“He who does not know food, how can he understand the diseases of man?”

Hippocrates, the father of medicine (460-357 B.C.)

Take a look at the chart above, really look at it.  We will talk about #3 in a later posting, but study the diseases causing death in the chart.  Can any of these diseases be prevented by diet?

More than 68% of American adults are considered overweight or obese.  The risk of obesity includes:

• Diabetes
• High blood pressure or high cholesterol
• Heart disease
• Gallbladder or liver disease
• Cancer of the colon, breast, prostate, liver, or kidney
• Sleep apnea
• Arthritis or gout

It was estimated that health care cost would run over $4 trillion for the year 2017  in the United States.  Other countries spend about one-half of what the U.S. spends per capita on health care and yet, the U.S. is consistently among the worst performers.  It is clear that the U.S. does not have the best health care in the world and we are blindly telling ourselves that we do.  Isn’t that a form of insanity, to deny the facts and believe an illusion we have been spoon-fed?

There is confusion around nutrition in the U.S.  New books on diet come out every few months and people are ready to jump on the “bandwagon” for the newest and latest diet “quick fix”.  But, where is the research behind these celebrity diets?   These fad diets are not health based and employ the worst of medicine and science.

T. Colin Campbell, Ph.D. and one of our nations leading scientists in the research of diet and health states that the prescription for good health in short, is about the multiple health benefits of consuming plant-based foods and the largely unappreciated health dangers of consuming animal-based foods, including all types of meat, dairy and eggs.  Dr. Campbell grew up on a dairy farm believing that meat and dairy products were the foundation to good health.  So, to his surprise after years of research on nutrition he discovered that this was not the case.

I’m not going to lecture you on the dangers of the American diet, some of the evidence is listed above.  What I will tell you after 46 years in the medical field is that Americans are lazy.  Yes, lazy, we want a quick fix and we don’t want to have to work at improving our health.  We want someone else to fix it for us, that way if it fails, it’s their fault, not ours.

What I am going to do is to give you the tools to improve your health.  It will not be an overnight “quick fix”.  You did not get in the shape you are in overnight, it was a process.  Regaining your health is a process.  Even when presented with the facts on nutrition and health, some of you will still continue down the path of destruction.  That is your choice and I feel no obligation to try to change your thinking.  I do feel an obligation to help those of you who do want to turn your health around and the health of your family.

Did you know that:

Obesity is the most prevalent nutritional disorder among children and adolescents in the United States. Approximately 21-24% of American children and adolescents are overweight, and another 16-18% is obese; the prevalence of obesity is highest among specific ethnic groups.

We are passing along our deplorable health care practices to our children and grandchildren.  Is that what we really want, to set our children and grandchildren up for failure and for a lifetime of health issues?  A lifetime of diseases and early death?

I realize that people decide what to eat based on a number of reasons, health care consideration being only one factor.  I would venture to say that the most popular reason for eating a particular food is taste, especially if it is sweet.  We live to eat, not eat to live.

The benefits of a plant-based diet are far more diverse and impressive that any drug or surgery used in medical practice.  Remember #3 on the above list?   There is impressive evidence now that exists to show that advanced heart disease, relatively advanced cancers of certain types, diabetes, heart disease and a few other degenerative disease can be reversed by diet.  Eating the right way not only prevents disease but also generates health and a sense of well-being, both physically and mentally.

So, what are you going to do?  Continue down the path of destruction or the path to better health?  Some of the tools we will be talking about in this section and the sections on Hypnosis, Natural Health and even Spirituality will be tied together and you can chose the tools you want to use.

Until the next posting under nutrition, I want you to take the time to think about what you want to do about your health.  I mean to sit down and really think.

This is the first step.  Make a decision on what you want to do about your health and the health of your family.  You are, after all, the one who is setting the example.