Why the status quo is not enough when it comes to health.
You may wonder why a physician is engaging with work outside a medical practice. Why is a physician talking about mindset, lifestyle and food, areas far-removed from traditional medical training? Because the status quo is NO LONGER ENOUGH.
According to CDC stats, here is how things stand currently when it comes to chronic LIFESTYLE diseases (Genetics & environmental factors can absolutely play a role but much can be done from a preventive standpoint):
Having hypertension puts one at risk for heart disease and stroke, which are leading causes of death in the United States.
Nearly half of adults in the United States (108 million, or 45%) have hypertension defined as a systolic blood pressure ≥ 130 mm Hg or a diastolic blood pressure ≥ 80 mm Hg or are taking medication for hypertension.
34.2 million people have diabetes (10.5% of the US population)
88 million people aged 18 years or older have prediabetes (34.5% of the adult US population)
1 in 5 children aged 12-18 years have prediabetes
1 in 4 people aged 19-34 years have prediabetes
Lung cancer was the leading cause of cancer death, accounting for 23% of all cancer deaths. Other common causes of cancer death were cancers of the colon and rectum (9%), pancreas (8%), female breast (7%), prostate (5%), and liver and intrahepatic bile duct (5%)
If we want to change the tide, we have to do something different.
I truly believe in a prevention approach that recognizes the power of our day to day decisions.
Our thoughts and actions and our minute to minute choices help set the course for illness and wellness.
It is easy to become overwhelmed when thinking about all the aspects of a healthy lifestyle that need to be “optimized” and when the effort is anything but perfect, it is also easy to just give up. Sound familiar?
Well, the goods news is, you don’t have to be perfect! There is absolutely room for imperfection and indulgence. For any sustainable lifestyle plan to work, you have to let go of that “all or nothing” thinking! Get comfortable in the gray zone my friends.
What else is absolutely imperative? Believing that you DESERVE the best.
Let go of the punitive and “deprivation” thoughts:
“I have to exercise to lose weight.”
“I can’t eat these cookies.”
“I have to eat broccoli instead of French fries.”
You GET to move your body and become stronger! You CAN eat the cookies, if you want. (You get to choose how many!)
You GET to prepare and include foods that serve and nourish your body and occasionally indulge in those fries, IF AND WHEN you choose.
The choice is always yours. Look forward to sharing tools with you to help you make the next choice that serves your wellness
A Changing Paradigm
I want to also challenge my medical and health care colleagues to empower themselves with the knowledge on how to use lifestyle and food as medicine. Our prescriptions and our treatments can absolutely work side by side with lifestyle guidance. Learn about how nutrition, movement, stress, sleep and mindset can be used as tools to help your own wellness and that of your patients’. I look forward to being able to create resources that can help you do this!
