A Vision for A Healthy American Future
“If a man has his health, he can have a thousand goals. If he doesn’t have his health, he only has one.” — Naval Ravikant
Dear Family, Friends, and Customers,
I’ve been thinking a lot about purpose lately. We have to have a purpose in order to thrive. For instance, I started Azure to connect organic growers with consumers that care about their food. We've carried that mission forward from day one and are still true to our vision today.
Now we have a greater mission, one that reaches beyond Azure and into the wider community: beginning a healthy food cultural shift across America.
I went to many conferences this past year, even some in Washington DC, which confirmed the importance of our mission. I interacted with many customers like you who are concerned about eating healthy, and many speakers and luminaries who are concerned about a health crisis across our nation. Even mainstream medical establishments are recognizing that America is in the midst of a health crisis. The statistics out there are alarming.
For instance, 54% of children under the age of eighteen have been diagnosed with some kind of chronic disease. Just fifty years ago, that percentage was only 5%. Post-World War II, the average American spent nearly 22% of their income on food. Today, the average American family spends about 9% of their income on food.
The cost of food has gone down substantially because of industrialized agriculture — factory farming has decreased the price of food. During that exact same time frame, the amount of money that the average American spends on medical care of all sorts, including insurance premiums, has gone up drastically.
The average American family post-World War II spent somewhere between 2-3% of their income on medical expenses. Today, it's 25%. There’s a direct correlation between the quality of the food and medical issues. A people that runs on inadequate nutrition and sleep deprivation and carries severe medical bills is completely unsustainable as a nation. I strongly believe that a lot of the divisions and the issues that in our nation today are due to poor physical and mental health — if we have good health, we will think more clearly as a nation. We can solve any problems that are before us if we have a healthy population.
The degradation of health combined with the money that has to be spent, shows how intense America's health has declined. Despite our extensive mainstream medical industry, our life expectancy has declined. The top life expectancy in the US peaked in the eighties. Now it's, it's been going down again — not drastically, but the quality of our lives has shifted from one of primarily healthiness to primarily sickness. We may be living longer, but we are certainly not living healthier lives.
Let's turn this trend around. We do not have to suffer and be a part of those statistics.
We do not have to have sick children. We do not have to spend more and more of our money on healthcare instead of nutritious whole food. Healthy food will mean less health issues, which means less money spent on medical bills.
I know this works because my family and I have lived it. Even raising eleven children, we did not have health insurance — we cured ailments at home, and the only time we went to the hospital was for a broken femur. I am convinced we can change the trajectory of the health of our nation by starting within our own families.
There is no paywall or entry fee to begin living abundantly and making our nation healthy again. Simply put, it starts with you and your actions. Know where your food comes from and what standards it is held to.
At Azure, we do this part for you — we actually ban more ingredients than the FDA. We have catalogs and a website full of advice, information and recipes to help you get started living abundantly. Tell your family and friends about the importance of taking care of your body and mind to live life to the fullest. Eating healthy food from healthy soil makes healthy bodies, which prevents us from being chronically ill. I want to do more and more to help support families with factual information and natural medicine and with the best healthy, regenerative food that’s available. Together we can encourage those around us to move from denatured food to whole foods.
With the new year ahead of us, let’s lock arms as a community and extend our hands to invite others to the adventure of living life in abundant health.
And little by little, we can change.
We can change our nation.
Sincerely, David