For years, the fertility industry has attacked restorative reproductive medicine with two contradictory arguments. 
The first is that RRM is not real medicine. The American Society for Reproductive Medicine (ASRM) dismisses it as an unrecognized subspecialty, and editorials in the industry&#8217;s own journals characterize it as unscientific and ideologically driven. 
The second is that the infertility treatment is unnecessary because fertility clinics already provide the thorough diagnostic workups and root-cause treatment that RRM promises. When the federal government proposed an “excepted fertility benefit” earlier this year to address the “diagnosis, mitigation, or treatment of infertility or infertility-related reproductive health conditions,” ASRM objected that the rule&#8217;s emphasis on treating underlying conditions covers “a gap that does not exist” because standard care already includes thorough workups and root-cause treatment.
Notice that these claims cannot both be true. If the fertility industry is to be believed, RRM is either quackery or exactly the care the industry already delivers. Yet a <a href="https://iirrm.org/real-world-fertility-evaluation-care-prior-to-in-vitro-fertilization/">study</a> released in July suggests the truth is neither. The care that supposedly makes RRM redundant is, for many patients, not happening at all.
The <a href="https://iirrm.org/real-world-fertility-evaluation-care-prior-to-in-vitro-fertilization/">study</a>, conducted by researchers at the International Institute for Restorative Reproductive Medicine and now under peer review, analyzed roughly five million insurance claims and identified commercially insured patients who were diagnosed with infertility and went on to receive IVF between 2021 and 2024. For each condition the study covered, the researchers asked a straightforward question: Before these patients began IVF, did they receive the evaluations and first-line treatments that ASRM&#8217;s own published guidelines recommend? 
The study did not measure clinics against RRM&#8217;s more extensive protocols. It measured them against the fertility industry&#8217;s own standards, written by the professional societies to which these physicians belong. The result? The industry failed its own test. 
Across nearly every condition studied, care gaps ranged from roughly 13 to 78 percentage points, depending on the workup. Within one month of an infertility diagnosis, up to 12% of patients had already started IVF before the basic diagnostic picture was complete. Only 1% of men had completed the two semen analyses that guidelines recommend as the starting point of any male evaluation. By nine months, 70% to 85% of patients had begun IVF, while many of the evaluations and treatments the industry itself recommends sat below 40% completion, and several remained in the single digits.
The condition-by-condition numbers are worse. Take endometriosis, a chronic disease affecting <a href="https://womenshealth.gov/a-z-topics/endometriosis">more than 11%</a> of American women between 15 and 44 and <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC3538128/#R2">making up</a> 30% to 50% of infertility diagnoses. Among younger women with the condition, only 9.3% received the recommended first-line intervention by nine months, while more than 80% had already started IVF. 
Hyperprolactinemia, a hormonal disorder usually correctable with an inexpensive daily pill, showed a gap of nearly 60 percentage points: 25.7% of women received the recommended dopamine agonist, while 85.5% had begun IVF. Likewise, care for <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/the-medical-myth-that-failed-millions-of-women">PMOS</a>, the most common cause of ovulatory infertility, ran the same way: Guidelines say letrozole should be the first-line drug for inducing ovulation, and it costs a few dollars a cycle, but only 34.1% of these women had been prescribed it by nine months, while 78.4% had begun IVF.
Men fared no better. Male-factor problems contribute to roughly half of infertility cases, yet the male half of the workup was the more neglected one. Among men diagnosed after recurrent pregnancy loss, just 3.2% received the recommended sperm DNA testing and 24.5% a karyotype, while 81% had already begun IVF. Notably, a semen analysis is not only a fertility test: male infertility signals undiagnosed conditions that carry consequences long after the question of conception is settled, which means a skipped workup leaves a question about a man&#8217;s health not just unanswered but unasked.
Why does this matter? Because infertility is not a standalone disease. It is a symptom of underlying conditions, such as endometriosis, PMOS, and thyroid disorders in women and low sperm count, low motility, abnormal sperm, and varicoceles in men, with diagnoses split roughly evenly between the sexes. RRM diagnoses and treats those conditions in the hope that couples restore their health and go on to conceive naturally. 
When a clinic moves a couple into IVF without completing the recommended evaluation, it is not simply choosing one fertility treatment over another. It is bypassing the diagnosis of a disease that will continue to affect that patient&#8217;s health, whether or not the IVF cycle produces a child. This is precisely the distinction restorative reproductive medicine exists to address: RRM identifies and treats the underlying condition so that couples can conceive naturally, while IVF bypasses the body to create human embryos in a laboratory setting. IVF may result in the live birth of a child, but it cannot heal anyone, and, in fact, results in much higher rates of adverse outcomes for the mother and baby. 
While I don&#8217;t think that individual doctors, who are themselves captive to the health insurance model, are motivated by financial gain, it is hard to ignore the economics of fertility clinics. Over a third of U.S. fertility clinics are now owned by or affiliated with private equity firms, up from just 4% in 2013, and these clinics perform more than half of all IVF cycles in the country. Private equity does not invest in slow medicine. These firms buy businesses with high patient turnaround and recurring revenue, and they impose a standardized operating model designed to maximize both.
The economics of fertility care help explain how this pattern became standard practice. Diagnosing and treating the underlying causes of infertility in both patients takes time, and a full restorative evaluation and course of treatment typically runs $7,500 to $15,000. A single IVF cycle costs $15,000 to $30,000, succeeds 25% to 35% of the time, and generates additional cycles when it fails or when a couple returns hoping for another child. A treatment model that resolves a patient&#8217;s condition does not produce that kind of recurring revenue.
The public seems to have noticed as well. Earlier this year, when the Health and Human Services, Labor, and Treasury departments proposed the excepted fertility benefit, a new insurance option designed to cover the diagnosis and treatment of infertility-related conditions, the agencies invited the public to weigh in. The response was extraordinary by the standards of federal rulemaking. Most proposed rules pass through their comment periods in near silence; about 80% draw 10 or fewer comments. 
By the time this one closed on July 13, the docket held 4,652 comments. And the message was consistent. By two preliminary counts, at least 62% of commenters called for greater access to root-cause care, from fertility awareness-based methods to treatment of underlying reproductive health conditions, and many asked that restorative reproductive medicine be named and promoted in the final rule. ASRM, faced with thousands of Americans asking for exactly the care it insists patients already receive, responded by asking the government to withdraw the rule entirely.
The comment docket is no outlier. A March survey by Carrot, a fertility benefits company, found that 89% of women would prefer to try a less invasive option before IVF if it came with clinical guidance, and 78% said better information alone would make them more likely to pursue non-IVF options. Interest in metabolic health support topped every option surveyed, yet fewer than half of the women had ever had a single clinical conversation about metabolic health in their entire fertility journey.
The demand for this medicine is real, and it is growing along with the problem it addresses: More than <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/nchs/data/nhsr/nhsr202.pdf">16% of married women</a> now experience infertility, and most intend to have another child. RRM&#8217;s record with these patients deserves attention, too. Women with <a href="https://www.dailysignal.com/2025/08/25/beyond-ivf-finding-root-causes-infertility-can-lead-more-successful-outcomes/">one to nine failed IVF cycles still have nearly a one in three chance</a> of conceiving through restorative care.
The fertility industry can keep calling RRM fake medicine, or it can keep insisting it already provides the same care. It cannot do both — and after the review of five million insurance claims, it cannot credibly do either. The billing records show an IVF-first approach that routinely bypasses the industry&#8217;s own guidelines. American families have said clearly that they want something better, and federal policy and public awareness campaigns should ensure they can find it.
***
Emma Waters is a policy analyst at the Heritage Foundation and the author of the book “<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lead-Like-Jael-Timeless-Principles/dp/1510783539/ref=sr_1_1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Lead Like Jael: Seven Timeless Principles for Today’s Women of Faith</a>” and host of the new podcast &#8220;<a href="https://www.youtube.com/@rethinkingfertility" target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/@rethinkingfertility&amp;source=gmail&amp;ust=1783520571890000&amp;usg=AOvVaw0iXgoblF18btxePh28hFTy">Rethinking Fertility</a>.&#8221; 
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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What The Fertility Industry Doesn’t Want Couples To Hear

