Nick NorwitzMD PhD, Oxford-Harvard | Metabolic Health Educator | “Stay Curious”

Why are we normalizing metabolic dysfunction in society?

3 Apr 2025 · 1 min

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1:18

In this monologue, the speaker argues that modern society routinely accepts and even encourages behaviors and policies that foster metabolic dysfunction, despite clear evidence that such dysfunction worsens health outcomes. The speaker provides concrete examples: (1) offering free donuts to incentivize vaccination, a practice that rewards a metabolically unhealthy population even though metabolic disease raises the risk of severe respiratory infections; (2) promoting sugary cereals for children’s breakfasts while vilifying nutrient‑dense foods such as eggs, butter, and steak; (3) feeding hospitalized patients with metabolic disease large quantities of processed foods; (4) serving public‑school children nutrient‑poor, junk‑type meals that may hinder cognitive development and exacerbate emotional dysregulation; and (5) structuring SNAP benefits so that $18 billion of taxpayer money can be spent on soda and sweets but not on protein‑rich options like rotisserie chicken. Throughout, the speaker frames these practices as dysfunctional, highlighting a systemic mismatch between public‑health goals and the food environment.

Chapters

There are many times I certainly feel metabolically woke, as in I feel I see things that are so obvious and dysfunctional and yet just accepted as part of normal society. Let's provide some concrete examples. First, bribing a metabolically unhealthy population with free donuts to get immunized when metabolic dysfunction increases the morbidity and mortality of respiratory viral illnesses That's dysfunctional. Or two, normalizing sugary cereal intake for breakfast for kids while still demonizing foods like eggs, butter, and steak. That's dysfunctional. Serving hospitalized patients with metabolic disease mountains of processed food. That's dysfunctional. Serving children in public schools nutrient-depleted junk that very well may impair their cognitive development and contribute to, or or exacerbate emotional dysregulation, that's dysfunctional. Providing Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Programs, SNAP, food stamps, that in effect direct $18 billion of taxpayer money to purchasing soda, sugary drinks, and sweets, but where these food stamps aren't permitted to be used on rotisserie chicken, which are a great source of protein, that's dysfunctional.