Our health continues to deteriorate at an alarming pace, and the incidence of chronic, degenerative disease is skyrocketing each year. Consider the following:
- Diabesity (obesity + diabetes) affects more than one billion people worldwide, including 100 million Americans and 50% of Americans over 65. 1
- More than half of Americans are overweight, and a full one-third are clinically obese.
- Recent reports suggest that one-third of people born in 2010 will develop diabetes at some point in their lives. 2
- 9 out of 10 Americans will develop high blood pressure before they die.
- 4 out of 10 people who die each year in the U.S. die of heart disease, and rates of heart disease are projected to double in the next 50 years.
- Rates of infertility are expected to double in the next decade.
- According to the World Health Organization, depression is now the leading cause of disability, affecting more than 120 million people worldwide.
I could go on but I think you get the point. Our health is getting worse, not better.
Over the last 50 years the medical establishment has vigorously promoted a low-fat, high carbohydrate diet, claiming that it would protect us from heart disease and diabetes and make us healthier and happier. How has that worked out for us? The statistics above make it clear that the conventional approach has been a dismal failure that has not only failed to protect our health, but has directly contributed to the epidemic of modern disease.
All modern diseases share a similar cause
One of the most glaring mistakes conventional medicine makes is to assume that all of these modern diseases – diabetes, heart disease, depression, autoimmune disease, etc. – are unrelated conditions that don’t share a common cause. This is a convenient fiction created by the pharmaceutical industry (and perpetuated by the medical establishment) to sell more drugs.
The truth is that while these conditions do have unique features, they all share a common origin: the modern lifestyle. Poor diet, nutrient deficiencies, stress, lack of sleep, lack of or the wrong type of exercise, toxins and medications all directly contribute to the problems that are ruining our health.
The conventional approach is to treat each of these various problems with different drugs, and ignore the fundamental factors that are at the root of all of them. That has been a stupendously unsuccessful approach. It’s time to replace it with a more holistic view of health, and to empower people to prevent and treat disease without unnecessary drugs or surgery.
Introducing the 9 steps
Here are the 9 steps we’ll be covering in the articles to follow:
- Don’t eat toxins.
- Nourish your body.
- Eat real food.
- Supplement wisely.
- Heal your gut.
- Manage stress.
- Move like your ancestors.
- Sleep more deeply.
- Practice pleasure.
After the 9 steps, we will also cover:
- The importance of flexibility in your approach to food.
- Moving from a Paleo “diet” to a Paleo “template”
- The biggest obstacle to perfect health – and how to overcome it.