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Something has shifted in American pediatrics. After the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended in 2023 that doctors offer weight-loss medication to children as young as 12, prescriptions of GLP-1 drugs such as Wegovy and Saxenda for <a href="https://www.wsj.com/health/wellness/when-diets-dont-work-parents-turn-to-wegovy-for-elementary-school-kids-35aa9c05">kids jumped sharply</a> almost overnight, and they have climbed every month since. Clinical trials are now underway to push these drugs to children younger than 12. We are, in effect, deciding that the cure for a childhood spent eating processed foods and addicted to screens is a weekly injection that reengineers a developing brain&#8217;s hunger signals. Have we fallen so far off the cliff that we must inject our kids to lead them down a healthy path? This is not a solution.
There are some adults with serious metabolic conditions for whom these medications can be a genuine tool. But we have to address our cultural disease at the roots. “Let food be thy medicine” could never ring truer than it does at this pivotal juncture. 
Clearly, in this instance, GLP-1 drugs are a Band-Aid stretched over a wound not yet cleaned up. They suppress appetite; they do not teach a child what to eat and how to move. They lower a number on a scale; they do not change a home or a school cafeteria. The moment a child stops taking them, the weight tends to return because the underlying habits never change, and all of the issues will be exacerbated. Are we truly willing to commit a generation of kids to lifelong pharmaceutical dependence when basic, wholesome meals and daily outside play is usually all that’s needed?
The food put in front of children is the real scandal. Roughly 70% of the calories American children eat now come from ultra-processed foods, the engineered snacks and drinks designed in laboratories to override the body&#8217;s natural sense of fullness. We have built an environment that makes children sick and then act surprised when they are. 
The MAHA Commission&#8217;s <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/MAHA-Report-The-White-House.pdf">report</a> last year, &#8220;Make Our Children Healthy Again,&#8221; named this plainly, pointing to poor diet, environmental toxins, physical inactivity, and the over-medicalization of childhood as the roots of a genuine crisis in chronic disease. It’s good to have a clear prognosis on the dire state of things, but the real shift needs to start at dinner tables and in schools. We need to bring back simple, time-tested wisdom and real foods from God’s green earth.
The good news is that the solution is not complicated, and it does not require a prescription. It requires basic foods. Start with protein at every meal, especially a real breakfast, the kind that steadies a child through a school morning instead of delivering the sugar spike and crash of a toaster pastry. Fill the plate with vegetables until they become ordinary rather than a negotiation. Get kids moving their bodies every day, not as punishment, but as play, the way childhood is supposed to be. And cut the processed foods and refined sugars that are doing the damage.
None of this is exotic. It is exactly how previous generations of healthy children were raised before their nutrition was outsourced to vending machines, cafeterias that offer mac and cheese or pizza, and drive-throughs.
We’ve been working with women and their families for the last 15 years, and our latest book, &#8220;<a href="https://www.amazon.com/dp/0736994610/?bestFormat=true&amp;k=7%20skills%20to%20lasting%20health%20by%20trim%20healthy%20mama&amp;ref_=nb_sb_ss_w_scx-ent-bk-ww_k0_1_8_di&amp;crid=11YSVR5IE2B7Y&amp;sprefix=7%20skills">The 7 Skills to Lasting Health</a>,&#8221; provides all of these tools in a simple, accessible way. We’d be happy to make it available as a curriculum for schools nationwide. But, if you don’t know where to start, this is an easy on-ramp.
This is not merely a matter of personal health. A nation whose children are growing up sicker, weaker, and more medicated than their parents is a nation weakening at its foundation. When military recruiters struggle to find young people fit to serve and when the cost to treat the epidemic of chronic disease consumes an ever-larger share of our economy, the health of our children stops being a private concern and becomes a question of national strength.
We may be celebrating 250 years of America, but a country cannot lead the world while its next generation is too unwell to carry it forward. We have a clear choice in front of us. We can keep treating the symptoms, normalizing injections for children addicted to their screens and hoping the bill never comes due. Or we can do the harder, better thing and address this at its root, one breakfast, one home-cooked dinner, one afternoon outside at a time.
The drugs will always be there for the few who truly need them for breakthrough. But for the millions who simply need real food and a healthier life, reaching for the syringe first is a failure. Our children are our future. They deserve more than a bandage. They deserve to be made well.
***
Pearl Barrett and Serene Allison are New York Times bestselling authors and the founders of Trim Healthy Mama.
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/introducing-upstream-a-lifestyle-and-culture-section-of-the-daily-wire" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream,</a> The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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The Childhood ‘Solution’ That Should Terrify Every Parent

