October 13, 2025 • 25 mins
Something about the obesity epidemic doesn’t add up.
Despite decades of “awareness,” our population keeps getting sicker, younger, and more dependent — while the system built to fix it keeps breaking profit records.
In this episode of Think First, host Jim Detjen unpacks how food engineering, pharmaceutical incentives, and shame-based media narratives quietly reinforce one another — turning health into a subscription model.
Featuring excerpts from Dr. Mark Hyman’s The Doctor’s Farmacy with Calley Means, this investigation traces how “wellness” became an industry, how children became the next profit center, and why moral clarity in medicine disappeared the moment it stopped being profitable.
From hospital vending machines to billion-dollar injections, this is the story of how America learned to medicate the fish instead of cleaning the tank.
🎧 Listen for:
- How “rigging institutions of trust” keeps the public confused
- The economics of obesity and the myth of personal failure
- Calley Means on why kids are now the system’s most valuable customers
- The political and moral gaslight behind “health at any size”
- Why DISTORTED calls it not a health crisis — but a perception crisis
Stay sharp. Stay skeptical. #SpotTheGaslight
Read and reflect at Gaslight360.com/clarity
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
If an entire nation steadily gains weight for 50
(00:02):
years, despite rising gymmemberships, kale smoothies,
Peloton bikes in every otherliving room, is that really an
accident?
Or is it the business model?
We're told the obesity epidemicis about personal
responsibility.
Eat less, move more, drinkwater, believe the influencer.
But while individuals blamethemselves, entire populations
(00:26):
change at once.
In 1970, the average Americanweighed about 165 pounds.
Today, it's closer to 200.
Kids, too.
The biggest jump?
Not in laziness or metabolism,but in food engineering.
What happens when the stuff youeat isn't food anymore?
(00:49):
But a formula?
When snacks are built in labs,tested against your dopamine
receptors, and optimized forcravability?
And what happens when the systemthat feeds you is the same
system that then sells you thecure for your appetite?
How do we square a culture thatonce shamed kids for being fat
in the 90s, with the sameculture now romanticizing
(01:13):
obesity under the banner of bodypositivity, all while funneling
billions into pharmaceuticalslike Ozempic?
Is this really about health oris it about dependency?
And here's the bigger question: when an entire nation is nudged (01:24):
undefined
into a condition that makes itsicker, hungrier, and more
compliant, do we call that aside effect or a strategy?
And today, we're going there.
This is Think First, where wedon't follow the script.
(01:47):
We question it.
Because in a world full ofpoetic truths and professional
gaslighting, someone's gotta saythe quiet part out loud.
Here's what most people think.
Obesity is a crisis of choice,bad diets, fast food, not enough
exercise, people just need morewillpower.
(02:08):
But if that's the full story,then why did obesity rates
explode in one generation?
Why do countries with the samecouches and screens stay
thinner?
Why does the U.S.
spend the most on health careyet rank near the bottom in
outcomes?
And, here's the kicker.
The same government that tellsyou to eat healthy subsidizes
(02:28):
corn syrup, processed cheese,and feedlot beef while making
fruits and vegetables moreexpensive.
That's not personal choice,that's structural design.
Maybe the obesity epidemic isn'tabout failing individuals.
Maybe it's about a system thatthrives when you fail.
Ask yourself, if food isengineered to override your
(02:49):
body's signals, is that still achoice?
If junk calories are subsidizedover whole foods, who's
responsible?
If pharma profits from managingobesity, why solve it?
If media swings between shameand celebration, are they
informing you or conditioningyou?
This isn't about fat jokes orbody positivity, it's about
(03:10):
agency.
Who has it?
Who loses it?
Who profits when it's gone?
Because the irony is thatobesity has become both a
problem and an asset.
A crisis to be managed, and apipeline of predictable
customers.
The story we've been solddoesn't look like prevention, it
(03:32):
looks like dependency.
Before we step into the storyitself, I want you to hear a
voice from inside the system.
This clip comes from Dr.
Mark Hyman's podcast, TheDoctor's Pharmacy, episode 848,
titled The Obesity Crisis: Ozempic, ADHD, and Food Industry (03:47):
undefined
Lies.
SPEAKER_01 (03:55):
The word that comes to mind and the overarching goal
is rigging institutions oftrust.
Rigging institutions of trust.
So you have a company, you havean interest.
Who are their stakeholders?
Their stakeholders areconsumers.
You know, obviously, you want toimpact what they think.
(04:15):
You want to impact the media,which has a big impact, you want
to impact government leaders,you want to impact research, you
want to impact groups like civilrights groups and other medical
groups that people trust.
So you want to, as a company inthe United States that's trying
to get something accomplished,you want to impact all of those
groups.
And the truth is thepharmaceutical industry and the
(04:38):
healthcare industry at large isthe largest fund of government.
It's the largest funder of thinktanks, it's the largest fund of
academic research, it's thelargest funder of news news
funding.
It's 50% of news funding.
So the objective, and thenbasically infiltrated every
largest funder of every singleinstitute.
(04:58):
They're the largest funder ofmedical groups, they're the
largest funder of civil rightsgroups, actually.
The NAACP.
So every group that we holdsacred sacred, Harvard, the NIH
is highly the FDA, as you'vepointed out, is more than 50%
directly funded by thepharmaceutical industry.
