We’re Not Doctors, & That’s a Good Thing

“I have a degree in engineering. Specifically Electrical Engineering. More precisely, Power Systems Engineering. I am (was) an expert at designing solar PV arrays and getting large-scale power from the PV array to the electric grid so that you can plug in your coffee machine, and the factory on the other side of town can run its ginormous machines. My education gave me a toolbox full of knowledge and skills to excel at that specific niche in electrical engineering. I could have specialized in Electrical Engineering – Signal Processing and Microelectronics and become an expert at designing cell phones. But my personal electrical engineering toolbox would be terrible at that job, because I don’t have the right tools for that job.” 

-Alex, Hi Energy Co-Founder

We all use the tools in our respective toolboxes to get the job done. But what if the job requires tools we don’t have?

Medical education rarely provides a nutritional toolbox. On average, medical students receive a miniscule 1.2 hours of nutritional education per year, and 73% of medical schools do not require a single nutrition course.

Nutrition is not in most doctor’s toolbox.

What tools does the medical education system provide doctors? One primary tool is prescriptions. Back pain? High blood sugar? Acne? Low testosterone? Arthritis? A doctor has plenty of medications in their toolbox to hide the most severe symptoms. Rarely has a doctor been taught the tools to address the root cause of these symptoms.

Medical education also rarely provides the tools for DE-prescription, or coming off of medications. That means the pile of medications in your cabinet just keeps growing. Last year alone there were 4.98 BILLION prescriptions filled in the US. That’s over 14 prescriptions per person. Each of these prescriptions have side effects, indications that they’re harming an important function in your body.

(I don't blame doctors for this state of affairs, I blame the for-profit medical system. We also work with a number of doctors who have intentionally sought out nutrition education, and these are some of the best doctors I know.)

It’s a good thing we’re not doctors. We legally do not have medications in our toolbox. That means instead of our primary tool being medications, we MUST use different tools, tools that excel at solving the root cause of ailments.

We've spent the past decade immersed in nutrition research, building a toolbox full of strategies that help the body function the way it was designed to. Sometimes medication is absolutely the right tool, and that's where most doctor's expertise shines. But a vast majority of the chronic health issues people face today are rooted in nutrition and lifestyle—not a lack of medication. If your body isn't getting the nutrients it needs to build hormones, repair tissues, support your immune system, and make energy (and for many Americans, it isn't), problems are bound to follow. The better you support your body's natural functions, the less often you may need to rely on medications to manage symptoms.