Modern Living as a Health Hazard: A Call to Reclaim Ancestral Wellness, By Mrs Vera West and Mrs (Dr) Abigail Knight (Florida)
Modern life, with its conveniences and technological advancements, has ushered in an unprecedented rise in chronic diseases, diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and autoimmune disorders, despite widespread access to medical knowledge. The Mercola.com article identifies key culprits: the shift from natural fats to inflammatory seed oils, surging sugar and ultra-processed food consumption, pervasive environmental toxins, sedentary lifestyles, and chronic sleep deprivation. These factors, compounded by electromagnetic field (EMF) exposure, create a health hazard that echoes the iatrogenic concerns raised in What If Medicine Disappeared? This post examines how modern living undermines well-being and proposes a return to ancestral practices to mitigate these risks.
The replacement of animal fats (butter, lard, tallow) with seed oils (soybean, corn, canola) has disrupted dietary balance. Global vegetable oil consumption has surged eightfold since 1961, with soybean oil dominating U.S. diets at over 12 million metric tons annually. This has shifted the omega-6 to omega-3 ratio from 1:1 to 20:1, with linoleic acid comprising 25% of daily calories. Excess linoleic acid fuels inflammation, impairs mitochondrial function, and drives metabolic disorders like obesity and Type 2 diabetes. Its 600–680-day half-life in tissues means its effects linger for years.
Sugar intake has also skyrocketed, from minimal levels in the 1800s to 34 teaspoons daily (100 pounds yearly), with high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) comprising 8% of U.S. calories. Ultra-processed foods, now 60% of daily calories, are engineered for overconsumption, overriding satiety signals. White flour, stripped of nutrients and often pesticide-laden, causes blood sugar spikes, further exacerbating metabolic dysfunction.
Modern industry has introduced over 85,000 synthetic chemicals, including pesticides (1 billion pounds sprayed annually in the U.S.), microplastics (found in human blood, lungs, and placentas), and hormone disruptors like BPA. Glyphosate, detectable in 80% of U.S. urine samples, and pharmaceuticals in drinking water contribute to hormonal imbalances, declining sperm counts, and increased cancer risk. These toxins, absent in ancestral environments, contaminate food, water, and tissues, creating a cumulative burden on health.
Physical activity, once integral to survival, has been eroded by desk jobs, screen time, and convenience technologies. Only 24.2% of U.S. adults meet exercise guidelines, and just 4% of elementary schools offer daily physical education. Millennials sit for over 60 hours weekly, contributing to 5 million global deaths annually from inactivity. Sedentary living drives obesity, insulin resistance, and cardiovascular disease, starkly contrasting with our ancestors' active lives.
Pre-electricity, humans slept nine hours nightly, aligned with natural light cycles. Today, artificial light, blue-light-emitting devices, and overwork reduce sleep to dangerously low levels; 84% of U.S. teens get less than eight hours. EMFs from Wi-Fi and phones suppress melatonin, disrupting circadian rhythms. Chronic sleep deprivation is linked to obesity, mood disorders, weakened immunity, and shorter lifespans, undermining resilience.
The proliferation of wireless technology has increased EMF exposure, activating voltage-gated calcium channels and forming peroxynitrite, a free radical that damages cells and DNA. High EMF levels in the brain may weaken the blood-brain barrier, contributing to neuroinflammation and symptoms like headaches and fatigue. While research is ongoing, EMFs represent a novel environmental stressor absent in pre-modern life.
The Mercola article's critique aligns with What If Medicine Disappeared?, which argues that modern medicine's harms, 106,000 deaths from adverse drug reactions, 88,000 from hospital infections, and 11% of U.S. fatalities from iatrogenic causes, rival its benefits. Both sources highlight systemic flaws: medicine's reductionist focus on treatment over prevention mirrors the dietary shift to inflammatory, processed foods. The reliance on pharmaceuticals, often with marginal efficacy over placebos, parallels the environmental toxin overload, where interventions create new problems. Both advocate for holistic, prevention-focused models, emphasising lifestyle and environmental changes over medicalisation.
Our ancestors thrived without modern hazards, relying on whole foods, regular movement, minimal toxins, and natural sleep cycles. To counter the health hazards of modern living:
1.Restore Dietary Balance: Prioritise whole foods, eliminate seed oils, and reduce sugar to normalise omega-6:3 ratios and stabilise blood sugar.
2.Increase Movement: Incorporate daily activity, walking, resistance training, or stretching, to combat sedentary risks.
3.Minimize Toxins: Choose organic foods, filter water, and avoid plastics to reduce chemical exposure.
4.Limit EMFs: Use wired connections, turn off Wi-Fi at night, and keep devices away from the body.
5.Prioritise Sleep: Maintain consistent bedtimes, limit blue light exposure, and create dark, cool sleep environments.
