A Lie Told Enough Times

“If you tell a lie big enough and keep repeating it, people will eventually come to believe it. The lie can be maintained only for such time as the State can shield the people from the political, economic and/or military consequences of the lie.”

This very popular quote has been used to described propaganda, but today I’m going to try and use it to help us understand why our health care system is failing. By virtually every metric we have the most expensive healthcare system in the world, yet it produces some of the worst healthcare outcomes amongst first world nations. We are spending Wagyu beef money and getting McDonald’s cheeseburgers.

The problem is not how much we spend but what we spend it on. Instead of health being the focus, most of our attention and money is directed towards disease. But isn’t disease just the manifestation of a lack of health? Look at the commercials that we see on TV – how many different types of pharmaceutical commercials do we see? Compare that to commercials for exercising or eating well. Didn’t see any of those? Me neither.

What is the message/lie that keeps getting told? Your body is broken down. This is just how it is. You are getting old. It’s your genes. This is as good as it gets and you’d better get used to it.

The answer that is provided is always a solution that comes from the outside – a new product, a drug, an intervention. Not a word about bolstering what’s on the inside.

There is something innate in you. It was there when you were in your mother’s womb. This is how we grew from 2 cells to 30,000,000,000,000 cells. It’s what knits your skin back together when you get a cut. It’s what runs and organizes all those cells so that YOU can be YOU.

There is a time to discuss what we can do to promote health and to acknowledge where medical intervention is appropriate and life-saving, but for the purpose of this email, the most important thing is to remember the truth.

Here is the truth: we are wonderfully made creatures. We are not meant to be broken down. Being healthy is the default.

Yours in good health,

Dr. Jane