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Johnson &amp; Johnson announced on Monday it will be paying $5.5 billion to settle 76,000 lawsuit claims that its talc baby powder caused ovarian cancer.
Lawsuits about J&amp;J’s talc-based baby powder have entrenched the company in legal battles for the past 15 years. J&amp;J has settled similar lawsuits alleging that the baby powder contained asbestos and thus caused mesothelioma, but had not previously settled the ovarian cancer claims.  
This agreement came after a federal court <a href="https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-judge-casts-doubt-69000-cases-alleging-jj-talc-caused-cancer-2026-07-22/">decision</a> on July 22 decreed that most claimants could not effectively tie the Johnson &amp; Johnson baby powder to their ovarian cancer.
“[The court confirmed] what we have maintained for years: that these claims lack scientific merit and were sustained only by unreliable expert opinions that could not survive rigorous judicial review,” Erik Haas, Johnson &amp; Johnson’s Worldwide Vice President of Litigation, <a href="https://www.jnj.com/media-center/press-releases/johnson-johnson-announces-a-proposed-resolution-of-ovarian-talc-litigation">said</a> in a statement. “While we are confident the Company would have ultimately prevailed with further litigation… this resolution allows the Company to put this matter behind it and remain focused on its mission to develop medicines and devices that save lives.”
Johnson &amp; Johnson repeated in its statement that the lawsuits were “meritless” and said that “Studies show talc is safe, does not contain asbestos and does not cause cancer.” 
Chris Seeger, an attorney representing about 2,500 plaintiffs with talc claims, <a href="https://www.foxbusiness.com/markets/johnson-johnson-agrees-pay-5-5b-settle-talc-lawsuits">told</a> Fox News that he helped negotiate the settlement. He also stated that J&amp;J could actually pay $7 billion or more because the settlement does not put a cap on the total payout but rather assigns specific values to qualifying ovarian cancer claims.
&#8220;We got a fair settlement, and our clients are going to be happy with it,&#8221; Seeger <a href="https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/johnson-johnson-announces-55-billion-settlement-talc-lawsuits-2026-07-27/">said</a> in an interview with Reuters.
Johnson &amp; Johnson plans to pay $3 billion of the $5.5 billion settlement in 2027 and the remainder in 2028 or later. 95% of claimants must agree to the settlement before it can take effect.
The company previously attempted a legal strategy to have shell-company subsidiaries declare bankruptcy in order to settle these cancer cases, but that proved unsuccessful.
J&amp;J switched its baby powder recipe from talc to a cornstarch-based product in 2020.

Johnson And Johnson To Pay $700m To Settle Claims It Misled Consumers

Baby Powder Cancer Saga Poised To End With Massive Payout

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San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan suffered multiple broken bones and nearly lost an eye in a serious car crash earlier this month, according to the team and longtime friend, NFL analyst Chris Simms. 
The 49ers announced Saturday that Shanahan will have a limited role during training camp after breaking his nose, hand, and three ribs while requiring 40 stitches to his face, ESPN’s Adam Schefter <a href="https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49446662/49ers-shanahan-limited-camp-car-accident">reported.</a>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
Statement from the San Francisco 49ers. <a href="https://t.co/13ugQr94bQ">pic.twitter.com/13ugQr94bQ</a>
— San Francisco 49ers (@49ers) <a href="https://x.com/49ers/status/2081046854373171421?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2026</a></blockquote>
The July 14 crash occurred near Shanahan&#8217;s Northern California home when his vehicle collided with an SUV. Authorities said the other driver was not injured, both drivers cooperated, and neither showed signs of impairment or was cited. 
General manager John Lynch said the team will let doctors determine when Shanahan can fully return. 
“Kyle basically is going to be like in the protocol. We’re going to let the doctors dictate how he comes back, when he comes back,” Lynch <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LniGXZ93_AE">said</a>. “He’s been in the building, so we’ve seen him. It’s kind of like we do with our players: a phased-back approach. Number one for Kyle and the Shanahan family is getting him back right.”
Former NFL quarterback and current NBC Sports football analyst Chris Simms explained during a Monday appearance on “PFT Live” that his close friend Shanahan almost lost his eye in the accident. Simms said Mandy Shanahan, Kyle’s wife, sent him pictures of the injuries just after the crash.
“When you first see it, and it’s fresh, and some of the cuts are still wide open, I mean, it’s jarring,” Simms said.
“He was emotional about it, because he realized how close it was to being just a complete, you know, utter disaster,” he added. “He could have lost his right eye. It could have been a lot worse.”
“You know, he’s very concerned about the woman he got in the accident with and how she is handling that situation. So there’s just a lot there. And I think it was a lot for him to process.”
With no timetable for Shanahan’s return, assistant head coach Chris Foerster will take over as the acting head coach.
Shanahan has coached the 49ers since 2017 after previously serving as offensive coordinator for the Atlanta Falcons. He is the son of legendary head coach Mike Shanahan, who led the Denver Broncos to back-to-back Super Bowl victories.

NFC Divisional Playoffs: San Francisco 49ers v Seattle Seahawks

NFL Coach Nearly Lost An Eye In Horrific Car Crash

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Dr. Anthony Fauci recommended White House adviser Stephen Miller move into a hotel for two weeks after his wife, Katie Miller, tested positive for COVID-19 while 10 weeks pregnant, according to newly released diary entries.
The entries were released Saturday by Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), who <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf">obtained</a> them during his investigation into the origins of COVID-19 and gain-of-function research ahead of Fauci&#8217;s planned testimony on Capitol Hill in the coming week.
&#8220;COVID-19 hits the White House!!&#8221; Fauci wrote on May 8, 2020. &#8220;Yesterday, it was revealed that the personal valet of the POTUS tested positive for Sars-CoV-2. However, today it was noted that Katie Miller tested positive. She was negative yesterday and positive X2 today!!!&#8221;
&#8220;She had sxs (sic) in the Sit room yesterday and sat next to Steve Hahn and behind Azar,&#8221; Fauci continued, listing a number of officials who had all attended the same briefing. &#8220;I was on the other side of the room from her, but she was coughing in the room. She sat next to Olivia Troye when she was coughing and, in the afternoon, yesterday, Olivia sat right next to me in the Ward Room of the West Wing for 45 minutes. In the room were Deb Birx, Steve Hahn, Bob Redfield, Tyler Ann, Seema Verma.&#8221;
Fauci went on to note that White House adviser Stephen Miller had tested negative even after his wife had tested positive — a relief for the White House chief medical adviser because he&#8217;d spent some time in close proximity to Miller.
&#8220;I spent much time on phone this evening advising Katie and Steve Miller as to what they should do,&#8221; Fauci continued. &#8220;She is 10 weeks pregnant. I advised that Steve must move out of the house into a hotel; he still has to self-isolate for 14 days. If he stays in the house, whether or not he gets infected, he still must self-isolate for 14 days after Katies (sic) tests negative. His clock will start after he separates from Katie and so he should start the clock now.&#8221;
Fauci explained that because he was a &#8220;low risk exposure,&#8221; he self-imposed a &#8220;modified quarantine&#8221; in which he would &#8220;get tested every day, would wear a mask ontinually (sic), and would spend most of my time either alone in my home office or alone in my NIH office and would go to White House or Congress with precautions of universal mask wearing and phycial (sic) distancing.&#8221;
He also noted that he was monitoring Katie Miller via phone, noting that she&#8217;d been very anxious about her health and that of her unborn child.
&#8220;She is very anxious about getting very ill since she is 10 weeks pregnant. Tonight she had an anxiety reaction. I calmed her over the phone. Her pulse Ox is fine and she is afebrile,&#8221; he wrote.
His other main concern was the fact that some of those who&#8217;d been seated close to Katie were not doing enough to mitigate the potential spread of the virus.
&#8220;Marc Short and others close to Katie really should do some sort of quarantine (even if modified), but they are not even wearing masks. Not a good metric,&#8221; he complained.

