What if . . . ?

There was a pill that could reverse, treat, and prevent type 2 diabetes?

There was medicine that could reverse, treat, and prevent

high blood pressure, heart disease, and stroke?

There was an intervention that could reverse, treat, and prevent many types of cancer?

Genes were not your destiny!

There was a solution for stress, depression, and anxiety that has no negative side-effects?

Getting older didn't necessarily include osteoporosis and fractures?

You never needed to go on a diet, but instead could eat generously of delicious food, and still lose weight?

You could make epigenetic choices now that would make it easier 

for your children and grandchildren to be healthy?

You could feel Positively Healthy each and every day?

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The Truth . . .

All These are Possible with Lifestyle Medicine!

 

"80% or more of all healthcare spending in the U.S.

is tied to the treatment of conditions rooted in poor lifestyle choices.

Chronic diseases and conditions—

such as hypertension, heart disease, stroke, type 2 diabetes, obesity,

osteoporosis, multiple types of cancer—

are among the most common, costly, and preventable of all health conditions."

American College of Lifestyle Medicine

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"Lifestyle Medicine involves the evidence-based therapeutic use of lifestyle,

such as a predominately whole-food plant-based diet,

exercise, stress management, tobacco and alcohol cessation,

and other non-drug modalities,

to prevent, treat, and, more importantly, reverse

the lifestyle-related, chronic disease that's all too prevalent."

American College of Lifestyle Medicine

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Lifestyle Medicine is foundational to all medical care, disease prevention, and health promotion.  

It addresses the underlying cause of disease.  It is essential for disease reversal.  

It is front-line medicine.

Journal of the American Medical Association July 14, 2010

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A Sampling of the Evidence...

 

Type 2 diabetes?

Lifestyle medicine is preferable to medicine in preventing/treating type 2 diabetes. 

Knowler, W. C., et al.  (2002). Reduction in the incidence of type 2 diabetes with lifestyle intervention or metformin. New England Journal of Medicine. 346(6), 393-403.

Diabetes is reversible with lifestyle interventions.

Lim, E. L. (2011). Reversal of type 2 diabetes: Normalization of beta cell functioning association with decreased pancreas and liver triacylglycerol. Diabetologia. 254(10), 2506-2504.

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Every 5% of calories from animal protein results in 30% increase in risk of diabetes.

Sluijs, I., et al. (2010). Dietary intake of total, animal, and vegetable protein and risk of type 2 diabetes in the European Prospective Investigation into Cancer and Nutrition (EPOC)-NL study. Diabetes Care. 33(1), 43-48.

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Hypertension, heart disease, stroke?

Hypertension is uncommon in individuals eating a plant-based diet.  

Orlich, M. J., & Fraser, G. E. (2014). Vegetarian Diets in the Adventist Health Study 2: A review of initial published findings. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Supplement 1,  389s-396s.

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High-fiber vegetable, fruit, and nut diet produces same effect as statins in lowering blood pressure in just two weeks—without the unwanted side effects.

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Jenkins, D. J., et al. (2001). Effect of a very high-fiber vegetable, fruit, and nut diet on serum lipids and colonic function. Metabolism. 150(4), 494-503.

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A whole-foods plant-based diet produces regression of plaque stenosis along with reduction of serum cholesterol.

Ornish, D., et al. (1990). Can lifestyle changes reverse coronary heart disease? The Lifestyle Heart Trial. Lancet. 336(8708), 129-133.

Cancer?

There is a significant reduction in cancer cell growth and a significant increase in apoptosis of cancer cells within two weeks on a plant-based diet combined with walking.

Barnard, R. J., et al. (2006). Effects of a low-fat, high-fiber diet and exercise program on breast cancer risk factors in vivo and tumor cell growth and apoptosis in vitro.  Nutrition and Cancer. 55(1), 28-34.

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One-third of the most common cancers in the US could be prevented—340,000 preventable cancers each year.

McMichael, A. J. (2008, July). Food, nutrition, physical activity and cancer prevention:  Authoritative report from the World Cancer Research Fund.  Public Health Nutrition. 11(7), 762-763.

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Bad genes changed to good genes?

Prostate cancer gene expression beneficially changed for 501 genes in three months by lifestyle medicine.

Ornish, D. (2008, June 17). Changes in probate gene expression in men undergoing an intensive nutrition and lifestyle    

intervention. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. 105(24), 8369-8374.

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DNA is not your destiny.  Lifestyle changes can turn bad genes off and good genes on.

Kaput, J. (2004,  January). Diet-disease gene interactions. Nutrition. 20(1), 26-31.

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Stress, depression, anxiety?

Adults who frequently eat fast food are 40% more likely to develop depression vs. those who avoid fast food..

Sanchez-Villegas, A., et al. (2012). Fast-food and commercial baked goods consumption and the risk of depression. Public Health Nutrition. 15(3), 424-432.

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Fried foods, refined grains, and sugary foods are associated with increased depression and anxiety.

Jacka, F. N., et al. (2011). The association between habitual diet quality and the common mental disorders in community dwelling adults: The Hordaland health study. Psychosomatic Medicine. 73(6), 483-490.

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Osteoporosis and Fractures?

The phytates in beans, whole-grains, nuts, and seeds are a protective factor against osteoporosis.  In fact, a low-phytate diet is considered an osteoporosis risk factor.

Lopez-Gonzalez, A. A, et al. (2013). Protective effect of mho-inositol hexaphosphate (phytate) on bone mass loss in postmenopausal women. European Journal of Nutrition. 52(2), 717-726.

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Obesity?

Adventists who ate a plant-based diet (without dairy or eggs) had a significantly lower risk of obesity—and type 2 diabetes—than both lacto-ovo vegetarians and meat eaters.

Tonstad, S., Butler, T., Yan, R., and Fraser, G. E.. (2007). Type of vegetarian diet, body weight, and prevalence of type 2 diabetes.. Diabetes Care.32(5), 791-796.

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Eating a vegetarian diet is naturally lower calorie/amount of food eaten and can naturally induce weight loss and maintain health weight status long term.

Thedford, K. & Raj, S. (2011). A vegetarian diet for weight management. Journal of the American Dietetic Association. 111(6), 816-818.

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Passing on good (or bad) health to your children and grandchildren?

Maternal diet is highly correlated with adiposity and metabolic syndrome in her children.

Godfrey, K. M., et al. (2011). Epigenetic gene promoter methylation at birth is associated with child's later adiposity. Diabetes. 60(5), 1528-1534.

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