While What If Medicine Disappeared? exaggerates by suggesting medicine's absence might not worsen outcomes, the Mercola article avoids such hyperbole, focusing on actionable changes. However, its EMF claims require further research, as conclusive evidence on long-term effects is limited. Both sources risk oversimplifying complex issues but effectively highlight how modern living deviates from biological needs.
Modern living, marked by inflammatory diets, toxic exposures, inactivity, sleep deprivation, and EMFs, creates a health hazard that fuels chronic disease. Echoing What If Medicine Disappeared?, the Mercola article underscores the need to address systemic flaws in lifestyle and healthcare. By reclaiming ancestral practices, whole foods, movement, toxin reduction, and rest, we can mitigate these risks, aligning modern conveniences with biological imperatives to restore vitality and resilience.
Story at-a-glance
Switching from butter, lard and tallow to seed oils (like soybean, corn and canola) drastically increased omega-6 consumption, fueling inflammation and metabolic dysfunction
Sugar intake in the U.S. jumped from minimal levels in the 1800s to an average of 34 teaspoons per day, with ultraprocessed items now making up 60% of daily calories
Modern industrial life introduced 85,000-plus synthetic chemicals into our environment — pesticides, plastics and more — that contaminate our food, water and even human tissue
Only about 24.2% of U.S. adults meet federal exercise guidelines, while sedentary work, screen time and convenience technology have drastically reduced daily physical movement
Before electricity, people slept around nine hours a night. Today, artificial light, nighttime tech use and jam-packed schedules mean fewer hours of rest and disrupted circadian rhythms
Modern living has completely changed the way we eat, move and rest — and the consequences aren't looking good. Chronic diseases like diabetes, heart disease, autoimmune disorders and obesity have skyrocketed, even though medical knowledge and health information are more accessible than ever. So, what happened?
Below, we'll explore how the replacement of natural fats with vegetable oils, the surge in refined sugar and ultraprocessed foods, rampant environmental toxins, the rise of electromagnetic fields (EMFs), sedentary lifestyles and chronic sleep deprivation all came together to undermine our well-being.
Why Did Natural Fats Get Replaced by Vegetable Oils?
For thousands of years, humans cooked with stable animal fats like butter, lard and tallow.1 That changed dramatically in the 1900s when industrially processed vegetable oils (also called seed oils) took center stage, partly due to aggressive marketing campaigns that demonized animal fats.
•Skyrocketing omega-6 intake — By 2023 to 2024, global vegetable oil consumption exceeded 200 million metric tons, more than an eightfold increase since 1961.2,3 In the U.S., soybean oil is the top choice, accounting for over 12 million metric tons of edible oil consumption annually.4
•Distorted fat ratios — Historically, humans ate roughly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fats (1:1). Modern diets shifted this ratio to 20:1, with linoleic acid (the main omega-6 in seed oils) now making up 25% of total daily calories in Western diets.5,6
•Chronic inflammation and metabolic dysfunction — Excess linoleic acid oxidizes easily, damaging cells and impairing mitochondrial function. This triggers chronic inflammation, a key driver of metabolic disorders like obesity, heart disease and Type 2 diabetes.7
•Stored in body fat — LA's half-life in human tissue is around 600 to 680 days, meaning it can take years to lower your body's linoleic acid levels even if you cut out seed oils today.8
For more insights on the risks of excess linoleic acid, check out "Linoleic Acid — The Most Destructive Ingredient in Your Diet." To learn more about how agricultural shifts impact diet and health, read "What Are the Side Effects of Glyphosate?"
How Did Refined Sugars and Ultraprocessed Foods Hijack the Modern Diet?
Back in the day, sweet cravings were satisfied by whole, minimally processed foods like fruits and honey.9 Industrialization changed that, turning sugar into an everyday staple — and ultraprocessed foods into a multibillion-dollar industry.
•Surge in sugar consumption — In 1822, Americans consumed in five days the same amount of sugar found in a single 12-ounce soda today. Now, the average American ingests 34 teaspoons of sugar daily (over 100 pounds per year).10
•High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) domination — HFCS replaced sucrose (table sugar) in many products and now accounts for about 8% of daily calories in the U.S. diet, despite not being available for home use.11,12
•White flour vs. whole grains — Traditional grains were minimally processed and fermented or soaked to improve nutrient availability. Modern white flour, often treated with pesticides and fortified with synthetic iron, digests quickly, causing blood sugar spikes.
•Ultraprocessed foods and cravings — Nearly 60% of total U.S. calories come from ultraprocessed items formulated to be "hyper-palatable," overriding natural fullness signals and promoting overconsumption.13
To understand why glucose is essential for your cells but can be harmful when consumed in excess, read "Glucose — The Ideal Fuel for Your Cells."
What Environmental Toxins Are We Exposed to Today?
While our ancestors had minimal exposure to toxins, modern industry has unleashed tens of thousands of synthetic chemicals. These contaminants — from pesticides and plastics to pharmaceuticals — are nearly impossible to avoid.