(05:19):
And then food's not far behind.
So you literally have the coreinstitutions that set our
culture, that set theguidelines.
Their bills are paid by pharma.
SPEAKER_00 (05:34):
In that conversation, former consultant
Callie Means describes how thevery institutions meant to
protect public health arefinanced by the same industries
profiting from our decline.
Callie Means isn't describing avillain's story, he's describing
a budget line.
And it sets the stage for whatcomes next, how that system
rewrote the very language ofhealth itself.
(05:56):
The first chapter is shame.
If you grew up in the 80s or90s, you remember it.
The afterschool specials, themagazine covers, the before and
after photos.
Being fat was a moral failure.
Shows like The Biggest Loserturned weight loss into
televised penance.
Schools handed out BMI reportcards, airlines humiliated
(06:18):
passengers with seatbeltextenders, the diet industry
raked in billions sellingcabbage soup plans, slim fast
shakes, and miracle pills thatnever worked.
That was Act 1, shame asmotivator.
But shame doesn't work longterm.
It creates yo-yo diets,depression, and guilt cycles
(06:39):
that send people straight backinto the system for more
solutions.
So Act Two began.
Suddenly, the same culture thatmocked obesity started
celebrating it.
Fashion campaigns featured plussize models, magazines
proclaimed healthy at any size,shows praised living
(07:00):
authentically.
And here's the smirkworthytwist.
The same companies that sold youdiet shakes started selling you
crop tops.
The revolution will be sponsoredby Lululemon and a low sodium
ranch packet.
Self-acceptance matters.
Everyone deserves dignity, butwhen the pendulum swings so far
that questioning health riskbecomes taboo, that's not
(07:23):
empowerment.
That's poetic truth.
A comforting story layered overhard reality.
Obesity links to diabetes, heartdisease, joint damage, shorter
life.
Those are facts.
The poetic truth says, yourweight doesn't matter if you
feel good about yourself.
And poetic truths protect theindustries causing the harm.
(07:45):
Why push for reform when you canrebrand the condition as
empowerment?
That's how narratives work.
They don't fix the system, theyjust make you feel okay living
in it.
Between shame campaigns and bodypositivity campaigns, notice the
pattern.
Neither reduces obesity rates,both keep the cash flowing.
(08:09):
The diet industry thrives whenyou hate yourself.
Pharma thrives when you acceptyourself and medicate.
Food giants thrive either way.
Act 1, shame.
Act 2, celebration.
Different masks.
Same puppet master.
Every family has its own versionof that mirror, a quiet deal
(08:31):
between guilt and denial.
You don't need a memoir to seeit.
Just open the fridge aftermidnight and notice who's
winning the argument.
Let's check the receipts.
Receipt number one, Bliss PointFood.
The Bliss Point is the precisesugar-fat salt combo that
maximizes craving.
(08:52):
Food scientists test recipes onfocus groups and brain scans to
find the point where you can'tstop eating.
That bag of Doritos?
That pint of ice cream?
Not food.
An experiment.
And you're the lab rat.
A 2025 Duke Poncer lab studyproved obesity rose even while
energy expenditure stayedconstant.
(09:13):
Meaning, it's not that we moveless, it's that the food supply
got better at beating ourbrakes.
Receipt number two.
Subsidy distortion.
The U.S.
spends billions subsidizingcorn, soy, and wheat.
Not broccoli, not blueberries.
So a McDonald's doublecheeseburger costs$2.
A salad?
6.
(09:34):
Personal choice?
The menu was rigged before yousat down.
Receipt number 3.
The school lunch paradox.
Cafeterias serve pizza, tatertots, and chocolate milk, while
the CDC warns about childhoodobesity.
It's like handing kids Marlborosin the cafeteria, then running
an anti-smoking PSA in the gym.
(09:55):
Receipt number four.
Pharma's jackpot.
Enter GLP1 drugs like Ozempic,WeGovi, and Manjaro.
Wall Street predicts tens ofbillions in annual sales.
Doctors prescribe off-label likecandy.
And the best part, it doesn'tcure obesity, it manages it.
A lifetime subscription.
Pharma finally found the onediet plan that always works:
(10:19):
your checking account.
A 2025 JAMA report flaggedgastro-adverse events and
dependency risk across theincretan class.
Even the pharmacologists admitthe cure now needs its own cure.
Receipt number five, mediawhiplash.
One decade, fat shaming.
(10:39):
The next, fat glamorizing.
Today, celebrating obesity whilerunning ads for injectables.
It's not hypocrisy, it'schoreography.
The choreography is this makeyou feel ashamed.
Sell diets, make you feelempowered, sell drugs, keep you
(11:00):
confused, sell both.
That's not prevention, that'sstrategy.
Receipt number six, algorithmicappetite.
TikTok's What I Eat in a Dayvideos rack millions of views,
which is equal parts food pornand moral theater.
The algorithm learns yourcravings faster than your
metabolism does.
(11:22):
You scroll hungry, and it feedsyou ads.
In 2025, the platform launchedHealthy Choice Prompts.
Translation.
It can now monetize restrainttoo.
Receipt number seven, label lawgaslight.
The FDA quietly redefinedhealthy last spring.
So breakfast cereals with 10grams of sugar per serving still
(11:45):
qualify if they sprinkle invitamin D.
