We’re suffering from an epidemic of chronic disease. Consider the following:
- A billion people worldwide are suffering from diabetes and obesity
- 600 thousand people in the U.S. die from heart attacks each year
- 1 in 6 Americans now suffer from autoimmune disease
- 20 to 30 percent of Americans suffer from GERD (acid reflux)
Unfortunately, there’s every indication that things are going to get worse before they get better. This is the first generation of American children expected to lead shorter lives than their parents. If current trends continue, over 95 percent of Americans will be overweight or obese in two decades, and 1 in 3 Americans will have diabetes.
Big Pharma would have us believe that the solution to this disease epidemic is to develop better drugs. While there’s no doubt that prescription medication is sometimes necessary, and even life-saving, drugs are not the solution—and may even contribute to the problem.
So what is the solution? In short, it’s one that directly addresses the problem: the way we live, and in particular, the way we eat.
Today, Americans get more than 50 percent of their calories each day from processed foods like flour, sugar and industrial seed oils that are virtually devoid of nutrients. Soft drinks alone account for 7 percent of our daily calorie intake. Yet these foods are directly at odds with what our bodies were designed for.
The fastest way to recover our natural health and vitality is not to take a pill; it’s to return to a way of living and eating that more closely matches what our genes and biology are designed for.
And that’s exactly what Paleo is all about. The Paleo diet emphasizes the nutrient dense, whole foods that our bodies thrive on, and eliminates the highly processed, inflammatory foods that have become the mainstay of the industrialized diet.
In this series, I’m going to compare the Paleo diet and lifestyle with prescription and over-the-counter medication for the prevention and treatment of chronic disease. You’ll learn that, in most cases, Paleo is not only safer with fewer side effects, it’s also more effective.