Stephen Miller

Fauci Advised Stephen Miller To Leave His Pregnant Wife Alone With COVID, Get A Hotel

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Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former chief medical advisor to the president, appears to have misled Congress about the coronavirus fatality rate in the early days of the pandemic, making statements in private that contradicted his public testimony.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) released a <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf#&amp;_intcmp=fnc_politics_article_main-content_article-body_6_1">trove of previously private Fauci diaries</a> ahead of his expected testimony this Wednesday before a key oversight committee. 
A February 8, 2020, journal entry shows Fauci recounting a phone call with former CDC Director Tom Frieden in which he compared the novel coronavirus to a &#8220;bad influenza&#8221; and predicted a lower-than-expected fatality rate.
The Daily Wire is publishing excerpts from Fauci’s journal without any edits or spelling corrections.
“Tom Frieden called me this AM and we discussed various aspects of the outbreak. He and I are on the same page in thinking tht this is acting like a bad influenza in its transmissibility and that the denominator is much greater than 34,867 (above) making the case fatality rate (CFR) more like 0.2-0.3 % rather than 2.0%,” he wrote. 
At that moment, Fauci estimated more than 34,000 infections and 724 deaths.  
About a month later, however, the physician — who privately blushed about his rising public profile — presented Congress with a markedly different assessment of the disease. <a href="https://docs.house.gov/meetings/GO/GO00/20200312/110713/HHRG-116-GO00-Transcript-20200312.pdf?utm_source=chatgpt.com">Testifying under oath</a> at a March 11 hearing, Fauci responded to a question from Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX) about the similarities between COVID-19 and influenza.
“The seasonal flu that we deal with every year has a mortality of 0.1 percent. The stated mortality overall of this when you look at all the data including China is about three percent. It first started off as two and now three,” <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yp717hJVI5Y&amp;t=2810s">Fauci told the panel.</a> &#8220;I think if you count all the cases of minimally symptomatic or asymptomatic infection, that probably brings the mortality rate down to somewhere around one percent, which means it is 10 times more lethal than the seasonal flu. I think that is something that people can get their arms around and understand.&#8221;
During the hearing, Cloud questioned Fauci about whether COVID-19 was more lethal than previous diseases, including H1N1, commonly known as swine flu.
“No, absolutely not,” Fauci said. “The 2009 pandemic of H1N1 was even less lethal than the regular seasonal flu.” 
“I&#8217;m trying to help the American people know where to appropriately set their gauge,” Cloud fired back. 
Fauci doubled down on the alarm bells, despite privately downplaying the virus&#8217;s lethality.
“I think to set the gauge is that this is a really serious problem that we have to take seriously. I mean, people always say, &#8216;Well, the flu, you know, the flu does this, the flu does that.&#8217; The flu has a mortality of 0.1 percent,” Fauci said. “This has a mortality of 10 times that, and that&#8217;s the reason why I want to emphasize we have to stay ahead of the game in preventing this.” 
The newly revealed contradictions come after <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/new-fauci-diaries-reveal-celebrity-obsession-at-height-of-covid-crisis?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=3&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=New+Fauci+Diaries+Reveal+Celebrity+Obsession+At+Height+Of+COVID+Crisis">The Daily Wire reported</a> Fauci’s obsession with media attention as the coronavirus pandemic claimed lives and overwhelmed hospitals around the globe.
“Press still hot and heavy about me,” Fauci wrote on April 7, 2020. “Multiple stories per day directly or indirectly involving me.”
Weeks later, hundreds of thousands of infections spread worldwide, and nearly 10,000 had died from the virus when Fauci penned the following journal entry on May 21, 2020. 
“Big front page article abut me appeared in the Washington Post. Very flattering. The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable. It is not hyoperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable peson in the world,” Fauci wrote.

Dr. Fauci Testifies To Senate Health Committee On Country’s COVID-19 Response

Fauci’s Personal Diary Highlights Shocking Contradiction On COVID Fatality Rate

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Carly Simon, the songwriter most famous for “You’re So Vain,” revealed to her fans on Monday that she&#8217;s been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease.
“So many people have written to me, kindly wondering about my relative silence, asking how I am and what I have been doing,” Simon wrote in a letter to her audience <a href="https://people.com/carly-simon-reveals-parkinsons-disease-cancer-diagnosis-12020645">obtained</a> by People magazine. “The truth is, I’ve been learning how to live with Parkinson’s disease.”
Simon, 83, said the decline in her health first came when arthritis in her knees and hip forced her to get those three joints replaced “with delicate bouquets of metal and plastic.” Her mobility continued to worsen.
“Eventually, there were periods when I could not walk without considerable help,” Simon noted. “My family and I knew that something more was going on. After an extensive evaluation at the Mayo Clinic, I was diagnosed with Parkinson’s.”
Simon explained that she has taken the time to live with the illness.
“There is no tidy or predictable schedule to the illness. It does not consult my calendar before deciding what kind of day I am going to have,” Simon said. “You can find yourself lying there like a starfish drying in the sun, arms pointing in all directions, while nothing inside is telling you to get up, read, watch, write, sing, call someone, or do much of anything at all,” she continued.
“I do not consider Parkinson’s a gift or a blessing,” Simon added. “It is neither. It is difficult, frustrating, and sometimes frightening. I am still learning how to live with it and how to accept it without feeling that I have surrendered something essential.”
Along with adjusting to life with Parkinson’s, Simon underwent surgery for basal cell carcinoma, a form of skin cancer, on her face.
“The cancer was removed, but the surgery affected my appearance and made me more self-conscious about being seen in public,” she said. “I have always been more critical of my appearance than anyone else could possibly imagine (check out the irony of having written ‘You’re So Vain.’), and this gave my inner critic quite a lot of new material.”
Despite all the complications she has faced, Simon has assured her fans, “I have not stopped living, and I have not stopped working.”
In her letter, Simon announced her new album, Comes in Waves, her first original full-length album since 2008. It will include fragments of songs that Simon wrote down and tucked away throughout her musical career.
Simon ended her letter thanking her family, friends, and medical staff who have helped her through her medical experiences.
Simon <a href="https://www.grammy.com/artists/carly-simon/6577/">won</a> two Grammys during her career, and was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in November 2022. Simon has 206,000 followers on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/carlysimonhq/?hl=en">Instagram</a> and over 6.5 million monthly listeners on <a href="https://open.spotify.com/artist/4FtSnMlCVxCswABUmdhwpm">Spotify</a>. 
One of Simon’s last public appearances occurred in October 2019, when she promoted &#8220;Touched by the Sun: My Friendship with Jackie,&#8221; a memoir about her friendship with former First Lady Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis. Her last public performance occurred in March 2018 at Carnegie Hall.

