I graduated medical school knowing almost
Nothing about nutrition. That's right
the number one thing that
Determines how you feel how you look how long you live how well you live was barely a part of my medical education
now I would love to tell you that I was an exception that I was a bad student didn't study didn't go to class or
Just went to a crappy school
Unfortunately, none of that is true. I went to a good school tough to get into good reputation
And I actually had pretty good grades. Unfortunately, my situation is pretty typical
In the US for example med schools are expected to offer a minimum of 25 hours of nutrition instruction
That's total 25 hours over all of med school
So the equivalent of three full days of classes in four years and if that seems scanty to you
The reality is even worse because less than a third of med schools actually meet that minimum
The average is less than 20 hours of nutrition classes over the four years
So given this reality the result is exactly what we would expect most doctors are not prepared to give nutrition advice
Ninety-four percent of doctors think it's their obligation to discuss nutrition with patients
But only 14 percent feel they are adequately trained to do it. now,
There are many ongoing efforts to try to change the situation and I am absolutely sure that eventually they will work and things will change
but in the meantime
We have to protect ourselves and nothing is more empowering than knowledge
When it comes to nutrition the available knowledge is just staggering. I mean literally life-changing
in fact when I started researching and studying nutrition more in depth
I was blown away
Not just by what I was learning, the amazing facts themselves
But by the fact that I had gone so long without knowing this stuff and I don't mean academic details nerdy boring minutia
I mean essential fundamental stuff that everybody should know. forget med school
We should be taught this stuff in elementary school. heart disease can be reversed
So the number one cause of death in the Western world
Affects 50% of us will kill 1/3 of us is largely avoidable and largely curable and that's with no drugs no side effects or procedures
Just by eating a certain way and get this I never heard that in medical school
Not once. diabetes is also preventable with food so is high blood pressure and obviously weight issues like obesity
Which is now an epidemic
childhood obesity has more than tripled since the 70s if things continue this way more than half of today's children are
Expected to become obese adults. think about that for one second. having normal weight will be an exception
In fact, it won't be called normal weight anymore because it won't be normal. Obese will be the new normal. clearly
We don't know what we're doing when it comes to food. now,
All of that said I like to look at everything through a positive light
Everything in life has an upside. for the longest time people didn't have this knowledge
But now we do. scientists have figured out all the basics and we're the lucky ones who get to benefit
Let's say I hear something about nutrition. food X or Y is good or bad for me. in a matter of seconds
I can pull out my phone. I can find professional peer-reviewed work done by world-class experts
I can check their work read their conclusions and apply them to my own life. in the history of humanity
This was never possible. our ancestors Never had these resources. at the same time
Most people don't know this as possible and are not sure quite how to do it
So when I was researching and reading and learning all these amazing facts
It really got me thinking if even doctors aren't aware of this
Then who's warning everybody else? people who didn't go to med school people who don't do research for a living
Who's telling them? so that got me making these videos and giving seminars to help spread the message a bit
So we know having an MD doesn't mean you know nutrition
We know that. but we should also not fall into the opposite trap of thinking
Every doctor is ignorant or in cahoots with Big Pharma or something. That's just as false and probably more dangerous
In fact, many of the leading nutrition experts are MDs and many doctors, of course continue to learn and educate themselves
I took it upon myself to read as much as I could for years to listen to leading experts to this day
I'm learning every single day
And of course many doctors out there do the same and become very knowledgeable in this field and give fantastic advice
But some of the worst most unscientific advice you will hear both online and offline
Sometimes comes from MDs. That's really confusing. What the hell are we supposed to do?
Well, we have to be critical of what we hear
It's the best way it's the only way get used to asking for sources if the advice is based on scientific evidence
There will be published studies. You can look up and verify the information
If on the other hand, its word of mouth unreferenced blogs just personal opinion then you know
It's not at the same level as evidence-based advice
No matter who it comes from. one of the first videos I ever made goes over how to find and access these scientific studies
at the end of the day nutritional science is not that hard to
Digest, but if that's not your thing
I totally get it
And there are simpler approaches even just getting in the habit of googling foods and doing a quick check on that nutrition info table on
The right side of the search page can teach you some crucial lessons
Most people have no idea what they're eating
And the truth is there's a lot of industries out there that like to keep it that way because they profit from that ignorance
So learning from solid sources is absolutely essential at the end of the day eating a healthy diet
It's not that complicated. You don't need a PhD in this stuff
My last video was 30 minutes and I covered all the basics
You need to know to have a very healthy diet minimize your risk of disease
So feel free to check it out
And I'll keep making more videos on any issues that arise so stay informed and I'll see you on the next one