The good energy philosophy of Trump’s Surgeon General

Casey Means, President Trump’s nominee to become the next Surgeon General of the United States, describes herself on her stylish website as a “medical doctor, writer, tech entrepreneur, and aspiring regenerative gardener who lives in a state of awe for the miracle of existence and consciousness.” Big points to you if you had that on your Second Trump Era Bingo card, but it really shouldn’t be a surprise if you were paying attention during the campaign.

Dr. Means is a close friend and ally of Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and gave a series of extraordinary interviews during the campaign, most notably with Joe Rogan and Tucker Carlson, where she talked about the “chronic disease epidemic” in America, particularly among children.

Means, who is 37, graduated from the Stanford University School of Medicine, but dropped out of a surgical residency in Oregon seven years ago to establish a Portland practice in “functional medicine.” Her medical license has been inactive since 2024. In other words, the new Surgeon General, if confirmed, won’t be an actual practicing medical doctor. She does, however, run a company that sells glucose monitors.

By discarding his previous nominee for Means, Trump has made yet another eccentric choice, the most MAHA pick for Surgeon General imaginable. She is a fervent critic of the for-profit medicine and the pharmaceutical industries, and believes that we can trace the poor state of American health back to “metabolic dysfunction and a sedentary lifestyle.” No one who’s been paying attention to MAHA should be surprised about her stance on vaccines. She doesn’t consider herself an anti-vaxxer, but has spoken out against “vaccine injuries.” And there’s also quite a bit of talk about microplastics and the infertility crisis.

But as Surgeon General, that’s not really Means’s lane. She would essentially be America’s General Practitioner, the first line of defense. To get a better sense of her philosophy, I subscribed to her free weekly “Good Energy” newsletter, which came along with two free PDFs. The first is called “How To Know If Your Cells Are Making Good Energy.” In this, she says that all people should take six basic tests to measure: Trigylceride levels, HDL cholesterol, fasting glucose and hemoglobin, blood pressure, waist circumference, and a ratio of triglycerides to HDL to better understand insulin sensitivity. This will help you determine your risk of developing chronic heart disease, type 2 diabetes, or other serious conditions.

Fewer than seven percent of Americans will get a fully healthy panel from these tests, she says. Many doctors offer them, though she offers a coupon for a comprehensive set of them for $99 from her company, Levels. Quite a deal.

The second document is Means’s “Ultimate Food List.” “Eat as much real, unprocessed food from healthy, thriving soil as you can,” she says. “Your life will transform for the better and your problems will melt away!” The only things that you must never eat are sugar, refined grains and seed oils. She recommends a diet of healthy fats, vegetables, fruits and organic proteins, including dairy and cheese. Processed foods are generally verboten, though she does recommend a number of expensive boutique brands that cost a small fortune at Whole Foods.

Let’s be clear: Means is kind of a kooky West Coast lifestyle influencer. But her general health advice is good. If you follow her diet, exercise, and sleep program, your chances of being healthy will go up significantly. This is a welcome change from Trump’s first term, with its photos of the President standing in front of a vast McDonald’s buffet. And the dreary Biden Years, with the sinister Dr. Fauci covering up his role in unleashing a deadly plague upon the world, the transgender Naval official Dr. Rachel Levine, who parlayed a tragic Pennsylvania nursing-home COVID outbreak into an assistant secretary job at HHS, and a Surgeon General, Dr. Jerome Adams, who backed dubious pandemic health measures like school closures, lockdowns and social distancing. If that’s mainstream medicine, then bring on the alternative.

The major flaw in the Dr. Casey equation is that it’s extremely bourgeois. Michelle Obama tried to convey a similar message during her husband’s presidency. She focused her attention on getting kids to exercise, planting a vegetable garden and trying to give poor urban and rural people in “food deserts” more access to cheap, healthy food.

Dr. Casey, on the other hand, provides shopping links to Naiterra organic freeze-dried fruit snacks, which sell for $4.40 an ounce and Organic Valley String Cheese, which is $14 a pack. Those are fine products, but in a world where people eat Doritos and consume Monster Energy drinks for breakfast, how in the world is the Surgeon General going to push Nuttzo Organic Nut Butter on them? Casey Means doesn’t appear on her website in a lab coat. She’s wearing a sundress and shopping at the farmer’s market. That’s an aspirational, attainable lifestyle for some. For most people, it’s about as realistic as emulating what Gwyneth Paltrow does with Goop.

That said, she clearly does care about the national health, which seems to be a prerequisite for the job of Surgeon General. And in a country plagued by rampant obesity, heart disease, and diabetes, even among children, maybe we need something a little off-kilter. She has a chance, if confirmed, to be the most significant Surgeon General since C. Everett Koop fought big tobacco and broke ranks with the Reagan Administration to mail information on the AIDS epidemic to every American household. This generation faces different health crises, but ones that are just as serious.

Means also has a chance to be the most entertaining Surgeon General of all time. In a tweet that made the rounds yesterday, someone pointed out Means’s strategies for “finding love” at age 35, which was just a couple of years ago. These included, “I set up a small meditation shrine in my house and prayed to photos of my ancestors asking for support in my personal journey;” “I did full moon ceremonies with grounded, powerful women where we called in abundance;” “I hiked along and talked (literally out loud) to the trees;” “I made wishes on heads-up pennies;” “I did plant medicine experiences with trusted guides.”

That sounds like half the women I know, including my wife, and some of the men I know as well. Frankly, they’re all pretty healthy. And they definitely all have Good Energy. Maybe somewhere between the Big Mac and the Organic Valley lies a healthy America where Dr. Casey Means can help us all live in metabolic peace.