The label looks clean, thecontract stays dirty.
The only thing shrinking fasterthan waistlines is
accountability.
And finally, receipt numbereight, global shift.
In 2025, UNICEF announced thatfor the first time in history,
obesity surpassed underweightamong school-aged children
(12:08):
worldwide.
We solved famine by feeding theworld junk.
Before we dive back in, a quickword about the project that's
bigger than this podcast.
What if the biggest lies you'vebeen told weren't lies at all?
What if they were stories?
Comforting stories, soothingmyths, the kind of poetic truths
(12:32):
that feel good, even whenthey're not true.
That's the game.
Politicians do it, media doesit, institutions do it.
They don't just lie, theydistort.
They gaslight you with change,they cradle you with bedtime
myths, and that gap betweenperception and reality is where
we're losing the plot.
That's why I wrote Distorted howgaslighting and poetic truth
(12:53):
bend our perception of reality.
It's not another self-help book,it's a survival manual, a guide
for spotting the trick, dodgingthe spin, and refusing to
outsource your thinking.
Early access is open now.
Find it at Barnes Noble, Amazon,and at gymdechin.com.
And if you do grab a copy,here's my one ask: leave a
(13:15):
review.
Because the world isn't short onlies.
It's drowning in distortions.
Alright, back to the show.
Now let's steel man the otherside.
Nobody's forcing anyone to eatCheetos.
Nobody's outlawed jogging.
Nobody's holding you hostage inthe drive-thru.
(13:37):
And sure, agency matters.
Genetics matter, culturematters.
Not every overweight person isunhealthy.
That's true.
But when the environment isengineered to hijack willpower,
the playing field isn't level.
Imagine training soldiers, thengiving them broken rifles, empty
canteens, and maps pointing thewrong way.
(13:58):
Would you blame them when theylose?
We tell citizens, choose wiselywhile stocking shelves like a
booby-trapped convenience store.
That's what obesity looks likein America.
So here's the counterframe, amental model called the Fat
Triangle 2.0.
At each corner is foodengineering, pharma management,
media framing, and connectingthem the feed, the algorithmic
(14:23):
bloodstream that delivers everyad, clip, and craving straight
to your cortex.
Food creates the problem, pharmamonetizes the solution, media
spins the story, the feed keepsit all humming 24-7.
Once you see the triangle, youcan't unsee it.
It explains why obesity isn't abug in the system, it's the
(14:44):
product.
And here's the long view theindustry's already planning the
sequel.
Nature Medicine 2025 previewedOrpherglipron, the Oral GLP1.
No needles, no stigma,dependency at scale.
Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk istesting Cagrisema, a combo
(15:04):
injection so potent it trims 20%of body weight in 68 weeks.
That's not medicine, that's asubscription plan with syringes.
And while the labs chasechemistry, the marketers chase
language.
They'll tell you it's not fatloss, it's wellness realignment.
You've already heard CallieMeans describe the machinery,
(15:27):
how the system funds itselfthrough confusion, but here's
where it gets darker.
This next moment, also from hisconversation with Dr.
Mark Hyman on the doctor'spharmacy, captures what happens
when that machinery turns itsattention to the next
generation.
It's not just economics anymore,it's ethics.
SPEAKER_01 (15:58):
We know really clearly what's happening.
And you gotta ask, why isn'tthere moral clarity, right?
Why isn't there moral clarity tosay, let's stop that root cause?
Clearly, if we're drugging ourkids and addicting our kids to
highly dopamine-enhancingproducts early on, and we're
shoving hormone-disruptingchemicals into their veins again
(16:22):
and again and again, and theirbodies are rebelling at an early
age.
Clearly, we need to solve thatroot cause.
So why aren't we?
And the the answer, the onlyanswer I can really come to is
that those kids on thatplayground are going to be the
most profitable people in theworld for the largest industry
in the country.
The healthcare industry is thelargest industry and the fastest
(16:43):
growing industry in the UnitedStates.
It is not one evil person, butthe overall structure of that
industry is predicated on peoplegetting sicker earlier.
SPEAKER_00 (16:56):
That clip hits like a confession because it isn't
really about obesity ormetabolism.
It's about moral metabolism.
A society that can medicalizechildhood and call it compassion
is a society in free fall.
We're no longer teaching kids tolive healthy lives.
We're teaching them how tomanage their decline early.
(17:16):
We've replaced playgrounds withprescriptions, recess with
refills.
We talk about screen time anddiet choices as if they're
separate, but they share thesame algorithm: hook first,
justify later.
When Cali says those kids willbe the most profitable people in
the world, that's not hyperbole.
That's the business plan.
Every hyper-sweetened drink,every cartoon cereal, every
(17:40):
notification badge is a microinvoice sent to the future.
And if you're wondering whythere isn't moral clarity, there
is.
It's just on retainer.
This isn't a war on obesity,it's a war on agency.
Because once you can train apopulation to mistake sedation
for satisfaction, you don't needto control them.
(18:01):
They'll do it themselves.
That's what distorted is reallyabout, not just the lies we're
told, but the ones we starttelling ourselves when the lies
pay better.
The gaslight isn't that thesystem failed, it's that it
succeeded exactly as designed.
We didn't arrive here byaccident, we were walked here by
(18:22):
institutions we trusted.