Screenshot 2026-07-27 at 10.46.35 AM

‘You’re So Vain’ Legend Shares Heartbreaking Health Update

Carly Simon

Celebrities

Celebrity

Parkinson's Disease

skin cancer

Senator Mitch McConnell (R-KY) on Monday said he is still recovering at a rehabilitation facility from a June medical episode, according to another health update from his office. 
In the statement, the Republican said he&#8217;s still undergoing treatment and won&#8217;t be attending local events this weekend. 
“I’m still working hard to get back to my full schedule of work in the Senate and in Kentucky, keeping up with intense physical therapy per my doctors’ orders. Unfortunately, that means I won’t be able to make it to Fancy Farm, Kentucky this Saturday,” he said,<a href="https://www.wlky.com/article/sen-mitch-mcconnell-written-statement-photo-july-27/73274265"> according to local outlet WLKY.</a> “As always, I appreciate all of your continued well wishes, and I’m looking forward to getting back to the Senate and to Kentucky soon.”
The health update included a fresh photo with his wife, Elaine Chao, and also provided a statement from McConnell’s physician. 
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
McConnell’s office releases a new photo plus a statement saying he is undergoing “intense physical therapy” and not ready to get back to work in person. No timeline for his return to the Senate. He has not been seen in the Capitol since his June 14 hospitalization. <a href="https://t.co/G9h99SboZA">pic.twitter.com/G9h99SboZA</a>
— Sahil Kapur (@sahilkapur) <a href="https://x.com/sahilkapur/status/2081767125555757332?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 27, 2026</a></blockquote>
“Senator McConnell continues his recovery from a fall at home in June. OAP physicians visit with the Senator every day, discussing all aspects of his rehabilitation care,” the Office of the Attending Physician said. “Since his discharge from hospital care, he has maintained a strenuous course of physical therapy and rehabilitation, including multiple sessions a day designed to rebuild strength and reduce the risk of future falls.”
&#8220;His bout with childhood polio continues to be a significant factor in his mobility. He is not yet medically cleared to leave the rehab facility and return to the office,” the OAP added. 
The 84-year-old’s extended hospitalization has fueled mounting questions about both his health and what would happen if Kentucky’s longest-serving senator were unable to complete his final term. He has remained hospitalized <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/senator-mitch-mcconnell-hospitalized?author=Jacob+Wheeler&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=84-Year-Old+Mitch+McConnell+Hospitalized+After+%E2%80%98Unknown+Medical+Incident%E2%80%99">since June 14</a>, when emergency responders were dispatched to his Washington residence following what was widely reported as an emergency radio traffic describing a cardiac arrest requiring CPR. 
The lack of information sparked widespread speculation online. Still, it has also drawn renewed attention to an unusual wrinkle in Kentucky election law that could become significant if McConnell were to resign or otherwise vacate his seat before his term expires in January 2027. With a Democrat occupying the governor’s office, Republican lawmakers<a href="https://apnews.com/article/kentucky-legislature-senate-vacancies-faf6f1f41fa42c3e0b818fc3fb3d4d4a"> recently moved</a> to eliminate the governor’s appointment authority in favor of a special election process.
McConnell, who is not running for another term, has missed <a href="https://www.wlky.com/article/sen-mitch-mcconnell-written-statement-photo-july-27/73274265">38 Senate votes</a> since the medical incident.

Mitch McConnell

McConnell’s Office Shares New Photo And Update On The Senator

Kentucky

Republicans

Dr. Anthony Fauci, the former Chief Medical Advisor to the President, appeared consumed with media attention and his growing public image as the coronavirus pandemic claimed lives and overwhelmed hospitals around the globe.
Senate Homeland Security Committee Chairman Rand Paul (R-KY) <a href="https://www.paul.senate.gov/wp-content/uploads/2026/07/2026.07.24_Tonys-Diary-Package.pdf#&amp;_intcmp=fnc_politics_article_main-content_article-body_6_1">released an avalanche of private Fauci diaries</a> ahead of his expected testimony this Wednesday before a key oversight committee.  
The documents shed light on the COVID adviser&#8217;s obsession with his public profile at the height of the years-long pandemic. Inside the near-daily journal entries chronicled Fauci&#8217;s nonstop media appearances on local and national outlets, reaching a level of publicity that Fauci himself couldn’t help but blush about. 
The Daily Wire is publishing excerpts from Fauci&#8217;s journal without any edits or spelling corrections.
“Press still hot and heavy about me,” Fauci wrote on April 7, 2020. “Multiple stories per day directly or indirectly involving me.”
Weeks later, hundreds of thousands of infections spread worldwide, and nearly 10,000 had died from the virus when Fauci penned the following journal entry on May 21, 2020. 
“Big front page article abut me appeared in the Washington Post. Very flattering. The situation with my national and international fame is explosive and really unimaginable. It is not hyoperbole to say that today I am the most famous and talked about person in the country and one of the most recognizable peson in the world,” Fauci wrote. 
“Countless profiles on me in multiple media. I cannot even read all the things that are written abuyt me since I am so busy … seriously. POTUS seems to be enamored of me even though I am taking the spotlight away from him. We are developing a very unique and interesting relationship,” he added. 
Fauci also recounted how U.S. Secret Service agents routinely waved him through the White House gates without asking to see his badge, often striking up casual conversations.
“Everyone is worried about my health and welfare, probably because it is all over the place that I am almost 80 years old,” he wrote at the time. 
About a month later, Fauci admitted to telling his counterpart, Dr. Deborah Birx, that the administration’s infamous contact tracing and isolation strategy to combat the virus was a “f*cking disaster and an abject failure.”
In the same journal entry, however, Fauci quipped about being invited to appear on &#8220;Dancing With The Stars.&#8221; 
The infatuation with television hits did not stop as the virus abated in parts of the country and red-state governors started reopening measures. In a June 29 meeting with then-Vice President Mike Pence, Fauci pleaded to get back on the big screens. 
“I told him that I am being blocked from TV and I needed to get on TV to give the ‘risk reduction” message and that I would avoid being pitted against him or the POTUS merely by not playing that game,” he wrote. “He did promise that he would get me out there on TV since he really liked my message. First time anyone ever spoke that way to VP. He truly likes me a lot (and vice versa).” 
“Now we have to get the POTUS press people to agree. Interesting intrigue in the White House. POTUS people versus VP people,” he added, suggesting internal divisions at the time over public relations strategy. 
In June, Sen. Paul announced that he issued a subpoena after Fauci allegedly backed out of an agreement to voluntarily appear. 
“Last week, Anthony Fauci notified us he will NOT voluntarily testify before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, even though he had previously agreed to do so,” Paul <a href="https://x.com/RandPaul/status/2069168695398588521">wrote on X</a>. “Therefore, today I have issued a subpoena requiring him to testify before the Committee, in public, next month.”
The subpoena is the first issued by Paul since taking over as chairman of the committee, which granted its chairman unilateral subpoena authority last year, <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rand-paul-issues-first-subpoena-of-long-senate-career-for-tony-fauci?author=Drew+Berkemeyer&amp;category=News&amp;elementPosition=undefined&amp;row=0&amp;rowType=Vertical+List&amp;title=Rand+Paul+Issues+First+Subpoena+Of+Long+Senate+Career+%E2%80%94+For+Tony+Fauci">The Daily Wire reported</a>.
Speaking to <a href="https://www.semafor.com/article/06/23/2026/why-rand-paul-subpoenaed-fauci">Semafor</a>, Paul said months of negotiations with Fauci ultimately broke down after the former public health official agreed to appear and then reversed course.
“He’s been slow-walking information to us for six months or more,” Paul told the outlet. “We’ve been negotiating over the date for several months. He agreed, then he said he wouldn’t. So, I think it’s time that we bring him in.”
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
1/9 — My investigation uncovered that Anthony Fauci kept a diary. 
What he wrote privately and what he told the country are two different stories.
Today I&#8217;m releasing his entries from December 2019 through December 2022. 🧵 <a href="https://t.co/58LvmeYkCN">pic.twitter.com/58LvmeYkCN</a>
— Senator Rand Paul (@SenRandPaul) <a href="https://x.com/SenRandPaul/status/2081093786185171131?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">July 25, 2026</a></blockquote>

