Broken Brain Podcast, Dhru Purohit. When I got very sick decades ago, I took on the mission to use Functional Medicine to help myself and my patients get over needless suffering. There are so many things we can do to prevent unnecessary health struggles and related deaths, and food is one of the most powerful.

This episode is brought to you by Thrive Market. Thrive Market has made it so easy for me to stay healthy, even with my intense travel schedule. Not only does Thrive offer 25 to 50% off all of my favorite brands, but they also give back. For every membership purchased, they give a membership to a family in need, and they make it easy to find the right membership for you and your family. You can choose from 1-month, 3-month, or 12-month plans. And right now, Thrive is offering all Doctor's Farmacy listeners a great deal, you’ll get up to $20 in shopping credit when you sign up, to spend on all your own favorite natural food, body, and household items. And any time you spend more than $49 you’ll get free carbon-neutral shipping. All you have to do is head over to thrivemarket.com/Hyman.

Here are more of the details from our interview:

When I realized I had to get out of the doctor’s office to get my patients healthy (11:12)

Who is most affected by our food system? (14:06)

The lack of nutrition guidelines in our Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), or food stamps (23:21)

How the way we grow food is destroying our ability to grow food in the future (30:54)

The connection between our food system and climate change, as both a cause and a solution (35:21)

The solution to food waste (47:53)

Why your participation is needed to bring about global food policy shifts (52:49)

How my early life experiences and education led to my advocacy energy and interest in social justice and spirituality (58:18)

The biggest threat to global economic development (1:08:12

How starting at the seed level solves all of our global crises (1:12:09)

Visit foodfixbook.com for more information about my new book, Food Fix, and for bonus material including the Food Fix Action Guide and my Longevity Masterclass.