#837 – The Health and Happiness of Living in Latin America

Automatically transcribed from the original recording; names and wording may contain errors.

[00:00] South of the border down Mexico way That's where I fell in love when the stars above came out to play and now as I wonder Hello there all you ex-pat wannabes. I'm Johnny Mueller and you're listening to the expat files living in Latin America The show that tells you just what it's like to live work play and or retire down here in Latin America It's a mix of the good the bad the ugly and the great and it's all right here. So let's get started You know, it's really true that every gringo an ex-pat that comes down to Latin America Not just for a short visit here and there but for a long period of time They realize when they do pop back to the states or have visitors come down who are living up in the states

[00:46] It seems we're always in much better physical and mental shape than the people we left back home up in the first world up in The states in Canada. I see it happen all the time Gringo's living down here a while people come down to visit and they say wow Do you look great and they're not just saying it out of kindness. Believe me. They're saying out of envy It's not like we're bringing it up or thinking about it all the time We don't but man does it hit you like a sledgehammer when you run into visiting tourist Americans around your own age I'm talking about Americans who haven't had the advantage of living in Latin America for an extended period of time And as for me, I'm always reminded of the fact that my two brothers up in the states who are both younger than me They're in pretty bad shape one of them with heart stents in his 40s and the other with depression chronic arthritis

[01:34] High blood pressure screwed up cholesterol The usual when an American guy hits around 50 and also he's way on the high end of the bell curve That is he's at least a standard deviation above the five at 50 rule You know what that is right the five at 50 rule something that US doctors know they won't tell you about at least not to your face But it means that once the average American reaches 50 years old He's on the average of five prescription medications Thus five at 50 isn't that sad and of course as you get older the numbers escalate not linearly But log rhythmically, which is a very revolt and development now in my case or the case of my family whenever I connect back with Whether on the internet Skype, whatever it never fails eventually Complaints about the state of their health slip into the conversation and when you run into someone, you know

[02:24] Or you first come up there or say hey, how you doing, or if you happen to be in Canada. It's the reverse How you doing? Hey Well that used to be just a greeting kind of a rhetorical question except these days people will actually tell you the truth Which is sometimes hard to listen to you know that they're feeling like crap or this and that is wrong especially when you talk to someone who's in the over 50 crowd and These days even first world people in their 40s are starting to pile up on the prescription meds But anyway as a rule when you come down here to Latin America get that plan be going stay down for an extended period Of time you realize that the longer you're down the skinnier and healthier you get in fact after all the years I've been down and all the people have known and met I don't think I've talked to a single one who's actually gained weight while living here

[03:12] Even people who didn't give up allow their own bad habits like fast food joints and there's a million of them down here even so We've got these gigantic produce markets where things are dirt cheap So you can eat healthy fresh stuff grown locally on the cheap on the real cheap And as you'll find out once you get down here, you'll walk a lot more Plus if like me happen to live in the Alti Plano where it's spring like weather all year round You might be at four five six seven thousand feet above sea level where it's a proven fact that the oxygen is slightly thinner So your body has to work a bit harder to keep it at homeostasis That means in the Alti Plano you burn slightly more calories every day than you would at sea level or at low elevations So it doesn't take much time before you notice you drop five ten even fifteen pounds without changing much of anything

[04:00] So losing weight in the Alti Plano is kind of automatic Oh and you'll lose weight too if you decide to live by the beach or at lower elevations That is if you've got the willpower not to drink a 12-pack of Coke or beer a day Because if you're an active person and you're not sitting in AC all day, you'll be hot and sweaty most of the time But to me and most other people on the planet sweating is not quite the most comfortable way to lose weight That's why when people stumble on to the Alti Plano, they almost never want to leave So as it turns out most gringles and expats who've been down here a long time don't realize What real positive effects it has on your health and how in contrast Americans and most people up in the first world are falling apart However, it's in our faces when we meet an American that comes down from the States just for a visit or a relative that comes

[04:51] Down to see how we're doing Especially when it's a friend or relative around our own age the irony is they're coming down to see how well we're holding up Under the strain of Latin America, and they're the ones that are on all the meds and who are falling apart I'll tell you it's depressing in my own case to know that my two younger brothers one 11 and one four years younger than I am They're just falling apart worse yet They were super active in sports and now they're just remnants of their former selves worse yet between them They're on something like 20 prescription medications and me Johnny the older brother Who was warned by the whole family some 28 years ago that it would be a big mistake To abandon the good old us of a for a third world Latin country Well when I first arrived down here, I was suffering the effects of the US treadmill. I had high blood pressure

