There is a TV ad on right now that shows fire coming from a man’s torso. Flames of indigestion consuming a overweight, normal-looking guy. He is the classic 30-something who has gained thirty pounds and can’t get rid of his heartburn. My husband (Sugarbad on this blog) knows that guy — it was him until a few months ago. Now, on a delicious low-carb diet (hey, we had coconut-flour waffles this morning!), he has lost 25 pounds and no longer has heartburn. “Its a miracle,” he says over my shoulder.

For years, he popped those little antacid tablets like they were going out of style. He always had a bottle on the bedside, and he would put maybe 5 into his pocket every time we went out. I stopped even thinking about it, it was so much a part of his daily habit. Now, suddenly — no antacid. No heartburn. No little round pastel candy antacids always sitting on the kitchen counter or falling out of his pockets before the clothes go into the wash. As he says, “Its a miracle!”

But be forewarned about heartburn: the moment he has a really carby meal, it all comes back. This is not some long-term phenomenon — it is immediate, unforgiving, and totally dependent on food. As long as he stays low carb, the indigestion disappears. The problem for most guys: they almost never have a low-carb meal, so like Sugarbad they think that the indigestion is inevitable.

This got us to thinking about the TV ads, the zillion of pills, the whole sections of the drugstore relegated to fixing this problem that carbs largely seem to create. We have over-the-counter and prescription versions. We spend tons of money and suffer the side-effects and still get heartburn.

Sugarbad and I had a mind-blowing moment: How many of the drug commercials on TV could be traced back to diseases or symptoms that are alleviated with a low carb diet? Ok, not birth control, but otherwise it was amazing how many fit. Insomnia medications, cholesterol-lowering drugs, heart medications, erectile dysfunction pills, the slew of heartburn remedies, and on and on.

Let’s count all the anti-depressants, anxiety and ADHD pills, too. And what about the illnesses that no one can figure out, like Leaky Gut, Irritable Bowl, Fibromyalgia, and Chronic Fatigue Syndrome? Could Restless Leg Syndrome have something to do with low-carb or a gluten intolerance that is helped on low-carb?

Wow, I haven’t even mentioned diabetes! Notice the amazing amount of blood-monitoring devices out there. Some come in pretty colors now, like the iMacs from 10 years ago. They are obviously aimed at a younger audience — a smart tactical move, considering that more and more young people now have diabetes than ever before.

I have probably missed a bunch. I think it would be enlightening to compile a table of the blockbuster drugs in the US and then figure out which of those would be largely unnecessary in a world where food was a priority. Imagine a rational world in which we bolster the quality of our food supply with some of that pile of money we now turn over to the drug companies.