Why All The Moms Are Suddenly Going ‘Crunchy’

The Make America Healthy Again movement is in and out of headlines every week, and women are reacting to every win. Conservative and liberal women alike have found something to rally behind with the MAHA momentum. It seems like all the ladies, especially moms, have decided to ditch food dyes, embrace natural fibers, and question vaccines. But why? 

The surface statistics tell one story: Women are the primary shoppers in 78.2% of households, giving them a front-row view of the decisions involving food, personal care, cleaning products, and the many other daily choices the MAHA movement affects. And moms are often the ones attending pediatrician appointments, planning lunches, and managing their children’s health habits. Women are seeing ingredient lists, hearing health claims, listening to vaccine schedule recommendations, and wading through mixed marketing messages.

But these daily decisions only show part of the picture, and the medical stats and stories reveal just how fed up many women are with the health system in America.

Women are four times as likely to develop an autoimmune disease as men. This results in 70-80% of people with autoimmune diseases being female. Possible reasons for this percentage divide include genetics, female chromosomes, hormones, and the female reproductive system, but the bottom line is that more women suffer from the growing autoimmune disease epidemic than men. In fact, rates of autoimmune disease (not just detection of the conditions) have been rising since at least the late ’80s.

And yet, even obtaining an official autoimmune diagnosis can take years and typically requires seeing multiple doctors over that time period. All the while, a real woman — not just a number in a medical coding system — can be suffering daily with pain, physical impairment, and even cognitive symptoms. Not to mention the mental stress of navigating the diagnosis process. 

There’s even evidence to suggest that women wait longer for diagnoses more generally — as compared to men. And some studies suggest that women are also more likely to be misdiagnosed than men. While much of the language surrounding these statistics is often focused on gender bias as a bogeyman, it doesn’t change the reality women face.

Many women in my own life have gone to their doctors about a medical concern or recurring pain, only to be told their symptoms are “normal” or “nothing to worry about.” Certainly, men can also experience the same issues, but many of the women I’ve personally known who have been frustrated with the medical system are facing complex reproductive or hormonal challenges that go ignored, get dismissed, or begin an uphill battle through the years-long diagnosis process.

Indeed, the female reproductive system is so complex that there are entire fields of medicine dedicated to pregnancy and female anatomy, bundled together into the “OB/GYN” moniker. And the female biological clock ticks much faster than the male biological clock, making fertility and any health concerns an urgent issue for any woman facing reproductive struggles or simply in her reproductive years. 

For example, endometriosis — growth of uterine tissue outside the uterus that can cause painful side effects, fertility problems, and a host of whole-body symptoms — takes an average of 10 years from first symptom onset to official diagnosis for American women. And yet, this is an inflammatory condition that affects 10% of women in their reproductive years. Beyond infertility and more extreme effects, symptoms can include severe menstrual cramps, heavy bleeding, or bloating — all of which can be dismissed as “normal” period symptoms. Similarly, polycystic ovarian syndrome (PCOS), a condition that affects anywhere from 4–20% of women, can have symptoms as varied as excess hair to skin tags to acne to infertility. And women often go through multiple doctors over the course of years to receive a diagnosis.

My own experience with the American health care system is no different than many women’s stories. I arrived at the emergency room as a teenager with abdominal pain so debilitating that I could barely walk. That morning, I’d gotten out of the shower and had to sit on the bathroom rug before gathering myself enough to stand up again. I then lay in bed for what could have been a few minutes or more than an hour before deciding with my parents that I needed to go to the hospital. I crawled down the hall and lay reclined in the car ride to the ER. There, after an ultrasound and when the pain subsided hours later, I left with a diagnosis of mere cramps. To this day, I haven’t received an official diagnosis. 

Certainly, I understand that diagnosing conditions that have lengthy and complicated symptom lists is not an easy undertaking. I know that doctors are not miracle workers who can easily cure any condition and that their time has many demands on it. But I also know that this is a system that is clearly broken. 

Whether caused by a lack of research, the complexities of the female hormonal system, dismissed symptoms, or sheer medical incompetence, the reality is that women have ample reason to be frustrated with the medical status quo. And finger-pointing at “gender bias” is little comfort to real people who are suffering without answers. 

As a result, the MAHA women are asking why the system seems so broken. Why are rates of autoimmune disease rising? Why is the solution to so many problems a prescription, especially to hormonal birth control? Why do many medical professionals seem to dismiss patient concerns? Why is there so much pressure to follow the vaccination schedule at pediatrician appointments? 

When none of these questions have easy answers — or solutions — the questions only get louder. Now, there’s a national movement that is addressing these concerns, and though there’s a long way to go, many women finally feel like their voices are heard.

***

Jordan Jantz is the assistant editor at IW Features as well as a freelance writer, editor, and website designer.

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.