The Healthcare Crisis: Root Causes and Lifestyle Solutions

The healthcare system is cracking under pressure, and it's not just about staffing shortages or budget cuts. Drawing from 19 years of medical practice, I peel back the layers of our current healthcare crisis to reveal what's really breaking the system: an epidemic of preventable lifestyle diseases.

Remember when eating an apple instead of a processed granola bar wasn't considered "going on a diet"? Our modern world has engineered unhealthy choices to be the easiest ones, creating a perfect storm that's overwhelming medical resources. The pandemic didn't create this problem—it merely accelerated a breakdown that was already underway, pushing healthcare workers to early retirement and stretching remaining resources beyond their limits.

Most patients I see daily suffer from conditions directly linked to lifestyle factors: heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and more. These chronic diseases consume the majority of healthcare spending, yet we continue treating symptoms while ignoring root causes. It's not about blaming patients—we've all been nudged toward processed foods, sedentary behaviors, increased screen time, and diminished face-to-face social connections.

The solution isn't simply hiring more doctors or building more hospitals. It's about reimagining prevention through lifestyle medicine: focusing on nutrition, movement, sleep, stress management, and meaningful connections. Every time you choose whole foods over processed ones, take a walk instead of scrolling social media, or prioritize genuine human interaction, you're not just improving your personal health—you're helping preserve our healthcare system for those who truly need it.

Ready to make a difference? Start with one small change today. Your health and our healthcare system both depend on it. Visit plantbaseddrjules.com for free resources to support your journey toward better health and a more sustainable healthcare future.

Go check out my website for tons of free resources on how to transition towards a healthier diet and lifestyle.

You can download my free plant-based recipes eBook and a ton of other free resources by visiting the Digital Downloads tab of my website at https://www.plantbaseddrjules.com/shop

Don't forget to check out my blog at https://www.plantbaseddrjules.com/blog

You can also watch my educational videos on YouTube at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCMpkQRXb7G-StAotV0dmahQ

Check out my upcoming live events and free eCourse, where you'll learn more about how to create delicious plant-based recipes: https://www.plantbaseddrjules.com/

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Thanks so much!

Peace, love, plants!
Dr. Jules

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:10):
Hey everyone, welcome to Season 2 of the Dr Jules
Plant-Based Podcast, where wediscuss everything from
plant-based nutrition to themain pillars of lifestyle
medicine.
Yo, plant-based buddies,welcome back to another episode.
Today we're going to be talkingabout a very sensitive subject

(00:31):
our healthcare system and whyit's struggling.
Now it's not just about doctorsand above dollars, headlines
are talking about it,politicians are arguing about it
.
Even the general populationwill end up seeing it firsthand.
Our healthcare system isstruggling.

(00:54):
Wait times are long, resourcesare scarce and my colleagues are
burning out.
But here's the part that you donot hear enough about.
The solution isn't just abouthiring more doctors, more nurses
or throwing more money at theproblem.
If we don't start addressingthe root cause of why so many

(01:15):
people are getting sick in thefirst place, we're going to be
stuck in the same cycle fordecades Now.
I remember at the beginning ofmy practice I practiced in New
Brunswick, canada, in a towncalled Dieppe 20 years ago.
We were talking about theeventual mismatch of resources

(01:37):
and of demand.
Unfortunately, the pandemicaccelerated that process quite a
bit, where we had a mass exodusof people going into retirement
, because at the beginning ofthe pandemic, I remember people
felt like they were in danger.
We did not know how the viruswas getting transmitted.
People were running out of PPE,of protection and masks and

(02:04):
gloves and gowns.
People were scared right, andpeople who were already at the
end of their careers were like,yeah, I don't need this dress,
I'm just going to retire now.
And all of a sudden there was amass exit of a lot of
healthcare workers.
And that's when the cracks inour healthcare system began

(02:27):
widening.
Wait times went up, resourceswere stretched thin and
healthcare workers wereexhausted in leaving the
profession earlier thananticipated.
And as our population ages,we're basically staring down a
second wave of retirements fromthe very providers that we rely

(02:49):
on to keep the system running.
And the pandemic it didn't juststress the system, it just
accelerated the breakdown.
But what we don't talk about isthat most of the illnesses that
we see in clinic every day aresomehow directly or indirectly
related to lifestyle.