[05:41] Arthritis in my left knee. I was told by a neurologist that I would need to have carpal tunnel surgery on my right wrist And I had been getting migraine headaches for years at least once a week Well, it didn't take long not in the greater scheme of things Anyway for the secondary effects of living in Latin America to kick in and I didn't realize what's gonna happen But after about a year or so my blood pressure returned to normal that nervous tingling in my right wrist sign of carpal tunnel Problems that went away best of all no more arthritis in the left knee now how'd that happen? I certainly wasn't anticipating any of that. What a bonus, huh? And those migraine headaches Well, I've been getting those since I was 12. They never went away completely Guess I'm kind of stuck with that and they can be nasty

[06:28] So my health got better and it wasn't even part of the plan and believe me 28 years ago No one was talking about the positive health effects of moving to Latin America In fact back then all my friends and family were saying it would be bad for my health in a different sense though in the way of kidnappings assaults murders and Montezuma's revenge But you know on the subject of getting old and feeling old before your time What really gets me is when I see recording artists and famous people from the 80s and 90s and such Showing up in the news as physical basket cases and just falling apart themselves I mean look those are the guys that wrote sang and played the soundtracks to our younger lives For example, it really sad me when I heard that Eddie Van Halen had a hip replacement and cancer of the tongue

[07:16] They removed three-quarters of it too bad. That couldn't have happened to David Lee Roth, huh? Then you've got Steve Perry the voice of journey. I mean everybody knows that voice, right? He's had a hip replacement and he survived cancer Twice then there's Lionel Richie. He's had a hip replacement though. I don't really give a rat's ass about his music He's kind of like the blackberry Manlo speaking of Barry Manlo, you know back in the rock and roll days We used to call him barely manly Wonder if he could sue me for that. Well, you can sue for anything these days, right? Then get this Steve Carroll You know the guy from the office and the 40 year old virgin. He's had a hip replacement And did you know Arnold Schwarzenegger? He's had a hip replacement too

[08:03] Maybe he'll be back for another talk about shades of Terminator, huh? And how about this you've got Steve Tyler of Aerosmith a knee replacement He's going in shortly to get the other one done then you've got the piano man Billy Joel hip replacement Man, if hearing about that stuff doesn't make you feel old, especially when you're older than some of those guys For example, you got this guy Luke Perry who just stroked out at 51 course, you know being in the entertainment biz You could say they abuse themselves quite a lot and they do but you know One of my college friends from up in the States is an orthopod an orthopedic surgeon And he says when you read about someone like Steven Tyler or Eddie Van Halen Celebrity joint replacements and all that, you know, that's a major surgery for something like that You're in the operating room for hours

[08:49] And if you don't think that's major surgery next time you're at the beach Just have a look at some of those gigantic scars and what those things really look like after they've healed Anyway, my orthopod buddy up in the States He estimates there are five times as many celebrities who've had that stuff done But it's done in secret and let's face it if Woody Allen had a hip replacement that wouldn't break anyone's heart But if Tom Selleck or George Clooney had one man A lot of women would be more than slightly disappointed Don't you think which brings us roundabout to the subject of alternative medicine here in Latin America, man Do I get emails on that subject? That's why when I do my expat insider seminars We do a little section on just that subject because you know, so-called experimental treatments and even some non-experimental

[09:38] But proven treatments are not allowed up in the United States Because you know if big insurance companies and big pharma can't make money off it Meaning they can't patent it or get you on a drug that you have to take forever You'll find many cases where drug companies can and do pressure the FDA to keep those treatments off the market So it's the drug companies that don't want holistic or natural medicine alternatives around that kind of stuff interferes with their bottom line And if you don't believe big pharma's got that all tied up Did you know that big pharma is the fourth biggest spender when it comes to lobbying Congress and the number one? Corporate spender the only groups that spend more on lobbying are the US Chamber of Commerce The National Association of Realtors and the business roundtable what what's that all about?

