The Magic Pill

---

[classical score playing]

[Pete Evans speaks]

[jazz music playing]

When you look at every

other species on our planet...

they all control

their weight automatically.

The only exception was us...

and any animal unfortunate

enough to be fed by us.

I just couldn't understand

why we were the exception.

Why did we require willpower,

and everything else

did it on autopilot?

So I applied

the only relevant skill I had,

which was looking at evidence,

and I found there was

very little evidence

for the standard eating advice

we are normally given,

and there was

a whole stream of evidence

which had been largely ignored.

In fact, what we have

been taught about nutrition

is dangerously wrong.

Who can tell me how

Yolngu people die today?

[people chattering]

[woman]

Heart disease.

[Tim Trudgen]

So, heart disease, yeah.

-[woman 2] Liver disease.

-[Tim] Liver disease.

-[woman 3] Asthma.

-Asthma. Yeah.

-Diabetes.

-[Tim] Diabetes.

-Yes!

-How many of you

have diabetes?

A lot!

[Tim]

Probably half

the people here have diabetes.

Yeah?

[Tim]

Diabetes, heart disease,

high blood pressure,

kidney disease--

all what we call

chronic diseases.

When did those diseases start?

1970s... late '70s, '80s...

So before that,

people were dying from...?

-[woman] Hepatitis.

-[Tim] Hepatitis.

-[woman 2] Pneumonia.

-Pneumonia.

-[woman 3] TB.

-TB.

They're all

the infectious diseases.

[Tim]

These are the ones

that came with the Europeans.

-[chattering]

-[Tim] Bacteria.

Infectious diseases.

-Yes, yes.

-[Tim] If we go back further...

How about the time

before the Europeans came?

[speaking Yolngu Matha]

Fighting...

One person kills another.

[Tim]

People died from fighting.

Accidents...

Sharks... Crocodiles...

-[Tim] What's the main one?

-Old age.

-Old age.

-Old age.

[speaking Yolngu Matha]

[jazz music playing]

[Michelle]

I had this label

that I'm a fat girl.

I am overweight.

I have asthma.

I've always had asthma.

I have a rescue inhaler,

and then I have

a maintenance inhaler.

My rescue inhaler is becoming,

like a regular inhaler.

where I use it

two or three times a day.

-[Amy] Okay.

-[Michelle] And I've just

gotten used to it now.

And I've been in the hospital

a couple of times for asthma,

where it got really bad.

When people talk

about wellness and health,

and "Are you well?

How do you feel?"

My automatic pilot is always,

"I'm great!"

My vision is getting

worse and worse, very rapidly.

I had three fibroids,

and one was really big.

Upper respiratory infection.

They put me

on broad-spectrum antibiotics,

mega doses of prednisone,

azithromycin.

And so, I have

this standing prescription.

I'll just take it myself.

I was also diagnosed with ADD.

I don't know if that came up

anywhere on there.

-This is really important,

so we missed the ADD.

-Yeah.

-[laughter]

-I'm like, "Oh,

and incidentally..."

-[Robert]

"Oh, and by the way..."

[jazz music playing]

[Michelle]

I remember when I was little,

my mom taught me

to write a letter

"Dear Cathy,

how are you?

I am fine."

Like, those were

the three things

I learned first.

"How are you? I am fine."

And I'm still doing that,

but I'm not fine!

This is levothyroxine.

I take one a day for my thyroid.

This is atorvastatin.

It's for my high cholesterol.

This is fenofibric,

tizanidine, duloxetine--

I take that for anxiety.

Hydrocodone,

cyclobenzaprine,

gabapentin tablets--

That's supposed to make

your brain process pain

in a different way.

This is also for my thyroid.

This is for my neck pain.

These are muscle relaxers.

And that's my medication,

which I think is more

than enough.

My mom struggled

with weight her whole life.

She created me

to be an emotional eater.

Somebody was picking

on me at school.

"Come on,

let's go get an ice cream."

Something happened

good in school,

"Oh, let's go out

and celebrate.

We'll go to Mickey D's,"

you know.

And I ended up doing

the same thing with my kids

and my grandkids.

My mom finally developed

the Alzheimer's

and the dementia,

and I saw

the progression

of the disease

from start to finish.

And you know,

I forget things now,

and I can't think of words,

and I start thinking,

"Oh, my God."

[crying]

You know?

"I'm-- I'm the same way.

I've gotten to be

the same way."

You know?

[screams]

[shouts]

[Debbie]

This is a vicious cycle

that needs to be stopped.

Kim, my daughter,

she has arthritis.

She has lymphodema.

She has hypothyroid.

Her daughter,

Kaylee, is nine.

She has celiac's disease.

Barry's children

are five and four,

Barry and Lauren,

my son and daughter-in-law,

they have a daughter,

Abigail, who's five.

[female nurse]

Abigail? You want

to come back with me?

Okay, sweetheart.

Just step right up here.

[Debbie]

She has autism.

She's nonverbal.

She has epilepsy.

She has central sleep apnea.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

-No, no.

-[Abigail moans]

[Debbie]

She has digestive problems.

[female doctor]

Any trouble urinating?

Any trouble

with bowel movements?

-She has constipation.

-Constipation.

She's on the MiraLAX daily

for that?

-Yeah. Yeah.

-[woman] Okay.

[Barry] The hardest part--

it's just having a child

that can't speak.

I know my wife feels

the same way.

That's-- To me, that's like

the most painful part.

-Abigail.

-Abs.

-Look. Look over here.

-Abigail.

[Barry]

Abigail seems like

she's doing really well,

and then she'll get tired,

and she'll have a whole

bunch of seizures.

And it's like

she's forgotten everything.

It's like her brain

resets itself.

-Playing music?

-Yeah.

[Barry]

It's really the seizures

that compounds her autism.

We're counting,

on average, about 50 a day,

so she's getting

a great big cocktail of garbage.

This stuff's pretty mild

compared to this stuff.

This is called Onfi.

This stuff here is--

it's over $1,000 a bottle.

My insurance covers 70%, so...

I get the joy of only paying

over $300 a month

-just for this stuff.

-[girl squeals]

[Robert Tate]

Have you noticed

any improvement with it?

We have. Otherwise, believe me--

[laughs]

For over $300 a month?

She would've been off of it

a long time ago.

The whole situation

makes me mad,

but mostly just because

how many six-year-old kids

are these neurologists putting

on these heavy narcotics?

I mean, this is as bad

as if you were to go buy

heroin off of the street,

and that's the first thing

that these doctors are trained

to offer the kids.

That's it. Good job.

[Barry]

I hate it.

The lump in my throat

as I was reading

the side effects, man.

I mean, "May cause harm

to yourself or others.

"May have rashy,

irritated skin.

May cause sleeplessness."

And, like, I've seen

my daughter

have some

of these side effects.

[moans]

[Barry]

We're gonna need a lot

of help for sure. I just...

I have no idea.

-I have no idea

how we're gonna do it.

-[Robert] Do what?

Switch her diet.

She refuses

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes