In our last article, we explored the life and legacy of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson. This time, we'll delve into a synopsis of how we, as a society, let down the King of Rock 'n' Roll, Elvis Presley.
Elvis was a charismatic performer known for his charisma and energy on stage. However, his rockstar lifestyle was marked by intense touring schedules, lack of sleep and substance abuse. This took a significant toll on his mental health and body as a whole.
Elvis consumed a typical Standard American Diet consisting of foods like pizza, biscuits, cheeseburgers, and fried chicken. He washed his meals down with many sodas and It was reported that he consumed 10,000 to 12,000 calories a day. In his monologues during his shows, he spoke of his love for burgers and Pepsi. His girlfriend stated that he structured his entire life around food.
As Elvis got heavier, the criticism of his weight started to bother him. This caused him to try many things like weight loss pills, juicing and very low-calorie diets. Some of the extreme things he did include a jelly only diet made from black cherry soda and bananas and a 500 calories per day diet. He also exercised daily and was a very active individual. He played football, practiced martial arts and his energetic shows were practically a weighted cardio workout for him. However, none of these efforts proved effective in achieving and sustaining a healthy weight.
In the 1970s he attempted a medically induced coma on the advice of a Las Vegas Doctor. The goal of this was to forcefully stop himself from eating and lose weight. Elvis went through with this and ended up falling out of his hospital bed and waking himself up early. Elvis then realized this was too dangerous and decided not to go through with it again.
It really shouldn’t take a genius to figure out that forcing someone unconscious and administering copious amounts of sedatives into their blood is harmful. This doctor should have been imprisoned for helping Elvis go through with this. Doctors are supposed to be health experts and guide us in the right direction. This doctor did anything but that.
Elvis suffered from disordered eating habits. His peanut butter, banana and bacon sandwich was a staple for him and was made available in many restaurants worldwide after his death. The Standard American Diet (SAD) is a completely inappropriate diet for the human species. The lack of nutrients in plants/sugar and its inflammatory addictive nature will manifest problems in any human being.
Most of the pictures you see of Elvis online show a youthful lean charming Elvis. However, towards the latter part of his career, he ballooned in weight and frequently abused drugs. He used opioids to try and manage pain, powerful sedatives to sleep and stimulants to stay awake. In 1973 he was hospitalized for pethidine addiction and overdosed twice on barbiturates. He continued to earn significant amounts of money from his successful career yet he just couldn’t get a grip on his health.
He suffered a heart attack on August 16, 1977, weighing 350 pounds and was found with more than 10 drugs in his system. These include Codeine, Morphine, Butabartibal and countless more. His doctor wrote him prescriptions for over 10,000 doses of narcotics, amphetamines and sedatives in just his final year alive. He suffered from numerous complications as a result of his diet/drugs, including glaucoma, liver damage, and high blood pressure.
Elvis ultimately died because the food he was eating wasn’t making him happy and actually very unhealthy. He then turned to drugs for a solution until it ultimately killed him. He weighed 180 pounds more than just a mere decade before, dying at the young age of 42.
He tried exercise.
He tried extreme calorie restriction.
He tried various amounts of drugs.
None of this was able to offset his poor SAD diet.
We failed Elvis Presley.