The Surprising Truth About the 'Healthy' Australian Image

In 1980, when I arrived on Australian shores, it was obvious that Australians led a healthy lifestyle. Sun, surf, and exercise were a feature of life Down Under. Most young people looked trim, with little of the obesity that is so apparent today.

There are several ways to measure the health of a society, but by any measure, Australians today are a sick lot. We're over-medicated, over-vaccinated, and over-doctored—yet what do the statistics show us?

We have an epidemic of drug use—both legal and illegal. Obesity, diabetes, cancer, autoimmune conditions, ADD, ADHD, and autism are at record levels, with little sign of improvement.

We’ve also seen a drop in life expectancy over the past two years. The media regurgitates the same tired narrative:

“According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), life expectancy in Australia has fallen slightly for the second straight year, with experts revealing the pandemic may be to blame for the declining figures.”

They claim this is due to COVID-19. Really? What about the mRNA shots? Notice how quickly that's been memory-holed. The claim is that a few thousand people a year are dying of COVID-19—but how many are actually dying withit? The calculation is very open to manipulation.

We know cancer deaths are up. According to Cancer Australia, the death figures for the past three years are as follows:

• 2022: 49,996 cancer deaths

• 2023: 51,269 cancer deaths

• 2024: 52,671 cancer deaths

From 2022–23, that’s a 2.5% increase; from 2023–24, a 2.7% increase. Has anyone asked why? We're supposed to just shut up and accept it. A number of scientists, including oncologists, have noted a significant increase in cancers since the launch of the COVID-19 injections. Why is there no official investigation to determine whether there is a link?

We also know that, for the past five years, Australia has experienced a significant rise in excess mortality. Currently, it's running at 13% above the average for the five previous years (2015 to 2019).

Let’s pause for a moment; how can this still be attributed to COVID-19? Weren’t we told that the "vaccine" was effective and reduced death? The former Premier of Western Australia, a thuggish clown, proclaimed the following in January 2021 during the vaccine rollout:

“Back in March, April, May we flattened the curve, then we crushed the curve—and I want to keep the curve crushed.
I don’t want the virus to come back; I’m a supporter of elimination.
Get rid of the virus within our borders, within our country, and keep it that way.”

The only thing Mark McGowan crushed was the people of Western Australia. Despite its remoteness and one of the lowest population densities in the world, the state succumbed to the virus like many other places.

So, five years on, the Australian public is left to cope with numerous health issues that are overburdening a healthcare system once considered among the best in the world. That sheen is rapidly wearing off.

We know from the COVID-19 era that people most susceptible to infection and death were those with comorbidities. One major factor? Obesity.

According to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, as of 2022, two-thirds of Australian adults are obese. That equates to 13 million people out of a population of 26 million. Obesity is a serious health risk because it predisposes individuals to diabetes, cardiovascular disease (including high blood pressure), cancer, liver and kidney failure, and even dementia.

Obesity associated with a higher risk for dementia, new study finds

The United States NIH conducted a study comparing obese over-50s to non-obese individuals and found the following:

“The researchers found that participants who had a BMI corresponding to overweight or obesity were more likely to develop dementia. This outcome supports previous studies that indicate obesity is a risk factor.
The research team also found that abdominal obesity—associated with high waist circumference—was a particular risk factor, especially for women. In addition, the study found that the association between obesity and dementia was independent of whether a person was a smoker, had hypertension or diabetes, or carried the APOE ε4 gene, a genetic risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease and related dementias.”

These findings are consistent with other studies linking obesity to dementia.

The size of a person’s brain naturally begins to shrink with age, but research also shows that a higher Body Mass Index (BMI) is associated with brain shrinkage in those over 60—in other words, it accelerates brain aging. Obesity can also reduce the brain’s resilience to the damage caused by Alzheimer’s, leading to worse symptoms and faster progression. It may also cause chronic inflammation in the body, which affects the brain.

So what is the medical profession’s answer to this epidemic? Not lifestyle changes, but rather the latest drug trend: Ozempic, Semaglutide, and Tirzepatide. These weight-loss drugs often work, but they’re not without side effects. Serious risks include thyroid cancer, gallbladder issues, pancreatitis, and retinopathy, which can lead to blindness. There is also growing concern about muscle wasting, which can result in weakness, imbalance, and an increased risk of falls.

To counter these side effects, doctors are now advised to recommend exercise programs, including resistance training. But that begs the question: why aren’t people exercising before resorting to potentially dangerous drugs? It’s one thing to prescribe them for the morbidly obese, but for people who are just 10, 20, or 30 pounds overweight, lifestyle changes can make a dramatic difference. In most cases, lifestyle is what got them into this state.

Too many people are eating highly processed junk food. That said, most of us in the 1950s also ate our fair share of treats; potato chips, chocolate bars, popcorn at the movies, cookies riddled with sugar. But the difference was that we were also outside playing for hours every day, burning off the calories. We didn’t have mobile devices to idle away countless hours in front of a screen.

It seems that in Australia—as in the U.S.—the answer to every health issue is more drugs. I seriously doubt there will be meaningful change unless we start teaching children, as early as they can read and write, to radically shift their behavior. COVID or no COVID, if we even halved the rate of obesity, we would see tremendous improvements in public health—and a notable increase in longevity.

Today’s Australian stands in stark contrast to the bronzed, carefree ideal of decades past.