[10:25] I think it needs to be investigated. Anyway, those are groups and organizations that don't actually produce a product So big pharma is the number one spender for lobbying Congress for a group that actually produces a product for sale That's why some procedures and practices are done here in latin america ones that aren't allowed or aren't sanctioned by the FDA up in the states And as long as the FDA and big pharma can continuously call something experimental A person in need may have to jump through many hoops to get the treatment And believe me when the average american even the above average american hear the words experimental treatment They're thinking man. I don't want to beat no guinea pig That might make it worse or even kill me just give me those pills with the good old FDA seal of approval

[11:11] Even if they cost me 500 bucks a month hell, I got insurance. They'll pay for part of it or most of it So it's not to say that here in latin america anything goes unless of course you're out in the boonies and maybe anything does go But as it turns out a lot of extremely legit American and european doctors that is extremely well published scientists docs and researchers have set up alternative medicine clinics Here in latin america and we know there is always some kind of a stigma attached to that when you hear about alternative clinics In tijuana or panama, whatever the average american even the above average american is thinking man Something's wrong here. Must be quacks or rip-off artists. You're thinking I heard they do weird stuff You know snake venom treatments injecting sheep fetuses into people's eyeballs

[12:00] Hey, didn't frank sinatra have that done in tijuana and look where it got old blue ice or I should say old snake eyes Yep, yeah, ask the average american and normally he's thinking i've heard about those alternative medicine clinics in latin america Taking advantage of people in the final stages of life and all that But what you'll find out if you really look into the situation is that a lot of highly regarded docs and specialists up in the states Have clinics in latin america too. Yep. That's right They can be affiliated with some of the best hospitals and clinics up where you live in cleveland and chicago And have a clinic in panama city or tijuana too Where they're allowed to do procedures and treatments that they know work but have not yet received fda approval up in the states

[12:48] Sure, there are alternative medicine clinics here in latin america that are iffy They're staffed by doctors that aren't well known haven't published or published in the english journals, etc So you have to do your homework. It's buy or beware But there are some clinics that are doing treatments and procedures that turn out to be absolutely amazing for the patient run by doctors and researchers who publish their studies worldwide We're talking about the highest level most prestigious scientific publications, too Like the new england journal of medicine science nature the lancet, etc Well as it turns out they usually do all their studies experiments and tests up in the states And of course people do get in on those special treatments and trials But the numbers are small. There's just a few

[13:34] So if you think you're a candidate you have to apply for the treatment and just might not get selected However, sometimes you'll find you can get the treatment south to the border In other words if you've got chronic arthritis And you'd be perfect for a particular treatment in trials or that you've been reading about you still might not qualify And even if you qualify it's considered an experiment So there will be no insurance coverage and in the tests They'll only select a very small sample and you just might be in the control group You got a 50 50 chance, you know, so in a trial half of the people don't get the efficacious drug at all They get the placebo and that you won't find out till much later Sometimes years later depending on the follow-up now, you know these days there are lots of breakthrough treatments

[14:20] You read about them all the time Sometimes your doctor knows about them, but you can't get them in the states because they're experimental And sometimes your clueless doctor will even tell you that what you're reading about is a long shot or ineffective or doesn't work at all It's a scam because you know, some doctors believe all the Fda shovels because he too is at the mercy of big pharma who have control of the fda and the american medical association Including many of the research publications too Then you've got those big pharma reps who show up at the office practically every day with freebies expensive gifts trips to maui Etc. So the drug companies weren't control all this would rather get you hooked for life on some expensive medicine It's their goal really that's why a lot of brilliant and courageous us doctors have set up clinics here in latin america

[15:12] And yes, of course They take the heat and the criticism from people up in the states like for example my own mother Who's had her hip replaced and she belongs to what I call the widows club and they've all had their hips replaced too Yep, she belongs to a small group of little old ladies who travel around the world on their dead husbands insurance dough Isn't it funny all the guys are dead and all the women have hip and knee replacements You've heard me say this before i've never once ran into a latin american person who's had a hip or a joint replacement You only see that least I only see that with gringos and expats who come down And sure with all the first world hospitals and clinics here, they offer such a service But they're just tired a whole lot of joint replacements going on. I'll tell you it's nothing like up in the states

[15:57] And you know It's looking more and more like it's exercise and diet related because you see so many old-timers down here in their 80s and 90s Just hacking away at the brush with their machete's meanwhile up in the states What do you see 80 and 90 year old persons hacking away at they're in wheelchairs or ambling a bit in their walkers and just basically hacking Yep hacking in a sputum sense of the word. Ew So anyway i've come across a lot of alternative clinics and doctors here in latin america And what's big now, of course in the first world anyway is stem cell treatments called cellulose madres here in latin america Literally translated mother cells. So then you might be thinking well They've got stem cell clinics and treatments up in the states So you'd think the only reason to go to latin america for such a treatment would be to save a buck, right?

