Let’s Build a Metabolic Health Army

I'm going to share with you my Darkest moment. And then I'm going to hype you up!

This Newsletter is being released to you at the same moment I’m releasing my new promotional trailer. Please spend 2 minutes watching it, then continue to read.

My Darkest Moment

 — “The night is darkest just before the dawn.”

I love this quote, spoken by district attorney Harvey Dent in Christopher Nolan’s 2008 masterpiece, “The Dark Knight.”

Okay, fine. The term was originally coined circa 1650 by English theologian, Thomas Fuller. ButI like superhero movies.

Jokers aside (okay, for real now), this quote always brings me back to my darkest moment, in the fall of 2018, laying in a bed in the palliative care ward of the John Radcliffe hospital in Oxford, England. My heart was fluttering around 28 – 30 beats per minute, and though you’d think my brain wouldn’t be getting well perfused, I felt unfortunately clear-headed.

I say “unfortunately” because I didn’t particularly appreciate being fully aware of my circumstance:

I must have been the youngest person on the ward by half a century, and the screams of elderly with dementia strike the ears, mind, and heart particularly hard when you haven’t slept in over 48 hours.

Damn hospital beeping!

I was in the hospital for my most recent ulcerative colitis flare… not a fun affair… ask for details if you dare…

Sigh… anytime I actively try to recollect this moment I tend to diverge towards humor. It’s a transparent coping mechanism I’ve found difficult to shake. But I’ll try. No more rhymes. Back to the story.

This certainly was a dark moment for me. The physical suffering and auditory torment were compounded by the frame set around my circumstance. On paper, I had it made: Ivy League Valedictorian with a full ride to Oxford for his PhD and a nice cozy spot waiting for me at Harvard Medical School. But in reality – right there, right then – life was worse than a pile of shit… it was literally a pile of bloody liquid shit.

And the discrepancy between what it seemed I could have in life and where it was in life now made my position sting all the more.

Then, something perversely wonderful happened: I got discharged from the hospital with a diagnosis so profoundly weak I had to laugh… turmeric poisoning.

You see, I’d been taking curcumin supplements (curcumin being the active component of turmeric that can be anti-inflammatory) for months at a standard dose (1.5g twice daily), as recommended by my gastroenterologist as an adjunctive nutraceutical. It was a “why not” addition to my care, like sipping on a ginger tea if you have an upset stomach.

But the attending on call somehow found it a reasonable excuse to discharge me with a heart rate of 28 beats per minute during an active flare, suggesting that – somehow – the spice supplement had forced my heart rate into the normal range of a blue whale!

But I wanted out. So, I left – fully aware that, for a multitude of reasons, this excuse for discharge was beyond ridiculous. I went back to my dorm and spent two more full days lying in bed contemplating my life.

And it was in this time that I realize something: nobody was coming to save me. Not really. Until that time, I had kept hoping that modern medicine would swoop in with a solution. But now I was thinking to myself f*** that!

One thing led to another, as you can gather from the video, and here I am over 5 years later coming through on that promise to finish my first doctorate (PhD) at Oxford and gobble up my second (MD), due 9 months from now.

The Dawn is Coming: Building a Metabolic Health Army!

Now, let’s finish the quote: “The night is darkest just before the dawn. But I promise you, the dawn is coming.”

Yes. Yes, it is. Here’s why:

I’m (rightfully) pissed off, and I’m not alone.

Our modern medical system – and social norms, economic incentive structures, and research infrastructure surrounding it– are profoundly dysfunctional.  

Things need to change.

I see that. But, more importantly, we see that.

And together, we have the energy, will and power to execute on that change. It will take some organization, and proceed through highs and lows, but I’m staking everything on the belief that together we will build a Metabolic Health Army that is going to orphan the metabolic diseases that have plagued our lives and those of our loved ones.

So, what do I want from you in this moment and going forward?

Well, partner, get us more recruits!

Right now, this could mean sharing content that moved you (hint, hint, nudge nudge).

Going forward, it means — first and foremost — living your values and demonstrating through both words and action what it means to you to live “metabolically healthy.”

Oh, and I’m earmarking subscriber funds raised by this Newsletter to promote the Metabolic Health Army Clarion Call along with 2 — yes 2 — papers we have coming out later this month! So, if you’re a person of means, consider donating. Thanks!