Mexico recently surpassed the United States as having the most obese population on the planet. As I write this, I am sitting in my condo in Mazatlán, Mexico, and this tragedy is apparent everywhere we go in this beautiful country. The people of Mexico were once the picture of health. What the heck happened? The story of obesity in Mexico is a bit complicated, so stick with me.
Things Don’t go Better with Coke
Let’s start the discussion with a four-letter word: Coke—as in Coca-Cola. For decades this toxic substance has been the beverage of choice in Mexico. Because finding clean water has often been a challenge in Mexico, their solution was to switch to bottled poison or Coke. This was a logical choice based on availability and cost. A two-liter bottle of Coke costs around $1.50 in Mexico, compared to more than $2.50 in the United States. Everywhere you go in Mexico, you will see Coca-Cola. In most grocery stores, Coke is stacked to the ceiling, and even beggars on the street carry the ubiquitous jug of Coke. Because the average yearly income in Mexico is less than $10,000, it makes economic sense for them to drink the cheap stuff. The average income in the US is almost $70,000, and safe water is readily available, so there is less incentive to purchase inexpensive but toxic beverages. Because folks in Mexico have yet to connect the dots regarding sugar and obesity, Diet Coke has never been popular south of the border. That’s probably a good thing, as diet soft drinks have many health problems.
Very Expensive “Free Trade”
Stores in Mexico are also loaded with inexpensive, highly processed food. With their meager income, virtually all Mexicans can afford this type of food when healthy whole foods are too expensive for their budget. This tsunami of toxic food entered the scene with NAFTA in 1995—the North American Free Trade Agreement. This treaty allowed healthy produce grown in Mexico to be shipped north year-round, whereas, at the same time, we sent our toxic, highly processed food to Mexico 24/7. Overnight their tacos turned into Twinkies!
NAFTA also forever changed the Mexican landscape. Before NAFTA, many Mexicans survived on small family farms that grew lots of healthy produce and enough extra food to sell at local markets for some income. NAFTA pushed efficiency to the head of the line, so large commercial farms became the norm, so many Mexicans left their family farms and moved to larger cities where they were employed in low-wage jobs. Their meager income only allows them to purchase inexpensive, highly processed food. They are also less physically active than when they farmed, adding to the energy imbalance contributing to their current obesity epidemic.
When it Comes to Health, Your Brain Calls the Shots
Now it’s time to walk you through the most potent obesity-promoting factor facing Mexicans today—untreated Carbohydrate Associated Reversible Brain syndrome or CARB syndrome. Long-term exposure to highly processed food triggers this common form of brain dysfunction. I first described this disorder decades ago, and it’s catching on with many nutritional and brain experts. These are the two main components of this disease:
- Folks with CARB syndrome will eventually develop up to 22 brain dysfunction symptoms. These symptoms overlap with many traditional psychiatric disorders, creating massive diagnostic and therapeutic confusion. People with CARB syndrome are often incorrectly diagnosed with psychiatric disorders and are treated with drugs that cause weight gain and metabolic problems.
- People with CARB syndrome will store excessive body fat at virtually any caloric intake. Even if they undereat, they will lose lean body mass and store too much fat—the so-called skinny fat!
The lead symptom of CARB syndrome is intense cravings for sweet and starchy food, pushing people to consume more food frying their brains. Another common symptom is excessive hunger that fails to abate by eating a reasonable amount of food. Unless you eliminate these powerful cravings and extreme hunger, you will no chance of reversing this destructive disease.
Jump-start Your Brain
The treatment for CARB syndrome is a bit complex, as I outline in my book “Brain Drain”. It involves using supplements like L-glutamine to suppress the cravings for sweet and starchy food and combining L-tyrosine and 5-htp in the proper ratio to rebuild the depleted neurotransmitters that cause these 22 symptoms. Once your symptoms are controlled, eating a healthy diet with minimal sugar and high glycemic carbohydrates is extremely important. Mediterranean, Keto, Paleo, and other popular diets work well, but I like the Protein Pacing Diet developed by Paul Arciero. This easy-to-follow diet can be layered on top of any of the popular diets, providing you markedly enhanced health benefits.
The Zone Diet by Barry Sears is also an excellent choice. I also agree with his recommendation to take a high-quality omega-3 supplement and measure your omega-3 index for guidance. I take OmegaRx2 supplement because I know it is very high quality. Dr. Sears also recommends taking a polyphenol supplement like his MaquiRx. The combination of omega-3 and maqui is a powerful way to suppress the inflammation that fuels many common chronic diseases.
Let’s Get Moving
Another important component of treatment for CARB syndrome that will result in fat loss and improved body composition (less obesity) is regular exercise. There are a zillion different exercise programs out there, and to be honest, doing any activity is better than sitting around doing nothing. I favor a mixed program of endurance training, high-intensity training, and weight training. Along these lines, I recommend Paul Arciero’s PRISE protocol which combines ideal forms of exercise and healthy eating into a comprehensive and manageable program.
I also recommend reading “Nature Wants us to be Fat” by Richard Johnson, MD. He is likely the world’s foremost expert on fructose’s role in health and disease. His previous book, “The Fat Switch” is also worth a read.
Let’s Make Healthy the New Normal
One of the biggest obstacles preventing Mexicans from enjoying optimal health and wellness is based on the truism that when most people around you are suffering from obesity, that perspective becomes the norm or “normal.” With most people in Mexico now obese, the thin folks seem to stand out as somehow being abnormal. I believe this skewed view of the “normal” world needs to be shaken up, so people see that obesity is not where they want to be. That, my friend, will be a formidable challenge. Are you up for it?