[16:46] Well, not so fast It's more complicated than that. You see the type of so-called approved stem cell treatments in the states involve using a person's own bone marrow cells Yep, they've got clinics here in latin america that do that stuff every day and the cost well You might have heard me in a previous show mention that it's around $4,000 for a series of treatments and I hear up in the states. It's something like 4,000 bucks a treatment So yes, you go to any private doctor hospital or clinic here and talk about stem cells and they'll refer you to someone But here's what you didn't know. There's a kind of a stem cell treatment developed up in the states. Of course That's considered experimental where they use stem cells from a mother's placenta still Not approved by the fba and considered experimental treatment up in the states

[17:31] Well, guess what? These clinics are now popping up down here in latin america And one of the most famous is in panama and you guessed it or maybe you didn't it's run by a team of brilliant american researchers doctors and microbiologists who've perfected the treatment up in the states But can't get it approved up there why well told you that already But isn't it funny once you're done with the treatment generally you're not hooked on any pharmaceuticals at all Now this particular stem cell treatment center in panama has a website in english because it's run by gringo doctors And it's connected with and affiliated with a stem cell research center and hospital up in the states That only does the bone marrow stuff but in latin america They do the placental cells and the treatments have proven absolutely amazing For example for people who are in heart transplant lists

[18:20] After the treatment the injections most all of them have improved so much. They come off the transplant list They're using it to cure ms arthritis and on and on now I especially think you'd be very interested if you're on a list to get a joint replacement Or have any kind of heart trouble just a disclaimer here i've got nothing to do with this clinic or any other ones Except to say I have a degree in biomedical engineering So I know a bit about this stuff So for all you wannabes and gunabes who've been sending me emails about alternative treatments such as this and others Send me an email the expat files at gmail.com And i'll send you a link to their site It's in english and i'll send you a link to a youtube video that you just will not believe I don't want to give the punch line away here, but when you see it, you will be amazed and impressed

[19:07] Believe me, there's nothing dry and boring about this youtube either So again, just send me an email the expat files at gmail.com. Oh, and by the way about my two brothers Very recently i've been in contact with this clinic because both of my brothers are perfect candidates yet My super bright mother who's got more degrees than a thermometer. She said to one of my brothers. I wouldn't do it It's not approved by the fda I said ma, I know you read that book why bad things happen to good people. Well, there's another book you should read It's called why smart people do stupid things No said about that All right Now comes this email from a retired psychiatrist listener Been living his plan b for three and a half years now in panama. This comes from dr Colony says johnny. I think I know why latin americans are so happy compared to their us citizen counterparts

[19:59] And to us it doesn't make much sense unless you live here and observe it Then he says latin americans are broke and can never hope to afford everything they see on tv That should make them sad and a bit depressed on a certain level That's a part of why so many americans get into deep debt and that in turn puts them into a cycle of depression Yes, they get the instant gratification of buying the newest iphone But the heavy price of having to pay back those debts monthly produces a kind of a futility and depression Another part of the depressive cycle with people up in the united states is that many of them feel like failures or Robots on the job because they know if they work for a company Most times they can never really advance as opposed to latin american adults who don't feel like failures or robots

[20:47] Even when they have the crappiest of jobs They are just happy to have a job to have steady work It's a throwback to the situation in the united states in the 1960s like my own father He got up very early and came home late every day tired and hungry with ground in dirt on his calloused hands and grease under his fingernail But never depressed or defeated just tired That seems to parallel the state of the latin american mail right now. They work hard They come home late tired and hungry, but never depressed or feeling defeated There just doesn't seem to be a sense of personal defeat. No matter how hard life is How dirty or gritty or repetitive the jobs they have? Meanwhile up in the united states if you ask the average person if he likes his job 80 will say not really it's

[21:35] Boring with little chance of advancement. You see johnny Americans have been told over and over again that there must be meaning and purpose in their jobs However, for most it's a false hope That's just not the reality of life and it's always been like that But with all those self-help books dr. Phil oprah life coach gurus and sociologists That's why 80 percent of working americans are on the road to prozac and me after dealing with psychiatric patients for 40 years or so It always amazes me that latin americans never complain about their jobs No matter how boring repetitive or grueling the task might be and i'm the curious type So i've asked quite a few the takeaway message johnny Americans could learn a lot about depression by just having a good look at how latin americans handle life

