Nature’s miracles and our health
“The usual US diet provides an insufficient amount of vitamins, supplementation is inexpensive and the scientific evidence shows that supplementing with certain vitamins prevents chronic disease, specifically cardiovascular disease, various types of cancer and osteoporosis” – JAMA June 2002
Chronic Heart Disease, Diabetes, Cancer and Obesity are Pandemics in the World today. The unfortunate fact is that some of this is preventable. Of course there are many factors including genetics and environmental issues. However, optimal nutrition cannot be emphasised enough together with regular exercise and stress management. It is lamentable that there is still often a “band aid” approach, rather than looking for the cause/s and correcting those. This of course pertains to various factors including the traditional teaching in “Modern” Medicine and the organisation of health care systems globally as well as a fair amount of ignorance and lack of appreciation for not only the significance of nutrition but also other types of therapies (e.g. TCM, Ayurveda) – which have often been around for thousands of years. Further, preventative measures can be hastened due to economics, politics and other vested interests.
Just looking at a couple of statistics is alarming enough. Globally, there are over ONE BILLION overweight people. In Australia there are 17 million overweight or obese people- that’s over 77%! – It has overtaken smoking as the leading cause of death. And there are 346 million people worldwide with diabetes (WHO figures 9/2011) – and growing.
Most illnesses that we see today are either due to a lack of things we need and an excess of things we don’t need.
Nature contains many of the vitamins and minerals that are essential to our optimal health and disease prevention. The Recommended Daily Intake for nutrients is only enough to prevent a disease- more than this amount is required for optimal health. For example, having the recommended intake of vitamin C will prevent scurvy – but much more is necessary for it to help prevent chronic disease.
An interesting quote…
“The Doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest the patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and in the cause and prevention of disease”
THOMAS A EDISON (1847 – 1931)
2 Comments
sweenagajjar September 23, 2012 at 2:04 pm
I totally agree with you Amy the numbers are worrying. Equally so being mum to an 8 year old it is very important to educate them at a tender age. I would certainly not feed him chips every weekend. Also limit the screen times and get him addicted to proper sports coaching and training classes. He does enjoy his treats sometimes but in limited portion and with a peice of advice. Which my mum always did. It’s a shame that research says that most of the little children are fed more treats by their grandparents and other relatives to please them. Once they are an adult it’s very hard for them to change their habbits and get into excersise routine. What we are facing now is down to lack of education. How many of us would agree with this…?
Dr Amy September 23, 2012 at 3:57 pm
It’s all about a balanced lifestyle. The occasional treat regardless of who gives it (whether parents,other relatives, friends, random person etc is immaterial) won’t do any long term harm and, realistically, we all need to reward ourself now and then- as long as a healthy lifestyle is in place. We can all improve at any stage of our life although its always good to instigate good habits from early on – but all is not lost as we can all make positive changes. And I must stress this in relation to absolutely everyone out there- it is never never never too late to improve in any area of your life. Nowadays we are seeing people taking action and improving their lives as they begin to instill a healthy lifestyle. There is now increased awareness of these issues in our society particularly of recent as these dis-eases are becoming more widespread and education on these matters is definitely improving globally. It is unfortunate that TV adverts sometimes promote the less healthier foods leading us into temptation; this is a sad fact about today’s marketing and the effect on the unconscious mind. Such negative external influences will always exist (TV, magazines etc) but rather than directing any blame, we each have to take responsilbility for ourselves. Everyone is trying to do the best they can with what they know and the resources they have at that time – but there is always room to learn more-an ongoing process for both doctors and patients. And this is my little way of sharing valuable information with everyone out there! Thank you!
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