Chronic disease includes heart disease, diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, dementia, autoimmune disease, cancer, stroke, high cholesterol, and chronic lung disease. According to the CDC, ninety percent of the nation’s 3.8 trillion in health care costs are due to chronic disease and mental illness. Six in ten Americans live with at least one chronic disease and four in ten Americans of two or more chronic diseases. Why the epidemic of chronic disease? Because treating chronic disease with drugs never gets to the root cause. In fact, study after study shows that chronic disease can be prevented by simple dietary and lifestyle changes such as healthy eating, eliminating smoking, exercise, and weight loss. Yet very little is done to prevent chronic disease in our society. In fact, our children are becoming predisposed to chronic diseases such as heart disease and diabetes at an early age because of their poor eating habits. Studies show that thirty percent of all thirty-year-olds already have heart disease, diabetes, and even dementia. The main store where this age group buys their food is 7-Eleven and ninety-five percent of the products in 7-Eleven are processed foods.
- Heart disease is associated with too much saturated fat in the diet, high stress levels, and not enough exercise. Studies show that if a person has an angioplasty and does not change their lifestyle such as diet and exercise their chances of having another angioplasty in 4 yrs is 90%.
- High blood pressure is associated with too much salt, caffeine, and alcohol in the diet, high stress levels, and not enough exercise. I commonly see blood pressure levels come down when patients eliminate alcohol. Toxic exposure can also be a cause of high blood pressure.
- High cholesterol is associated with too much saturated fat in the diet. Saturated fats include red meat and dairy products. High cholesterol is also associated with not enough fiber and not enough exercise. Statins are not the answer to lowering cholesterol. If you do not remove the saturated fat you will increase your risk for heart disease. The side effects of statins include muscle pain, dementia, asthma, etc. We need cholesterol to make our hormones. Lowering cholesterol too much will affect our hormone production such as testosterone, progesterone, and estradiol.
- Diabetes is also associated with too much saturated fat, not enough fiber, too much sugar, and not enough exercise. We are now seeing kids 8-9 years old with adult-onset diabetes which was unheard of ten years ago. Kids today are not playing outside as much they’re more likely to watch TV, play on the computer, do video games, and eat junk food.
- Increased cancer rates are associated with too much saturated fat, not enough fiber, not enough exercise, cigarette smoking, sugar, processed foods, and charcoal grilling of foods. According to the American Cancer Society, one-third of all cancers is due to dietary factors and another third is due to tobacco use. The other third may be related to different factors such as genetics, heredity, chemical exposure, environmental factors, etc. We spend billions of dollars a year on finding the cure for cancer. Yet, 60% of Americans are obese and people today still smoke.
Simple dietary and lifestyle changes may even reduce health care costs nationally and individually. It can also increase overall health and longevity and prevent future pandemics. We all need to start taking greater responsibility for their overall health. Since most chronic diseases can be prevented look first to dietary and lifestyle changes before you seek out that magic bullet approach. You may end up saving a lot of money on your future health care cost. For further questions or to set up an appointment with Dr. Wiancek please call 970-926-7606 or email wiancek@healthref.com.