White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki Holds News Briefing At White House

New Fauci Diaries Reveal Celebrity Obsession At Height Of COVID Crisis

Trump Administration

Virus

With a hot summer well underway in America, it’s the season to sweat. Meanwhile, the shelves of grocery stores are filling with rows of electrolytes. No longer is Gatorade the only sports drink. Instead, energy drink companies and health companies alike have crowded into whole displays at stores across the country to sell powdered and bottled products promising to help buyers hydrate better. 
But what’s less obvious than the over-the-top hype is whether sugar-salt water is really better than plain water — or which electrolytes are worth your money.  
The <a href="https://www.amazon.com/LMNT-Zero-Sugar-Electrolytes/dp/B07TT8B1JJ">marketing pitch</a> is simple: The salt content in electrolytes helps our bodies rehydrate, refuel, and recover more quickly. 
And the research backs this up. Our bodies <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/21790-electrolytes">use electrolytes</a> — minerals such as sodium and potassium — to conduct electrical charges to contract muscles and move water in (and out) of cells. But when we sweat, we lose some of those key minerals that have to be replenished via our diets. Chugging a mix of these minerals dissolved in water is a fast way to get that water into our cell membranes and avoid muscle cramps. However, it’s also possible to get too much of these minerals, with serious health side effects ranging from muscle spasms to heart arrhythmias. 
As the original sports drink, Gatorade is a mix of potassium and sodium electrolytes as well as sweetener that can play a key role in rehydration as well. Glucose (sugar), along with the sodium, <a href="https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC24099/">can help</a> water quickly pass through the small intestine and ultimately be absorbed into our cells. It’s why Gatorade is so effective for rehydrating when you&#8217;re suffering from the stomach flu. However, the rest of the ingredients list is an <a href="https://www.gatorade.com/sports-drinks">unfortunate mix</a> of food dye, unnamed “natural flavors,” and a wood rosin additive. 
Many of the electrolyte mixes and drinks on shelves today are not much better — with a litany of unpronounceable ingredients, food dyes, and artificial flavors. Popular brands such as <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Liquid-I-V-Multiplier-Electrolyte-Supplement/dp/B01IT9NLHW">Liquid I.V.</a> and <a href="https://www.amazon.com/LMNT-Zero-Sugar-Electrolytes/dp/B07TT8B1JJ">LMNT</a> rely on “natural flavors” and variations like “natural lemon flavor” that can be just as <a href="https://thepaleodiet.com/what-do-natural-flavors-really-mean/">opaque</a> as artificial flavors when it comes to information on the actual contents or origin of the flavoring agent. The only truly natural flavoring option is a blend of fruit powder or, in pre-mixed drinks, fruit juice or fruit juice concentrate. 
To keep the calories low and the recipe sugar-free, many “sugar-free” drinks rely on sugar alcohols such as erythritol, but these sweeteners <a href="https://www.upstate.edu/news/articles/2023/2023-03-25-perl.php">may be</a> linked to cancer in some individuals and can cause <a href="https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-to-know-about-sugar-alcohols">gastrointestinal issues</a> when consumed in excess. 
Brands that tout a more natural label often rely on stevia for sweetness or its chemical compound “fermented Reb M” (sometimes also derived from <a href="https://compoundsolutions.com/precision-fermentation-rice-sourced-reb-m/">rice</a>). This zero-calorie sweetener is typically marketed as more natural since it’s derived from the stevia plant. However, some studies on rats have found it can have <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0022316625002688">contraceptive effects</a>, and it is used by women for pregnancy prevention <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0278691508002342">in Paraguay where the plant grows</a>. The pros and cons of stevia are up in the air, but it’s certainly better than artificial sweeteners or sugar alcohols. 
Even better sweetener options such as <a href="https://health.clevelandclinic.org/why-you-should-use-monk-fruit-sweetener">monk fruit extract</a> or plain old sugar are pronounceable and identifiable. Or if sweet isn’t your favorite flavor profile and you’re willing to indulge the saltiness — or you’re willing to forego the additional absorption properties of sugar in favor of fewer calories — choosing an unsweetened or unflavored mix could be the way to go. 
Finally, there’s the most important ingredient: the electrolytes themselves. This <a href="https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diagnostics/21790-electrolytes">category of mineral</a> includes more than just salt, though salt is often the main electrolyte included in the powders and drinks. Potassium, magnesium, calcium, chloride, phosphate, and bicarbonate also make the list of these minerals. 
Most electrolyte mixes include the first three minerals for their important hydrating properties. <a href="https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/salt-and-sodium/">Sodium</a> helps conduct nerve impulses, regulates muscle function, and balances water and minerals through the body. <a href="https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/potassium/">Potassium</a> has similar effects and complements sodium’s functions. And in addition to these benefits, <a href="https://nutritionsource.hsph.harvard.edu/magnesium/">magnesium</a> can aid in smooth digestion.  
However, overdosing on any supplement can be dangerous, so despite the rebrand of salt and the heavy push for electrolytes, there’s no upside to taking them unless you’re doing some serious sweating or know you have a particular mineral deficiency. In particular, it’s worth checking the nutrition facts for the quantities of each electrolyte per serving. More isn’t always better. And unfortunately, there’s no perfect blend of these minerals that works for every individual. Typically, sodium is the main mineral with others following in lesser quantities, but a quick peek at the ingredients list will reveal if there are extremely high levels (usually above 20-30% of the daily value for a 2,000 calorie diet) of any individual electrolyte.
There’s a litany of other ingredients that some companies add to the mix — from ones to avoid (food dyes) to ones with mixed benefits (caffeine) to additional supplements. But with these key markers, the grocery aisle with dozens of options narrows substantially. 
My mix of choice has become <a href="https://justingredients.com/collections/electrolytes">Just Ingredients</a> for a tasty, fruity drink after a good sweat. It’s flavored with fruit powder and sweetened with a mix of monk fruit and stevia, and the calories stay low. A blend of sodium, calcium, potassium, magnesium, and chloride are its main minerals. And as a bonus, it’s starting to show up in stores such as Target and Whole Foods. For an unflavored option, I also like to grab <a href="https://www.traceminerals.com/products/40-000-volts">Trace Minerals</a>, a mix of minerals suspended in water ideally reconstituted before drinking. 
But if sugar is your preferred sweetener, <a href="https://sport-drink.com/">Sport Drink</a> offers a mix of plain and flavored blends for online order, with the flavored versions using fruit powder.
Last but not least, in a pinch, adding a few dashes of salt to your water will up the hydration factor. It’s not as tasty as a fruity blend, and it’s not as glamorous as pink- or blue-colored water, but it’s electrolytes all the same. 
Either way, as we swelter away in the sunshine, it’s time to drink up, stay hydrated, and enjoy the dog days of summer while they last.
***
Jordan Jantz is the assistant editor at IW Features as well as a freelance writer, editor, and website designer.
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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What’s Really Hiding In Your Electrolyte Drink?