Hospitals took coke money,medical schools let vending
machines set the syllabus.
Think tanks cashed checks to saysugar was freedom.
And the people writing healthpolicy?
They were literally writing itwith food industry pens.
Callie Means called it rigginginstitutions of trust.
That's not a metaphor, that's abusiness strategy.
(18:44):
When the same corporations fundthe research, the lobbying, the
journalism, and the education,you don't get conspiracy, you
get consensus.
And it sounds like this.
Eat whatever you want, just takethe pill.
It's genetic, not your fault.
Calories are calories.
That, my friends, is the lullabyof a captured culture.
(19:06):
Think about what Cali described.
The American DiabetesAssociation, the group that
should be fighting liquid sugar,took money from soda companies
for years.
Coke was a national sponsoruntil 2012.
It's like the Lung Associationhanding out Marlborough's at a
marathon.
That's not healthcare, that'spublic relations with a
stethoscope.
(19:26):
And yet, it works.
We've reached a point where anindependent doctor saying, maybe
exercise helps, gets labeledanti-science.
And the segment cuts to a novonordis commercial.
That's not parody, that'sbillable hours.
Meanwhile, Congress swims inwhite papers like fish and corn
(19:48):
syrup, 50,000 peer-reviewednutrition studies in two years,
most of them funded by industry.
The result?
Lawmakers so confused they'llbelieve a USDA report claiming a
91% ultra-processed diet isperfectly healthy.
You don't need Orwell whenyou've got lobbyists with
PowerPoint.
And it's not just politicians,it's journalists, academics,
(20:13):
even civil rights groups.
The NAACP, funded by Soda,universities endowed by snack
companies, and newsrooms, halftheir ad revenue, comes straight
from pharma.
Here's the part that stillstings.
This isn't ideological.
Democrats, Republicans, theyshare the same donors.
(20:33):
Healthcare is the one industrywhere everyone's bipartisan,
because everyone's bought.
Elizabeth Warren lobbying fortax cuts, conservatives
defending corporate socialism,that's not hypocrisy.
That's payroll.
When everything from the FDA tothe NIH is funded by the
industries it regulates, youdon't get public health, you get
(20:54):
a subscription service.
And the cost isn't justphysical, it's moral.
We have seven-year-old girlshitting puberty early from
hormone-disrupting chemicals,25% of young adults
pre-diabetic, half of Americanteens overweight.
A healthcare systemcongratulating itself for early
detection of the diseases itcreated, and we call that
(21:16):
progress.
We drug the fish, but neverclean the tank.
Callie said it plainly.
Those kids on the playground,snacking from foil bags glued to
screens, aren't victims.
They're customers, lifetimeaccounts receivable.
And, while we medicatechildhood, we gaslight
(21:37):
adulthood.
We privatize profit andsocialize the cost.
We tell parents they're failing,teachers they're lazy, soldiers
they're unfit, while thepipeline keeps pumping corn
syrup and serotonin replacementsin equal measure.
At this point, the only majorexport of the United States is
metabolic dysfunction.
(22:01):
So, what's left?
If the watchdogs are funded bythe burglars, maybe it's time to
get a new dog.
Maybe it starts bottom up,parents reading ingredient
labels like intelligencereports.
Maybe it's doctors willing torisk cancellation by saying food
out loud.
Maybe it's voters who finallyconnect inflation and
inflammation, because both arepolicies, not accidents.
(22:24):
This isn't about clean eating,it's about clean accounting.
And that brings us back todistorted.
The point of that book, and thisshow, isn't outrage, it's
orientation.
Once you understand how thenarrative gets built, you stop
mistaking the noise for news.
The same mechanism that tellsyou Ozempic is wellness also
(22:45):
told you processed food wasfreedom.
The same consultants thatrewrote the food pyramid now
shape the headlines about bodyneutrality, and the same
institutions that taught you totrust the experts were cashing
checks from the experimenters.
So, yes, there's a fix.
(23:06):
But it doesn't start in Congressor the FDA.
It starts with refusing tooutsource conscience.
When a system loses moralclarity, you become the compass.
When health becomes an economy,you become the exit strategy.
That's not rebellion, that'srecovery.
Now, back to where this began.
(23:28):
Because Cali Means was right.
The kids on that playground willbe the most profitable people in
America, unless the adults inthe room finally decide profit
isn't a purpose.
So, side effect or strategy?
Maybe it started as a sideeffect.
Cheap calories, convenience,corporate scale.
(23:48):
But somewhere along the line,side effects got product
managers.
When billions depend on keepingpeople overweight but
operational, you stop fixingproblems and start protecting
revenue.
That's the uncomfortable truth.
And the poetic truth?
That we can love ourselves intowellness while never confronting
the systems that keep us sick.
(24:09):
Gaslighting says it's yourfault.
Poetic truth says it's nobody'sfault.
Reality says someone's cashingthe checks.
And that's the through line ofdistorted, the book, the idea,
the lens.
Whether it's health, politics,or media, the mechanics are
identical.
Distort perception, profit fromconfusion, and rebrand the harm
(24:31):
as virtue.
We used to call that propaganda.
Now we call it wellnessbranding.
Here's the pattern, one lasttime.
Feed the problem.
Market the solution.
Blame the consumer.
Collect the dividends.