[22:26] Physically their days are quite a bit more difficult than ours Just try to think what life would be like without a washing machine in your home 50 of latin homes don't have one, you know Signed dr. Collin. All right. Thanks for that. Dr. Collin He's in panama city. I wonder if he knows about that particular stem cell clinic Probably not and now another email this one comes from mr. B You know, he's a resident expert on how to make money teaching english online In fact for my last few seminars, he's been giving a little stand-up performance showing seminar attendees exactly how they could do it, too So let me read this for you. It just came in It's an update. He says johnny. I've just received the raise from both of the online english teaching companies. I work for

[23:14] I've worked for one company for a year now and they just gave me a dollar 40 an hour us raise Now the bad thing is most of the online teaching companies took away some of the bonuses you get But I was never really good at making those bonuses. Anyway, I do prefer the raise That puts my hourly rate to $19.40 us that's 1940 an hour. All right, meet johnny here again, you know 1940 an hour is pretty good in the states, right? But here in latin america, especially in his case because he's receiving the pay from a chinese company He pays zero taxes on that legally because if you're a u.s Citizen living as a resident in a foreign country for more than one year you pay no taxes at all on approximately the first

[24:03] 105 thousand dollars you earn from a foreign source Of course if you're living outside the usn receive your money Coming from a company in the us or from rents or whatever you have to pay taxes But if your income is from another country you pay no taxes up to 105 thousand dollars a year But you knew that already, right then mr B says the second online teaching english company I work for Raised everybody's minimum wage from 0.8. Yuan per minute to 1.5. Yuan per minute that made it go from seven bucks an hour to $13 us an hour. So I get $13 an hour just to talk on the phone That's not to teach english, but just to help improve client's conversational skills. Isn't that great?

[24:51] I get 13 bucks an hour just to talk on the phone Then he says i'm well into the process of becoming a permanent resident in guadamala and me and my family are excited about that By the way, he's living down in guadamala city with his wife and two kids Then he says you know what johnny This life my new life all started when I came across your podcast. This led me to a phone consult with you Which led me to the expat concierge service ladies, and then I moved here This johnny was my best decision ever if you recall johnny I came down without a job and it sucked trying to get one. I remember thinking Teaching online is not for me. I have broken english to begin with

[25:36] You know, I was desperate. I had to try something or move back to the us I didn't want to fail again like I did when we moved to panama All right me johnny again. If you remember mr Story he went down with his family to panama first that was before coming across my podcast and just couldn't make a go of it There no context no job and just too expensive there he said then he says but now I started this teaching english online job making really good money Relatively speaking for latin america and a year later i'm making even better money Not bad. He said for a kid with just a high school diploma coming from the ghetto Then he says even without all of those bonuses 19 bucks an hour plus a few bonuses here and there really kicks especially here in guatemala

[26:23] So for introducing me to all of this my family, thanks you and all you do johnny Looking forward to being part of your next seminar if you'll have me speak again. Mr. B and family All right, mr. B. Thanks for that. Of course, you'll get to do your stand-up spot at my next seminar So there you have it for everyone Who's in such doubt that they won't be able to make any money to survive down here Think about people like mr B who came down without a job and now have a nice little success story going for themselves and they can teach you exactly How to do it too. Oh, and you know, what's cool about teaching english online besides the fact you get to stay home It really takes almost no investment no money in except he had to buy some forty dollar headphones How about decent computer and internet speed and that's about it

[27:10] Meanwhile you get these pop-up windows and you hear about people buying these get rich on the internet programs packages and schemes I get those ads all the time too Don't you and i'm not convinced most of them cost from a couple hundred to a couple thousand bucks And it takes a lot of time and effort and perseverance to slog through of course Nothing's a sure thing. But mr. B has come pretty close You've been listening to the expat files living in latin. America If you need some help with your own plan b you can schedule a one-on-one phone call with me But first download my free plan b questionnaire at www.thenewexpat.com Better yet if you want to get your plan b going from right up there in the states Just sign up for my nine hour expat essentials course Get the perfect plan b blueprint by going to the expat files.com slash academy most famous