The Dr. Hyman Show - Why You Should Feel Optimistic About the Future

Episode Date: September 6, 2019

While we are in an incredibly exciting time when it comes to preventing and reversing disease, issues such as misleading scientific research, imperfect policy, corporate financial interests, and other biases often act as roadblocks to enhancing the health of our population and our planet. Yet, when we recently reflected on a number of conversations from The Doctor’s Farmacy, we couldn’t help but hear a common and hopeful message. In this mini-episode, we revisit four conversations Dr. Hyman has had with guests on this podcast, each with a common refrain: Progress is being made and it’s happening fast!  Michael Pollan is the author of the New York Times bestsellers Cooked, Food Rules, In Defense of Food, The Omnivore’s Dilemma, The Botany of Desire, and his latest book How to Change Your Mind, which is all about the new science of psychedelics. A longtime contributor to the New York Times Magazine, he also teaches writing at Harvard and the University of California, Berkeley where he is the John S. and James L. Knight Professor of Science Journalism. In 2010, Time magazine named him one of the one hundred most influential people in the world. Dr. Hallberg is a Medical Director at Virta Health and a Fellow of the Aspen Institute’s Health Innovator Fellowship and a member of the Aspen Global Leadership Network. She is also the Medical Director and founder of the Medically Supervised Weight Loss Program at Indiana University Health Arnett and an adjunct Professor of Clinical Medicine at the Indiana University School of Medicine. Dr. Hallberg is serving as Chair of the Board of Directors and Chair of the Scientific Advisory Council for The Nutrition Coalition. Dr. Hallberg is a diplomate of the American Board of Internal Medicine, American Board of Obesity Medicine, and The American Board of Clinical Lipidology and is a Registered Exercise Physiologist by the ACSM. She is also a Fellow of the Obesity Medicine Association and The National Lipid Association. David Wallace-Wells is the deputy editor of New York magazine and the author of the international bestseller The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming, published in February 2019, which the New York Times called both “brilliant” and “the most terrifying book I have ever read.” Dr. Sonia Angell is a former Deputy Commissioner at the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene (DOHMH), where she oversaw the Division of Prevention and Primary Care. Dr. Angell is a practicing physician, board certified in internal medicine, and on faculty at the College of Physicians and Surgeons of Columbia University and New York Presbyterian Hospital. Tune into Dr. Hyman’s full length conversation with Michael Pollan: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/MichaelPollan Tune into Dr. Hyman’s full length conversation with Dr. Sarah Hallberg: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/DrSarahHallberg Tune into Dr. Hyman’s full length conversation with David Wallace-Wells: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/DavidWallaceWells Tune into Dr. Hyman’s full length conversation with Dr. Sonia Angell: https://DrMarkHyman.lnk.to/DrSoniaAngell

Coming up on this mini episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy. Something's happening. The culture has moved more in the last year than I ever thought possible. Hi, I'm Kea Perowit, one of the producers of The Doctor's Pharmacy podcast. If you're a regular listener to this podcast, you know that we are in an incredibly exciting time when it comes to a growing acceptance of the power to prevent and reverse disease. You also know that misleading research, imperfect policy, corporate financial interests, and other biases often act as roadblocks to creating change

and enhancing the health of our population and our planet. Yet when we reflected on a number of conversations from the doctor's pharmacy, we couldn't help but hear a common and hopeful message. Progress is being made and it's happening fast. On this special mini episode, we're going to replay clips from a few conversations starting with Dr. Hyman's interview with world-renowned author, Michael Pollan. You know, your book is an extraordinary narrative about how we started on the journey of exploring psychedelics and psychiatry, how we stopped, and now there's a resurgence of interest in treating all these recalcitrant conditions that conventional medication just doesn't really work very well with.

Depression, anxiety. Addiction. Addiction, cigarette smoking, alcohol, and even death, even death. Something's happening. The culture has moved more in the last year than I ever thought possible. But I feel a way of building around this and that in five years, the landscapes will look very different and that these will be accepted medicines. And people will be talking about these transformative experiences in a way they now are closeted.