If Orwell wrote Animal FarmToday, the pigs wouldn't run the
farm.
They'd franchise it.
(24:51):
I'm Jim Detchen, and you don'tneed all the answers.
But you should question the onesyou're handed.
And remember, obesity isn't theweight we carry, it's the one
they sell us.
Until next time, stay skeptical,stay curious, and always think
first.
(25:11):
Want more?
The full six step framework weuse is at gaslight360.com.
You can also dive into thedeeper story, the bio, the
podcast, and the mission atjimdechen.com.
And if you like this one, tagit.
Save it.
Share it.
If an entire nation steadily gains weight for 50
(00:02):
years, despite rising gymmemberships, kale smoothies,
Peloton bikes in every otherliving room, is that really an
accident?
Or is it the business model?
We're told the obesity epidemicis about personal
responsibility.
Eat less, move more, drinkwater, believe the influencer.
But while individuals blamethemselves, entire populations
(00:26):
change at once.
In 1970, the average Americanweighed about 165 pounds.
Today, it's closer to 200.
Kids, too.
The biggest jump?
Not in laziness or metabolism,but in food engineering.
What happens when the stuff youeat isn't food anymore?
(00:49):
But a formula?
When snacks are built in labs,tested against your dopamine
receptors, and optimized forcravability?
And what happens when the systemthat feeds you is the same
system that then sells you thecure for your appetite?
How do we square a culture thatonce shamed kids for being fat
in the 90s, with the sameculture now romanticizing
(01:13):
obesity under the banner of bodypositivity, all while funneling
billions into pharmaceuticalslike Ozempic?
Is this really about health oris it about dependency?
And here's the bigger question: when an entire nation is nudged (01:24):
undefined
into a condition that makes itsicker, hungrier, and more
compliant, do we call that aside effect or a strategy?
And today, we're going there.
This is Think First, where wedon't follow the script.
(01:47):
We question it.
Because in a world full ofpoetic truths and professional
gaslighting, someone's gotta saythe quiet part out loud.
Here's what most people think.
Obesity is a crisis of choice,bad diets, fast food, not enough
exercise, people just need morewillpower.
(02:08):
But if that's the full story,then why did obesity rates
explode in one generation?
Why do countries with the samecouches and screens stay
thinner?
Why does the U.S.
spend the most on health careyet rank near the bottom in
outcomes?
And, here's the kicker.
The same government that tellsyou to eat healthy subsidizes
(02:28):
corn syrup, processed cheese,and feedlot beef while making
fruits and vegetables moreexpensive.
That's not personal choice,that's structural design.
Maybe the obesity epidemic isn'tabout failing individuals.
Maybe it's about a system thatthrives when you fail.
Ask yourself, if food isengineered to override your
(02:49):
body's signals, is that still achoice?
If junk calories are subsidizedover whole foods, who's
responsible?
If pharma profits from managingobesity, why solve it?
If media swings between shameand celebration, are they
informing you or conditioningyou?
This isn't about fat jokes orbody positivity, it's about
(03:10):
agency.
Who has it?
Who loses it?
Who profits when it's gone?
Because the irony is thatobesity has become both a
problem and an asset.
A crisis to be managed, and apipeline of predictable
customers.
The story we've been solddoesn't look like prevention, it
(03:32):
looks like dependency.
Before we step into the storyitself, I want you to hear a
voice from inside the system.
This clip comes from Dr.
Mark Hyman's podcast, TheDoctor's Pharmacy, episode 848,
titled The Obesity Crisis: Ozempic, ADHD, and Food Industry (03:47):
undefined
Lies.
SPEAKER_01 (03:55):
The word that comes to mind and the overarching goal
is rigging institutions oftrust.
Rigging institutions of trust.
So you have a company, you havean interest.
Who are their stakeholders?
Their stakeholders areconsumers.
You know, obviously, you want toimpact what they think.
(04:15):
You want to impact the media,which has a big impact, you want
to impact government leaders,you want to impact research, you
want to impact groups like civilrights groups and other medical
groups that people trust.
So you want to, as a company inthe United States that's trying
to get something accomplished,you want to impact all of those
groups.
And the truth is thepharmaceutical industry and the
(04:38):
healthcare industry at large isthe largest fund of government.
It's the largest funder of thinktanks, it's the largest fund of
academic research, it's thelargest funder of news news
funding.
It's 50% of news funding.
So the objective, and thenbasically infiltrated every
largest funder of every singleinstitute.
(04:58):
They're the largest funder ofmedical groups, they're the
largest funder of civil rightsgroups, actually.
The NAACP.
So every group that we holdsacred sacred, Harvard, the NIH
is highly the FDA, as you'vepointed out, is more than 50%
directly funded by thepharmaceutical industry.
(05:19):
And then food's not far behind.
So you literally have the coreinstitutions that set our
culture, that set theguidelines.
Their bills are paid by pharma.
SPEAKER_00 (05:34):
In that conversation, former consultant
Callie Means describes how thevery institutions meant to
protect public health arefinanced by the same industries
profiting from our decline.
Callie Means isn't describing avillain's story, he's describing
a budget line.
And it sets the stage for whatcomes next, how that system
rewrote the very language ofhealth itself.
(05:56):
The first chapter is shame.
If you grew up in the 80s or90s, you remember it.
