The War on Health: How We Got Here and Why Change Is Finally Coming

goatwellness
Sep 16
3 min read

For decades, we’ve been told to “trust the experts.” Trust the food pyramid. Trust the pills. Trust the agencies and the textbooks that framed health as a neat equation of calories and prescriptions. But the reality is far messier, and far more alarming.

Behind the scenes, industries with power and profit at stake have shaped what we eat, how we move, what we believe about health, and even what our children are taught. What we face now isn’t just a collection of individual health crises, it’s a systemic war on health.

Misled From the Start

Most of us grew up under nutrition guidelines that were incomplete at best and manipulated at worst. The result? Generations who were told to fear fat, lean on processed carbs, and trust that boxed foods were safe. Now, obesity, diabetes, and heart disease aren’t exceptions—they’re the norm.

Our textbooks were published by the same forces who controlled the narrative, quietly reinforcing ideas that benefited industry instead of public health. Add in the removal of physical fitness from many schools, and you’ve got a culture that normalizes inactivity while flooding kids with processed cafeteria food.

The Web of Influence

The deeper you look, the more tangled the web becomes:

Big Pharma & Big Food: Many of the same companies that profit from processed foods are tied to the drugs prescribed to treat the diseases those foods cause. Medications for obesity are booming, but they’re treating symptoms of a food supply designed for addiction, not health.
Propaganda Machines: Social media has turned into a battlefield of influence. Algorithms push propaganda, normalize violence, and feed mental health decline, all while silencing nuanced conversation.
Hidden Side Effects: Drugs are marketed as miracle fixes while side effects are buried in fine print. Treatments that actually heal are often priced so high they’re out of reach for most people.

The Consequences We Can’t Ignore

The fallout is all around us:

Chronic disease is on the rise, with nearly half of Americans living with at least one serious condition.
Autism diagnoses have climbed steadily, demanding honest investigation into environmental and nutritional factors.
Mental health is collapsing, as isolation, propaganda, and overstimulation chip away at resilience.
Fertility problems are increasing, while toxins in food, water, and personal care products stack up against our biology.
Our water supply is compromised, with “forever chemicals” and heavy metals flowing through taps in cities across the country.

And through it all, politics continues to harm the very people who put food on our tables, farmers, while genetically modified crops and chemical-heavy agriculture become the default.

Enter MAHA: A Push for Change

In 2025, the federal government launched Make America Healthy Again (MAHA), a commission tasked with exposing the root causes of our national health crisis. For the first time in decades, prevention is the focus: not just treating disease, but stopping it before it starts.

MAHA’s mission includes:

Fixing broken nutrition policy and rethinking the guidelines that shaped generations.
Cracking down on toxins in our food and water, and reforming outdated “Generally Recognized as Safe” loopholes.
Separating science from industry influence so health decisions are based on truth, not profit.
Rebuilding trust in healthcare by demanding transparency in drug safety, pricing, and side effects.
Protecting kids with better school nutrition, stronger fitness programs, and stricter marketing oversight.

It’s the start of a course correction, but it won’t work without public awareness and pressure.

Why This Matters Now

This isn’t a partisan battle. It’s about the basic human right to health. Clean water. Honest science. Real food. Affordable medicine. Safe environments. A system that rewards prevention, not disease management.

For too long, we’ve been sleepwalking through a health crisis engineered by systems that profit when we’re sick. The war on health was never declared, it was built slowly, woven into policy, culture, and convenience. Now it’s time to fight back.

And fighting back means more than waiting for government commissions. It means questioning what we’re told. Demanding transparency. Supporting farmers over corporations. Moving our bodies. Reclaiming community. Rebuilding spirit.

Because a healthier future isn’t just about adding years to life, it’s about adding life to years.