Drinking Water

Exercise

hydration

nutrition

The U.S. food system has devolved into a massive, unintentional science experiment, and we&#8217;ve unknowingly become the lab rats. This isn&#8217;t something new, either. It&#8217;s been going on for well over a century. We have access to the most advanced medical technology, the most life-saving medicines, and more knowledge about germs and infection than at any other point in human history. So why is our health as a nation declining so rapidly?
Here&#8217;s a number that should stop you cold. In the 1930s, roughly one in five Americans had a chronic illness, and that count included things we don&#8217;t even tally anymore, such as visual impairment. Today, without counting visual impairment at all, it&#8217;s closer to three in five. That&#8217;s a jump of roughly 40 percentage points, and most of those chronic illnesses can be connected directly to food and lifestyle. That is not a coincidence, and it is not something that “just happened” to us.
I wanted to understand exactly how we got here, so I sat down with Steven Rofrano, CEO and co-founder of Ancient Crunch, the company behind Masa chips, tortilla chips made with whole-food ingredients and fried in grass-fed beef tallow. Steven is on the leading edge of making snack food real food again, and he doesn&#8217;t need a research budget to make his case.
“Go pick up some history book and just look at photos of people,” he told me. “You don&#8217;t need a doctor to tell you that someone with like 32 perfectly straight white teeth who never had braces and is like six foot two, who lives in the jungle of wherever … you don&#8217;t need a doctor to tell you that person&#8217;s healthier than the average person today. It&#8217;s just so obvious if you look.”
It really is obvious once you look back. Not that long ago, in the early 1900s, Americans were shopping within walking distance of home at local mom-and-pop grocery stores, stocked with local goods because refrigerated transportation didn&#8217;t exist to move food any real distance. There were butchers, milkmen, cheese shops. Actual specialists, not aisles. The “classic American diet” of that era, as Steven put it, consisted of staple carbohydrates such as potatoes, corn, and wheat; fats like butter and pork; beef once it caught on in the mid-1800s; and whatever vegetables happened to be in season. That was it. Those were your options. “The additives that we are trying to avoid now … it just didn&#8217;t exist,” he said. “Citric acid? What citric acid? Red 40? What Red 40? There wasn&#8217;t any of this stuff.”
<iframe loading="lazy" title="YouTube video player" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4FKCGFHqZQ0?si=VqtU86cDWOFZ91Up" width="560" height="315" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen="allowfullscreen"></iframe>
Then the grocery stores got bigger, and bigger stores needed longer shelf life. That&#8217;s the moment preservatives, chemicals, and seed oils entered the American diet, and it wasn&#8217;t some accident of nature. It was three forces working at once: the Green Revolution of the 1960s, which used pesticides, GMOs, and fertilizers to massively increase agricultural output; a wave of new food additives designed to extend shelf life and cut costs; and a food system that rewarded whoever could sell the cheapest calories, regardless of what those calories did to the people eating them. Cheap food was, and still is, treated as a kind of God-given right in this country. The market gave us exactly what we asked for.
Nowhere is that clearer than in the story of seed oil, which now makes up roughly 30% of all American calories. It is by far the single biggest processed ingredient anyone eats, by volume, nationwide. And the origin story is almost too strange to believe. In the 1870s, a German immigrant invented a method for pressing oil out of cottonseed, which until then was just a waste byproduct of the cotton industry. Procter &amp; Gamble, the soap company, bought the process because it was looking for a cheaper alternative to the fats used in soapmaking. But the oil itself was, in Steven&#8217;s words, “kind of gross … foamy and smelled weird,” so it got shelved. Eventually someone figured out how to process it into a solid fat that resembled lard or butter at room temperature, and somebody at Procter &amp; Gamble had the idea to sell it as a cooking fat instead of soap. That product became Crisco, marketed in the early 20th century as clean, modern, and “enlightened” at a moment when people actually associated processed and chemical food with progress rather than danger. Liquid seed oils got a second life during World War II as machinery lubricant. When the war ended, the seed-oil producers were sitting on a mountain of surplus supply, and that&#8217;s when they started selling it as food.
What&#8217;s almost more disturbing than the ingredient itself is how it stayed unquestioned for so long. Steven pointed out that billions of dollars of industry-funded research over the past several decades have gone into cementing the idea that seed oils are good for you. Studies get funded on whatever someone has a financial interest in proving. Nobody is spending serious money studying whether kombucha is good for you, he noted, not because kombucha is bad, but because nobody profits from that research. The same imbalance applies here, at a much larger scale, and it should make you a little more skeptical of the “settled science” you see stamped on a cereal box.
Naturally, I asked Steven whether it&#8217;s actually possible to feed this many people without relying on cheap, unhealthy ingredients. His answer surprised me: Current farming isn&#8217;t even optimized for total calories per acre, let alone nutritious calories per acre. It&#8217;s optimized for profit per farm, which is a completely different calculation. Regenerative farming, which rotates cattle and pasture and lets animals shape the land and cycle nutrients back into it instead of leaning on pesticides, can produce more healthy calories per acre than conventional monoculture. “It is relatively easy to conceive of a structure of managing farmland that could produce even more food than we&#8217;re currently producing. It would be healthier,” Steven said. “It just might not be as cheap or maybe not as profitable.”
So what do you actually do with all of this? Steven&#8217;s advice is refreshingly simple. Avoid seed oils and high-fructose corn syrup. “If you just avoid those two things, like 90% of the things that are bad for you will automatically, by default, get kicked out,” he said. His broader rule of thumb: If you can&#8217;t imagine an ingredient sitting in your great-grandmother&#8217;s cupboard, don&#8217;t eat it. You don&#8217;t need to know what maltodextrin or carrageenan actually is. You just need to know your great-grandmother didn&#8217;t either.
And on the cost question, because there&#8217;s always a cost question, Steven reframed it in a way I haven&#8217;t stopped thinking about. Most Americans now spend only about 10% of their money on food, a fraction of what our ancestors did. So increasing your food budget by 50% might raise your total household spending by only about 5%. At a certain point, you have to ask yourself what you actually want, and what you&#8217;re willing to trade for it. The answer to our modern health problems will not be found in convenience. It takes some sacrifice, and sometimes some money; what we have collectively been willing to sacrifice at the altar of convenience and cost is, intentionally or not, our own health, our futures, and our most valuable resource: our limited time here.
The good news is that the shift is already underway, and not just in my own kitchen. Thanks in large part to the moms of the movement, major grocery chains such as Target are banning certain food dyes. Fast-food chains are advertising that they cook with tallow. Hershey&#8217;s has pledged to go back to using real chocolate. This isn&#8217;t a fringe, overprotective-parents movement anymore. It&#8217;s becoming mainstream, and if brands want to keep their customers, they&#8217;re going to have to get with the times.
I feel this shift in my own life, too. Eating foods that were completely normal for me just a few years ago genuinely tastes bad to me now. Same with my husband. It felt like a long process of rewiring our brains, but once you actually know and care what you&#8217;re eating, you stop being a passive consumer of whatever&#8217;s on the shelf or in the commercial in front of you. I look at supermarket shelves in a completely different light now, and it forces me to get creative with the whole foods that are actually available. It&#8217;s less convenient, yes, but it&#8217;s entirely possible. It may feel like an antiquated idea in 2026, but we can even grow some of our own food for close to free, on a balcony or in a backyard.
This is our health we&#8217;re talking about. How can we call ourselves a strong nation if we&#8217;re this sick? It&#8217;s not normal, and we need to stop pretending it is. We need to look for small ways to cut the excuses and take back control of our health in the most natural ways possible. Start by getting out of the rat race. Stop feeling like a drugged-up lab rat, and instead lean back into the traditions of our ancestors, for the sake of our health, our longevity, and our overall well-being. It&#8217;s worth it.
***
This article is part of <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/topic/upstream" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Upstream</a>, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