The afterschool specials, themagazine covers, the before and
after photos.
Being fat was a moral failure.
Shows like The Biggest Loserturned weight loss into
televised penance.
Schools handed out BMI reportcards, airlines humiliated
(06:18):
passengers with seatbeltextenders, the diet industry
raked in billions sellingcabbage soup plans, slim fast
shakes, and miracle pills thatnever worked.
That was Act 1, shame asmotivator.
But shame doesn't work longterm.
It creates yo-yo diets,depression, and guilt cycles
(06:39):
that send people straight backinto the system for more
solutions.
So Act Two began.
Suddenly, the same culture thatmocked obesity started
celebrating it.
Fashion campaigns featured plussize models, magazines
proclaimed healthy at any size,shows praised living
(07:00):
authentically.
And here's the smirkworthytwist.
The same companies that sold youdiet shakes started selling you
crop tops.
The revolution will be sponsoredby Lululemon and a low sodium
ranch packet.
Self-acceptance matters.
Everyone deserves dignity, butwhen the pendulum swings so far
that questioning health riskbecomes taboo, that's not
(07:23):
empowerment.
That's poetic truth.
A comforting story layered overhard reality.
Obesity links to diabetes, heartdisease, joint damage, shorter
life.
Those are facts.
The poetic truth says, yourweight doesn't matter if you
feel good about yourself.
And poetic truths protect theindustries causing the harm.
(07:45):
Why push for reform when you canrebrand the condition as
empowerment?
That's how narratives work.
They don't fix the system, theyjust make you feel okay living
in it.
Between shame campaigns and bodypositivity campaigns, notice the
pattern.
Neither reduces obesity rates,both keep the cash flowing.
(08:09):
The diet industry thrives whenyou hate yourself.
Pharma thrives when you acceptyourself and medicate.
Food giants thrive either way.
Act 1, shame.
Act 2, celebration.
Different masks.
Same puppet master.
Every family has its own versionof that mirror, a quiet deal
(08:31):
between guilt and denial.
You don't need a memoir to seeit.
Just open the fridge aftermidnight and notice who's
winning the argument.
Let's check the receipts.
Receipt number one, Bliss PointFood.
The Bliss Point is the precisesugar-fat salt combo that
maximizes craving.
(08:52):
Food scientists test recipes onfocus groups and brain scans to
find the point where you can'tstop eating.
That bag of Doritos?
That pint of ice cream?
Not food.
An experiment.
And you're the lab rat.
A 2025 Duke Poncer lab studyproved obesity rose even while
energy expenditure stayedconstant.
(09:13):
Meaning, it's not that we moveless, it's that the food supply
got better at beating ourbrakes.
Receipt number two.
Subsidy distortion.
The U.S.
spends billions subsidizingcorn, soy, and wheat.
Not broccoli, not blueberries.
So a McDonald's doublecheeseburger costs$2.
A salad?
6.
(09:34):
Personal choice?
The menu was rigged before yousat down.
Receipt number 3.
The school lunch paradox.
Cafeterias serve pizza, tatertots, and chocolate milk, while
the CDC warns about childhoodobesity.
It's like handing kids Marlborosin the cafeteria, then running
an anti-smoking PSA in the gym.
(09:55):
Receipt number four.
Pharma's jackpot.
Enter GLP1 drugs like Ozempic,WeGovi, and Manjaro.
Wall Street predicts tens ofbillions in annual sales.
Doctors prescribe off-label likecandy.
And the best part, it doesn'tcure obesity, it manages it.
A lifetime subscription.
Pharma finally found the onediet plan that always works:
(10:19):
your checking account.
A 2025 JAMA report flaggedgastro-adverse events and
dependency risk across theincretan class.
Even the pharmacologists admitthe cure now needs its own cure.
Receipt number five, mediawhiplash.
One decade, fat shaming.
(10:39):
The next, fat glamorizing.
Today, celebrating obesity whilerunning ads for injectables.
It's not hypocrisy, it'schoreography.
The choreography is this makeyou feel ashamed.
Sell diets, make you feelempowered, sell drugs, keep you
(11:00):
confused, sell both.
That's not prevention, that'sstrategy.
Receipt number six, algorithmicappetite.
TikTok's What I Eat in a Dayvideos rack millions of views,
which is equal parts food pornand moral theater.
The algorithm learns yourcravings faster than your
metabolism does.
(11:22):
You scroll hungry, and it feedsyou ads.
In 2025, the platform launchedHealthy Choice Prompts.
Translation.
It can now monetize restrainttoo.
Receipt number seven, label lawgaslight.
The FDA quietly redefinedhealthy last spring.
So breakfast cereals with 10grams of sugar per serving still
(11:45):
qualify if they sprinkle invitamin D.
The label looks clean, thecontract stays dirty.
The only thing shrinking fasterthan waistlines is
accountability.
And finally, receipt numbereight, global shift.
In 2025, UNICEF announced thatfor the first time in history,
obesity surpassed underweightamong school-aged children
(12:08):
worldwide.
We solved famine by feeding theworld junk.
Before we dive back in, a quickword about the project that's
bigger than this podcast.
What if the biggest lies you'vebeen told weren't lies at all?
What if they were stories?
Comforting stories, soothingmyths, the kind of poetic truths
(12:32):
that feel good, even whenthey're not true.