That's amazing. And we're just beginning, really, right? It's really early days. And there's so much basic science to be done there's there's so many more indications to be trialed Andrew Weil believes they can help with psychosomatic illness things like allergy which is really interesting you know he's very strong on the mind-body connection and he thinks there's a whole area of autoimmune disease that needs to be

looked at with this. Seems like there's a sea change because Colorado just, you know, is decriminalized. Something's going on, yeah. This sentiment of swift, hopeful change was echoed in Dr. Hyman's conversations with diabetes expert Dr. Sarah Hallberg, again in his discussion with climate journalist David Wallace-Wells, and in his interview with former New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene Deputy Commissioner Dr. Sonia Angel. When we began in this field, we constantly talked to each other about, OK, it'll happen. It will happen.

You know, I think we're going to get there. I think we're going to get there. And all of a sudden, the discussions with providers in this field have changed to, we're there. It's happening. The change is now. My feeling is that the next set of guidelines, both the DGAs and the American Diabetes Association guidelines, are going to have to acknowledge and move forward on recommending a low-carbohydrate diet for

patients with metabolic problems. I think we're going to see change. How long do you think it'll take before Medicare and insurers will pay for a digital healthcare program that reverses diabetes? Because if that happens, it's a game changer. It is a game changer. I don't know the answer to that. I think, again, that things are moving so quickly right now that if you had asked me that a couple of years ago, I would have said, I don't know, not in my children's lifetime, probably. And now I say, you know, I think that it may be right around the corner. I won't be surprised that that's not far off anymore.

There is unprecedented political movement around climate just over the last year. And that is really heartening to me. I turned this book in in September. And I actually didn't see much cause for optimism in our political life when I turned the book in. September of 2018. 18. The last nine months have produced a really dramatic political movement. And this is the second reason I have a lot more optimism than I would have a few years ago. Economists are really seeing a different picture out there than they used to. And it used to be the case that any economist would tell you

that fast action on climate change would be very expensive and therefore not really worth doing. Right now, just over the last few years, economists doing new research have really reversed that logic. So they see, rather than seeing fast action on climate as being expensive, they see inaction on climate as being much more expensive. And they say we would all be better off in relatively short order if we took more action sooner. What's happening right now, I think at a really remarkable speed, is this acknowledgement that

what we're doing in the clinic needs to be connected to the community. But the way that it's being most commonly connected is through referrals. So, we'll say, we acknowledge, so we being, say, the medical community is saying, we acknowledge that the social determinants of health are incredibly important. Social determinants of health are things like housing, food, employment. And so, we say, well, look, our patients in order to be healthy need to have jobs. They need to have a place to sleep and they need to have food. And so we refer them effectively oftentimes into the community for them to get those resources. That's happening even more so. And some of the things you're talking about, coaching in the community, the National Diabetes Prevention Program, all of these things we're starting to do more effectively in the community.

And we haven't talked about healthcare care that much over this point. But I really think also that's where a lot of right now, some of the most interesting innovation of really connecting what's happening in the community with what's happening in the clinics is happening in a way that's also aligning the way that we're reimbursing. And when you have your financial incentives, recognizing the need for our clinical interventions to connect with community, that's when actually it happens more effectively. Right. I mean, right now, the way the incentives are is that you get paid for doing an amputation on a diabetic, $10,000, but you won't get reimbursed for seeing a nutritionist,

even though that may, or a health coach or a community health worker, which is actually what maybe needs to happen. And all of that's changing very quickly. There is no lack of doom and gloom in today's world. And yet when you look closely, there are many reasons to remain optimistic about our future. By taking a perspective of hope and activism, we can shift our health, our food system, and our planet in a new direction. If you enjoyed this mini episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy, please consider sharing it with friends and family. in a new direction. If you enjoyed this mini episode of The Doctor's Pharmacy, please consider sharing it with friends and family. Thanks for tuning in.

Hi, everyone. I hope you enjoyed this week's episode. Just a reminder that this podcast is for educational purposes only. This podcast is not a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This podcast is provided a substitute for professional care by a doctor or other qualified medical professional. This podcast is provided on the understanding that it does not constitute medical or other professional advice or services. If you're looking for help in your journey, seek out a qualified medical practitioner. If you're looking for a functional medicine practitioner, you can visit ifm.org and search their find a practitioner database. It's important that you have someone in your corner who's trained,

who's a licensed healthcare practitioner, and can help you make changes, especially when it comes to your health.