•Pesticides — Over 1 billion pounds are sprayed yearly in the U.S.,14 a 50-fold increase since the 1950s.15 Glyphosate, the most widely used herbicide, is detectable in 80% of human urine samples.16
•Microplastics — Found in human blood, lungs, liver, placenta, heart, brain and even testicular tissue.17 On average, people ingest a credit card's worth of plastic each week.18
•Hormone disruptors — Chemicals like bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates interfere with estrogen and testosterone, contributing to declining sperm counts, earlier puberty and increased risk of hormone-related cancers.19
•Pharmaceuticals in water — Medications pass through wastewater treatment and end up in drinking water supplies. In some major U.S. cities, trace levels of antibiotics, mood stabilizers and hormones were found in tap water.20
For a deeper dive into toxic exposures and how to minimize them, see "Cellular Health Revolution — Unveiling Hidden Threats and Empowering Solutions."
Are EMFs a Hidden Threat to Our Health?
Wireless technology has brought us 5G, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth — along with exponentially higher exposure to electromagnetic fields (EMFs). While natural EMFs from the Earth are generally safe, artificial EMFs may pose risks.
•How EMFs affect the body — EMFs can activate voltage-gated calcium channels (VGCCs), leading to the formation of peroxynitrite, a reactive free radical that damages cells, mitochondria and DNA.21
•Neurological concerns — High densities of VGCCs in the brain mean the nervous system is especially vulnerable.22 Chronic EMF exposure may weaken the blood-brain barrier, allowing toxins to penetrate and spur neuroinflammation.23
•Sleep disruption — EMFs reduce melatonin production, leading to poor sleep quality and circadian rhythm imbalances.24,25
Research is still emerging, but if you're experiencing unexplained headaches, fatigue or sleep issues, consider reducing EMF exposure by switching off Wi-Fi at night and using wired connections whenever possible.
Is Modern Living Making Us Move Less?
Physical activity used to be part of everyday life — from manual labor to walking as a primary means of transportation. Fast-forward to today's desk jobs, streaming services and food delivery apps, and you have a recipe for severe inactivity.
•Alarming stats — Only 24.2% of U.S. adults met both aerobic and muscle-strengthening guidelines in 2020.26 Among high schoolers, just 23.9% reported 60 minutes of daily activity.27
•Rising screen time — Millennials often sit for over 60 hours weekly, splitting time between work, commuting and recreational screen use.28
•Cutting PE in schools — A mere 4% of elementary schools and 2% of high schools provide daily physical education year-round, and 22% have axed PE altogether.29
•Health implications — Physical inactivity is linked to obesity, heart disease, insulin resistance and more. An estimated 5 million deaths globally each year are attributed to insufficient physical activity.30
If you want a simple place to start, doing short bursts of movement (like walking, bodyweight exercises or stretching) throughout the day reduces health risks linked to sitting.
Why Are We Sleeping Less Than Ever Before?
In 1910, the average American slept about nine hours each night.31 With the introduction of electric light, late-night TV, shift work and smartphones, many people now view sleep as optional.
•Sleep stats — Teens are especially affected; up to 84% of U.S. high school students fail to get eight hours of sleep, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) 2021 National Youth Risk Behavior Survey.32
•Blue light exposure — Devices like phones and tablets emit blue light that disrupts melatonin production. This affects sleep quality and overall circadian rhythm.33,34
•Overwork and stress — Cultural norms around "hustle" and productivity encourage burning the midnight oil.35 Coffee becomes a crutch, further disrupting natural sleep cycles.36
•Health consequences — Chronic sleep deprivation is linked to increased obesity, insulin resistance, mood disorders, weaker immune function and even shortened lifespan.37,38,39
For tips on healthy sleep habits and circadian alignment, check out "Top 33 Tips to Optimize Your Sleep Routine."
5 Ways to Reclaim the Quality of Health That Used To Be Normal
Our ancestors stayed healthy by default — unprocessed, nutrient-dense foods, consistent movement, minimal toxin exposure and rhythms aligned with daylight and darkness. Modern conveniences have made life easier in some ways but have undermined our physiology in others.
1.Eat like your ancestors — Opt for whole foods, minimize seed oils and cut added sugar to restore a healthier omega-6 to omega-3 balance and stabilize blood sugar.
2.Move more, sit less — Incorporate short movement breaks, resistance training and outdoor activities to support cardiovascular and metabolic health.
3.Reduce toxins — Buy organic when possible, filter your water, avoid plastics and seek out toxin-free household products.
4.Limit EMF exposure — Turn off unnecessary wireless devices at night, use wired internet and keep phones away from your body.
5.Prioritize sleep — Stick to a regular bedtime, reduce screen time before bed and create a dark, cool sleeping environment.
The goal isn't to abandon modern life but to leverage its benefits while keeping our bodies in sync with fundamental biological needs. By making small, consistent changes, you can nurture metabolic health, cellular energy and overall vitality.
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