That's the game.
Politicians do it, media doesit, institutions do it.
They don't just lie, theydistort.
They gaslight you with change,they cradle you with bedtime
myths, and that gap betweenperception and reality is where
we're losing the plot.
That's why I wrote Distorted howgaslighting and poetic truth
(12:53):
bend our perception of reality.
It's not another self-help book,it's a survival manual, a guide
for spotting the trick, dodgingthe spin, and refusing to
outsource your thinking.
Early access is open now.
Find it at Barnes Noble, Amazon,and at gymdechin.com.
And if you do grab a copy,here's my one ask: leave a
(13:15):
review.
Because the world isn't short onlies.
It's drowning in distortions.
Alright, back to the show.
Now let's steel man the otherside.
Nobody's forcing anyone to eatCheetos.
Nobody's outlawed jogging.
Nobody's holding you hostage inthe drive-thru.
(13:37):
And sure, agency matters.
Genetics matter, culturematters.
Not every overweight person isunhealthy.
That's true.
But when the environment isengineered to hijack willpower,
the playing field isn't level.
Imagine training soldiers, thengiving them broken rifles, empty
canteens, and maps pointing thewrong way.
(13:58):
Would you blame them when theylose?
We tell citizens, choose wiselywhile stocking shelves like a
booby-trapped convenience store.
That's what obesity looks likein America.
So here's the counterframe, amental model called the Fat
Triangle 2.0.
At each corner is foodengineering, pharma management,
media framing, and connectingthem the feed, the algorithmic
(14:23):
bloodstream that delivers everyad, clip, and craving straight
to your cortex.
Food creates the problem, pharmamonetizes the solution, media
spins the story, the feed keepsit all humming 24-7.
Once you see the triangle, youcan't unsee it.
It explains why obesity isn't abug in the system, it's the
(14:44):
product.
And here's the long view theindustry's already planning the
sequel.
Nature Medicine 2025 previewedOrpherglipron, the Oral GLP1.
No needles, no stigma,dependency at scale.
Meanwhile, Novo Nordisk istesting Cagrisema, a combo
(15:04):
injection so potent it trims 20%of body weight in 68 weeks.
That's not medicine, that's asubscription plan with syringes.
And while the labs chasechemistry, the marketers chase
language.
They'll tell you it's not fatloss, it's wellness realignment.
You've already heard CallieMeans describe the machinery,
(15:27):
how the system funds itselfthrough confusion, but here's
where it gets darker.
This next moment, also from hisconversation with Dr.
Mark Hyman on the doctor'spharmacy, captures what happens
when that machinery turns itsattention to the next
generation.
It's not just economics anymore,it's ethics.
SPEAKER_01 (15:58):
We know really clearly what's happening.
And you gotta ask, why isn'tthere moral clarity, right?
Why isn't there moral clarity tosay, let's stop that root cause?
Clearly, if we're drugging ourkids and addicting our kids to
highly dopamine-enhancingproducts early on, and we're
shoving hormone-disruptingchemicals into their veins again
(16:22):
and again and again, and theirbodies are rebelling at an early
age.
Clearly, we need to solve thatroot cause.
So why aren't we?
And the the answer, the onlyanswer I can really come to is
that those kids on thatplayground are going to be the
most profitable people in theworld for the largest industry
in the country.
The healthcare industry is thelargest industry and the fastest
(16:43):
growing industry in the UnitedStates.
It is not one evil person, butthe overall structure of that
industry is predicated on peoplegetting sicker earlier.
SPEAKER_00 (16:56):
That clip hits like a confession because it isn't
really about obesity ormetabolism.
It's about moral metabolism.
A society that can medicalizechildhood and call it compassion
is a society in free fall.
We're no longer teaching kids tolive healthy lives.
We're teaching them how tomanage their decline early.
(17:16):
We've replaced playgrounds withprescriptions, recess with
refills.
We talk about screen time anddiet choices as if they're
separate, but they share thesame algorithm: hook first,
justify later.
When Cali says those kids willbe the most profitable people in
the world, that's not hyperbole.
That's the business plan.
Every hyper-sweetened drink,every cartoon cereal, every
(17:40):
notification badge is a microinvoice sent to the future.
And if you're wondering whythere isn't moral clarity, there
is.
It's just on retainer.
This isn't a war on obesity,it's a war on agency.
Because once you can train apopulation to mistake sedation
for satisfaction, you don't needto control them.
(18:01):
They'll do it themselves.
That's what distorted is reallyabout, not just the lies we're
told, but the ones we starttelling ourselves when the lies
pay better.
The gaslight isn't that thesystem failed, it's that it
succeeded exactly as designed.
We didn't arrive here byaccident, we were walked here by
(18:22):
institutions we trusted.
Hospitals took coke money,medical schools let vending
machines set the syllabus.
Think tanks cashed checks to saysugar was freedom.
And the people writing healthpolicy?
They were literally writing itwith food industry pens.
Callie Means called it rigginginstitutions of trust.
That's not a metaphor, that's abusiness strategy.
(18:44):
When the same corporations fundthe research, the lobbying, the
journalism, and the education,you don't get conspiracy, you
get consensus.
And it sounds like this.
Eat whatever you want, just takethe pill.
It's genetic, not your fault.
Calories are calories.