(03:10):
Most of the medical patients Isee come in complaining of a
condition that is directlyrelated to the choices they make
every day and the way they livetheir life.
Now, now, chronic diseases likeheart disease, type 2 diabetes,
obesity, hypertension and evensome cancers.

(03:31):
They eat up the majority of ourhealthcare spending, and I'm
not talking about rare cases,I'm talking about the vast
majority of patients that arewalking through the door.
Now, before you roll your eyesand you think I'm saying it's
the patient's fault, it's not.

(03:52):
We live in a world that nudgesus towards unhealthy choices
from the moment we wake up, andover the last few generations,
we've seen less movement, lesssleep, more screens, more stress
, more scrolling and fewer thanever face-to-face human
connections.
Just the other day, I had apatient who said hey, I'm trying

(04:18):
to clean up my health.
I really would like to havehealthy snack ideas.
I have no clue what'sconsidered healthy anymore, so I
recommended that, instead ofher ultra-processed granola bar
that she maybe consider eatingan apple or a banana, I
suggested peppers with hummusand a handful of nuts.

(04:38):
She looked at me like I wasfrom another planet.
Now that's where we are now as apopulation.
Eating real food is consideredgoing on a diet.
The everyday norm has becomesomething in a package,

(05:00):
something engineered to lastmonths on a shelf, or something
that's been formulated andprocessed until it barely
resembles what came out of theground.
It's not just our food, it'snot just what we put on our
plates.
Our environments are engineeredfor convenience, not for health

(05:23):
.
Now we drive instead of walking.
We spend our downtime in frontof a screen instead of moving
our bodies, we send a textinstead of socializing in person
.
Now I'm embarrassed to say this, but I've even decided to not
watch a television show becauseI couldn't find the remote.
Now our social lives arefiltered, they're fed to us on

(05:49):
algorithms, and that constantscrolling is not just a harmless
distraction.
All of these things are shapingour mental health, our
attention spans and even thequality of our sleep.
And all of those things, theyripple right back into physical
health.
So who's to blame?

(06:09):
Who is to blame for thehealthcare crisis?
Is it the government forfailing to invest in prevention,
or for not legislating changesthat could possibly make our
lives healthier?
Or for not legislating changesthat could possibly make our
lives healthier?
Is it the individual's faultfor falling into the trap of
modern habits?
Or is it something bigger?
Is it a societal shift thatneeds all of us to look in the

(06:35):
mirror and admit that we'vedesigned a world that makes us
unhealthy and makes the easychoice, the one that we make Now
?
There's a cost of not doinganything.
If we don't change course,we're pretty much headed for a
healthcare system that can'tkeep up, no matter how many
doctors we train or how muchmoney we pour into it.

(06:59):
Now, I've been a doctor forabout 19 years.
I have close to a thousandpatients.
I work anywhere from 50 to 60hours per day.
I chart on the weekends andduring nights when my kids are
sleeping.
I fill out forms on Sundays.
Look, I'm going to be honest.
If I were to win the lotterytomorrow and I've had 20 good

(07:23):
years of practicing medicine, Imay disappear on a beach island.
Look, I really love my job.
It's just working in thishealthcare system.
It's hard, it's hard, it's hard, it's hard.

(07:45):
We keep spending billions onmedications, on surgeries, on
hospitalizations for diseasethat that could have been
prevented or at least delayedwith healthier living
environments, better food accessand education that actually
sticks.
A prevention isn't a mystery.
It's encouraging people to cookat home more often.
It's making sure that healthyfood is accessible and

(08:09):
affordable.
It's designing communitieswhere walking and biking are
safe and it's easy, communitiesthat have trails and parks and
where people can come togetherand socialize.
Prevention is about teachingkids and sometimes even adults,
that eating a healthy andbalanced diet can be simple and

(08:29):
fun Just eat mostly plants thatcome in a status close to the
way mother nature created them,and by plants I mean fruits and
veggies and legumes likechickpeas, beans, lentils and
soy products, and nuts and seeds, herbs and spices, whole grains
Basically, foods that grow fromthe ground, from a tree or from

(08:51):
a plant.
We need to make sleep andmovement and stress management
as much a priority in ourhealthcare system as we do with
medication and imaging.
It's about lifestyle medicine,using nutrition, movement, sleep
, stress reduction, avoidingrisky substances and building

(09:13):
social connections as thefoundation of health.
My goal is not just to havethat taught in medical school,
but in high school, in middleschool and even in preschool.
This is why I show up everysingle day.
This is why I spend much of mytime talking about food,
movement and habits, even whenit feels like I'm repeating

(09:36):
myself, because if we don'taddress the root causes, then
the only thing we're doing isputting band-aids on a broken
system.
I don't pretend to have all theanswers, but I know that
prevention matters, educationmatters and building healthier
habits is worth every ounce ofenergy that we put into it.

