prevention or “the cure”?

We hear a lot these days about “The Cure”, whether it’s for cancer, multiple sclerosis, diabetes, heart disease, or a multitude of other diseases. What we hear far less of though, is practical information on how to prevent all of these things.

Why is that? Wouldn’t you rather not get a disease instead of suffering and undergoing treatment after the fact?

Even though science and medicine continue to emphasize the importance of environmental factors in the development of serious diseases like those mentioned above, there doesn’t seem to be a lot of press on prevention. One reason, which some may find cynical, is simply that there’s no money to be made in preventing diseases, but billions to be made in curing them.

Don’t think of this as controversial — it’s Business 101. If you were a large company with millions of dollars to be spent on advertising, why put that money into something with a guaranteed zero return on investment? Put that together with the fact that there are numerous corporate affiliations between media and pharmaceutical companies (e.g. from mergers and takeovers), and you end up with a lot of “cure” and not much “prevent”.

Environmental factors are a crucial part of complex disease development. Research shows that chemicals we are willingly exposing ourselves to daily are changing the hormonal balance in our bodies, preventing proper brain development, accelerating the normal aging process, either preventing or supercharging normal gene expression, and directly mutating our DNA, just to name a few effects. Do these things affect development of various diseases? They most definitely do.

The most typical physical cause behind erectile dysfunction is the most common sexual disorder soft tadalafil amongst them. Propecia drugs have been shown to be impressive at stopping further hair loss and might also india tadalafil tablets promote hair growth in a few men. In general, a furnace will discontinue warming the surroundings when its fuse box or circuit breaker viagra for sale uk stops working. (Both fuse box and circuit breaker will dysfunction due to a blown fuse (if there is any) to ensure that the equipment heats properly. Health risks from http://deeprootsmag.org/2012/11/08/the-cautionary-tale-of-jenny-wren/ order levitra online prescription drugs can be divided into aspects. One way we can protect ourselves is by changing the way we eat. Stop buying processed, coloured, flavoured pseudo-foods and switch to real, local, fresh, whole foods. Buy more fruits, vegetables, and whole grain breads. Don’t use well-marketed margarines to grease your frying pan, use a splash of extra virgin olive oil. Change from bright orange Doritos to organic corn chips and salsa. Prefer potato chips? They’re not so bad for you if you ditch the sour cream and onion or barbecue flavour for kettle-cooked plain ones (3 ingredients: potatoes, vegetable oil, and salt). Toss the “noodles + sauce” uber-convenient side dish for whole wheat pasta and a homemade cream or tomato sauce. Like your hotdogs and pepperoni? Check the supermarket or farmer’s market for fresh, uncured pork, chicken, or turkey sausage. You can find products containing only 4 or 5 natural ingredients — a far cry from the preservative-laden hotdog. Experts around the world continue to stress that elimination of cured and processed meats is important in cancer prevention.

What about fluids? Pop and soda have no place in a healthy lifestyle — drink water, skim milk, a low-sodium veggie cocktail, or small amounts of real fruit juice (not “fruit beverages”). If you’re a diet pop junkie who can’t bear to drink water, why not switch to a less sugary, natural iced tea-type drink? They often have ~50 calories per serving vs. the ~150 of regular pop. Just be wary of those with artificial sweeteners added. Ideally, you could make it yourself: brew some antioxidant-rich green or white tea, squeeze in some fruit juice, add as little sugar as possible to give it an enjoyable taste, and refrigerate until it’s cold. Dead simple, and it’s real food. Or drink, anyway.

Time’s up for me tonight, but I’ll try to continue the prevention angle with things not related to food next time.

AM

photo courtesy of Suet Eman