Getty Images

America’s Food System Turned Us Into Lab Rats. Here’s How It Happened.

MAHA

Reagan Conrad

Seed Oils

The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) on Wednesday directed every state Medicaid program to begin phasing out the use of mercury-containing dental fillings, The Daily Wire has learned.
CMS, which is part of the Robert F. Kennedy Jr.-led Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), told state Medicaid directors to restrict or end Medicaid coverage for “dental amalgams,&#8221; fillings which are roughly 50% mercury. According to HHS, the material poses health and environmental risks.
State Medicaid directors were told to &#8220;end the use of mercury-containing dental amalgam in its facilities by 2027.” The notification added, “This reflects growing environmental and health concerns regarding mercury exposure, along with global efforts to reduce the use of mercury-containing materials.&#8221;
“Mercury has no place in the mouths of our children or in modern American health care,” RFK said in a statement sent to The Daily Wire. “For decades, we have relied on a material that contains one of the world’s most toxic heavy metals when safe, effective mercury-free alternatives are widely available.&#8221;
&#8220;The Make America Healthy Again agenda means confronting outdated practices that needlessly expose Americans to toxic substances,&#8221; Kennedy added. &#8220;Taxpayer dollars should support the safest care available — not yesterday&#8217;s materials. It’s time to turn the page on dental amalgam and help every state move toward safer, mercury-free care.”
HHS says mercury exposure from dental amalgam may pose elevated health risks to vulnerable people, including pregnant women and their babies, women trying to become pregnant, children under six years old, and people with neurological diseases or impaired kidney function.
CMS Administrator Dr. Mehmet Oz similarly said the move is fully in line with the MAHA agenda.
“Americans should feel confident that the health care they receive is always working in their best interest,” Dr. Oz said. “That’s why we&#8217;re urging state Medicaid programs to end the use of mercury-containing dental fillings. This is a straightforward and meaningful step that reflects our shared commitment to safe, higher quality care for all Americans and supports the Trump Administration&#8217;s broader goal to Make America Healthy Again.”
Since President Trump returned to office, HHS has made reducing exposure to chemicals and other potentially harmful substances a centerpiece of the MAHA agenda, including efforts targeting food dyes, additives, school nutrition, and infant formula standards.
Related: <a href="https://www.dailywire.com/news/rfk-punishes-blue-states-for-rampant-fraud-concerns?trueLinkId=P%2FGps7vsLowr2pwr%2F2JS%2FgoZjrOloijVv93ikqdGim%2FhUXfTjo2HE3PY%2BkaLCUuL97Ef79SmBP%2FsNypb6Pxq5g%3D%3D&amp;trueLinkTs=1782820892&amp;trueLinkExpiry=43200">RFK Punishes Blue States For Rampant Fraud Concerns</a>

GettyImages-2258942424

EXCLUSIVE: Dr. Oz, RFK Take Action On Mercury In Your Dental Fillings

EXCLUSIVE: CMS Directs States To Stop Use Of Mercury For Dental Practices 

Dentist

Medicaid

Mehmet Oz

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

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