That, my friends, is the lullabyof a captured culture.
(19:06):
Think about what Cali described.
The American DiabetesAssociation, the group that
should be fighting liquid sugar,took money from soda companies
for years.
Coke was a national sponsoruntil 2012.
It's like the Lung Associationhanding out Marlborough's at a
marathon.
That's not healthcare, that'spublic relations with a
stethoscope.
(19:26):
And yet, it works.
We've reached a point where anindependent doctor saying, maybe
exercise helps, gets labeledanti-science.
And the segment cuts to a novonordis commercial.
That's not parody, that'sbillable hours.
Meanwhile, Congress swims inwhite papers like fish and corn
(19:48):
syrup, 50,000 peer-reviewednutrition studies in two years,
most of them funded by industry.
The result?
Lawmakers so confused they'llbelieve a USDA report claiming a
91% ultra-processed diet isperfectly healthy.
You don't need Orwell whenyou've got lobbyists with
PowerPoint.
And it's not just politicians,it's journalists, academics,
(20:13):
even civil rights groups.
The NAACP, funded by Soda,universities endowed by snack
companies, and newsrooms, halftheir ad revenue, comes straight
from pharma.
Here's the part that stillstings.
This isn't ideological.
Democrats, Republicans, theyshare the same donors.
(20:33):
Healthcare is the one industrywhere everyone's bipartisan,
because everyone's bought.
Elizabeth Warren lobbying fortax cuts, conservatives
defending corporate socialism,that's not hypocrisy.
That's payroll.
When everything from the FDA tothe NIH is funded by the
industries it regulates, youdon't get public health, you get
(20:54):
a subscription service.
And the cost isn't justphysical, it's moral.
We have seven-year-old girlshitting puberty early from
hormone-disrupting chemicals,25% of young adults
pre-diabetic, half of Americanteens overweight.
A healthcare systemcongratulating itself for early
detection of the diseases itcreated, and we call that
(21:16):
progress.
We drug the fish, but neverclean the tank.
Callie said it plainly.
Those kids on the playground,snacking from foil bags glued to
screens, aren't victims.
They're customers, lifetimeaccounts receivable.
And, while we medicatechildhood, we gaslight
(21:37):
adulthood.
We privatize profit andsocialize the cost.
We tell parents they're failing,teachers they're lazy, soldiers
they're unfit, while thepipeline keeps pumping corn
syrup and serotonin replacementsin equal measure.
At this point, the only majorexport of the United States is
metabolic dysfunction.
(22:01):
So, what's left?
If the watchdogs are funded bythe burglars, maybe it's time to
get a new dog.
Maybe it starts bottom up,parents reading ingredient
labels like intelligencereports.
Maybe it's doctors willing torisk cancellation by saying food
out loud.
Maybe it's voters who finallyconnect inflation and
inflammation, because both arepolicies, not accidents.
(22:24):
This isn't about clean eating,it's about clean accounting.
And that brings us back todistorted.
The point of that book, and thisshow, isn't outrage, it's
orientation.
Once you understand how thenarrative gets built, you stop
mistaking the noise for news.
The same mechanism that tellsyou Ozempic is wellness also
(22:45):
told you processed food wasfreedom.
The same consultants thatrewrote the food pyramid now
shape the headlines about bodyneutrality, and the same
institutions that taught you totrust the experts were cashing
checks from the experimenters.
So, yes, there's a fix.
(23:06):
But it doesn't start in Congressor the FDA.
It starts with refusing tooutsource conscience.
When a system loses moralclarity, you become the compass.
When health becomes an economy,you become the exit strategy.
That's not rebellion, that'srecovery.
Now, back to where this began.
(23:28):
Because Cali Means was right.
The kids on that playground willbe the most profitable people in
America, unless the adults inthe room finally decide profit
isn't a purpose.
So, side effect or strategy?
Maybe it started as a sideeffect.
Cheap calories, convenience,corporate scale.
(23:48):
But somewhere along the line,side effects got product
managers.
When billions depend on keepingpeople overweight but
operational, you stop fixingproblems and start protecting
revenue.
That's the uncomfortable truth.
And the poetic truth?
That we can love ourselves intowellness while never confronting
the systems that keep us sick.
(24:09):
Gaslighting says it's yourfault.
Poetic truth says it's nobody'sfault.
Reality says someone's cashingthe checks.
And that's the through line ofdistorted, the book, the idea,
the lens.
Whether it's health, politics,or media, the mechanics are
identical.
Distort perception, profit fromconfusion, and rebrand the harm
(24:31):
as virtue.
We used to call that propaganda.
Now we call it wellnessbranding.
Here's the pattern, one lasttime.
Feed the problem.
Market the solution.
Blame the consumer.
Collect the dividends.
If Orwell wrote Animal FarmToday, the pigs wouldn't run the
farm.
They'd franchise it.
(24:51):
I'm Jim Detchen, and you don'tneed all the answers.
But you should question the onesyou're handed.
And remember, obesity isn't theweight we carry, it's the one
they sell us.
Until next time, stay skeptical,stay curious, and always think
first.
(25:11):
Want more?
The full six step framework weuse is at gaslight360.com.
You can also dive into thedeeper story, the bio, the
podcast, and the mission atjimdechen.com.
And if you like this one, tagit.
Save it.
Share it.
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