(10:06):
If you're listening to thisright now, think about one small
thing that you could changetoday.
Maybe swap a packaged snack forsomething fresh.
Eating a banana or an apple, orpeppers with hummus, or a
handful of nuts and seedsinstead of an ultra-processed

(10:27):
granola bar could be your firststep.
Consider going for a walk,calling a friend, instead of
scrolling for 30 minutes,because if enough of us make
these small shifts, we don'tjust change our own health, we
change the pressure on the wholesystem.
It's not the patient's fault,and it's not the government's

(10:51):
fault, and it's not the doctor'sfault.
We all play a role in how muchwe tax our healthcare system,
and if we burn out the verypeople that are trying to take
care of us, where does that leadus?
Lead us?

(11:15):
Well, unfortunately, there'salready a mismatch in the amount
of people providing care andthe amount of people needing it.
That has accelerated immenselyover the last few years and it's
just predicted to get worse.
A hospital is the last placethat you would want to be right
now, unless you have anemergency.
Now, doctors aren't going tomake you healthier.

(11:38):
They might patch up a few ofthe medical conditions that you
have to reduce the rates ofcomplication, and that's great,
but you absolutely have apersonal responsibility and role
in helping yourself gethealthier, and that starts with
the way you eat, the way yousleep, the way you manage stress

(12:00):
, the way you move, the thingsyou put in your body, the people
you connect with, and whetheror not you live a life of
purpose and passion that'saligned with your values.
Look, when I think about thefuture of healthcare, I know
this.
It's not just about doctors orabout hospital or about budgets.

(12:24):
It's about us.
It's about the choices we makeevery single day in a world that
often makes the unhealthychoice the easy one.
It's about remembering thatprevention isn't boring, it's
powerful and it changes lives.
If we want to ease the pressureon our healthcare system, we
have to start with root causes.

(12:45):
We need to move more, eatbetter food, connect with each
other, sleep well and care forour mental health as much as we
care for our physical health,because every single time that
you make a small shift, we'renot just helping ourselves,
we're helping the whole system.
And change doesn't start in aboardroom or in a government

(13:08):
office.
It starts in our kitchens, inour neighborhoods.
Boardroom or in a governmentoffice, it starts in our
kitchens, in our neighborhoods,our daily routines, and if we
choose better.
Together we can write adifferent story for our own
health, but also for the futureof our healthcare system.
We need to protect it so thatwe can use it efficiently later

(13:31):
on when we get sick.
Look, I've had to navigate thehealthcare system for myself,
for members of my family, for mykids, and it wasn't a pleasant
experience, even consideringthat I have some type of VIP
pass.
Even considering that I havesome type of VIP pass, I can

(13:53):
call up a colleague or call up afavor, but still navigating the
healthcare system is difficult.
So I can't even imagine what itwould be like with a single mom
with three kids, like the onewho raised me, having to bring

(14:20):
one of us for an ear infectionin the middle of the night and
waiting eight hours where sheneeds to work the next day to
put food on the table.
Two decades of practicingmedicine is that people take
their health for granted andeveryone who gets sick wasn't
planning on getting sick thatday.
I've been in those shoes, I'vebeen in that seat and I've been

(14:42):
on both sides of that desk, as apatient and as a doctor.
The best way to help ourhealthcare system is to live a
life where you don't need it.
Cool Right on.
Thanks so much for tuning in.
If you're a frequent user ofthe healthcare system, it's not

(15:07):
your fault.
Everything is engineered tohave the unhealthy choice be the
easy one, but that's somethingthat we can change and hopefully
my content helps nudge you, ornudge your environment, in the
right direction.
Cool, we'll see you at the nextepisode.

(15:32):
Stay healthy, peace.
Hey, everyone, go check out mywebsite, plantbaseddrjulescom to
find free downloadableresources and remember that you
can find me on Facebook andInstagram at Dr Jules Cormier,

(15:53):
and on YouTube at Plant Based DrJules.