One of the doctors I most admire, Mark Hyman, M.D. — author of the bestseller Ultrametabolism : The Simple Plan for Automatic Weight Loss — recently sent me a fascinating e-mail, in which he points out some major flaws in our health care system. He draws some interesting comparisons to the Al Gore film now in theaters, "An Inconvenient Truth."
Normally, I don’t quote at length from another person’s e-mail or his blog, but I really think Dr. Hyman’s remarks are so right on that it could be helpful to get you to thinking about these topics. The astute physician points out:
"Most of us believe that our country’s healthcare system is designed to keep us healthy. In fact, it does just the opposite! Think about it. What fuels the health care economy? Sickness, not health. That’s right."
"All the stakeholders in industries that affect our health — the pharmaceutical industry, the food producers, agribusiness, and the restaurant industries — profit when people eat unhealthy food, exercise less, and are more stressed. They’re making money off of your poor health.
"Take the drug companies. They cajole us into believing that we can live any harmful lifestyle — and fix our health problems simply by taking a pill. Just look at that commercial that encourages you to eat unhealthy food because an antacid pill or two will ease the indigestion it gives you."
Awesome example!
"Worse, our healthcare system is based on the outdated idea that disease should only be treated, not prevented. It’s really disease-care, not healthcare!"
Dr. Hyman — who, incidentally, was nice enough to give me an endorsement for my upcoming book, SUGAR SHOCK! — then goes on to make the point that:
"Chronic disease has replaced infectious and acute illnesses as the leading cause of death in the world, both in developed and developing countries. In 2002, the leading chronic diseases, including heart disease (17 million), cancer (7 million), chronic lung diseases (4 million), and diabetes (1 million), caused 29 million deaths worldwide.
"And the tragic part is that these ailments can be prevented — they’re almost entirely attributable to lifestyle risk factors such as poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, tobacco, and
alcohol use."
Anyhow, Dr. Hyman makes a number of compelling observations, including the facts that we’ve been hearing a lot lately: That one billion people in the world are now overweight; that 300 million are obese; and that 1 in 3 children born today will develop diabetes in their lifetime.
Hurrah to Dr. Hyman for reminding us that "the science is clear. An overwhelming amount of research shows the role of lifestyle and diet in the prevention of major chronic diseases."
He then cites a few compelling examples which we don’t hear much about. For instance, he draws to your attention one study of older adults found that "those who followed a healthy lifestyle (specifically, eating a Mediterranean- type diet, getting moderate exercise, not smoking, and drinking moderate amounts of alcohol) were nearly 70 percent less likely to die from ANY cause."
Is that the greatest example or what? Just change your lifestyle and diet and you’ll be more likely to live!
Dr. Hyman also cites similiar studies showing the results of major lifestyle changes — an 83 percent reduction in coronary artery disease, 91 percent reduction of diabetes in women, and a 71 percent reduction in colon cancer in men.
He rightly insists: "And no drug or combination of drugs has been shown to have an equal effect!"
The influential doctor then urges everyone to take action. And I echo his pleas!
"The only way this will change is for the average person — that means you! — to vote for change every day with your fork (and your feet)!"
Finally, Dr. Hyman makes a number of recommendations, which I also heartily advise, including the following:
* "Eat real, whole foods.
* "Eat organic and locally grown or produced foods when possible.
* "Give up all processed and packaged foods.
* "Give up sodas and sugared drinks. If you do, I can guarantee that Pepsi and Coca Cola will make healthier things for us to drink!
* "Eat `slow food’ — meals that are made from scratch, not processed. With enough demand, we’ll start to see more slow food restaurants.
* "Don’t buy foods you see on commercials.
* "Don’t let your children watch TV commercials. (Junk food companies spend $13 billion year advertising junk food to kids, who see 10,000 junk food commercials each every year!)
* "Don’t buy foods with trans fats or high fructose corn syrup, with more than 5 ingredients, or with ingredients you don’t recognize.
* "Walk where you can instead of driving.
* "Demand that your doctor help you use `systems medicine,’ not `disease-care’ (see www.functionalmedicine.org for information on a new medical textbook about this new model
of medicine…Ask your doctor to help you correct the cause of your problems rather than prescribe another medication."
* "Write to congress demanding independent scientific hearings on nutrition and health and then demand they put those findings into public policy.
* "Talk to your friends and colleagues and help devise ways to make it more profitable for our society to be healthy than to be sick.
So join me in following Dr. Hyman’s recommendations. Accept his call to action!
"Just as Al Gore’s movie ["An Inconvenient Truth"] is a wake-up call for our environment, I hope you’ll see my message as a call to action for your health. Our world is getting sicker, but it doesn’t have to be this way. The choice is up to you."
You can read more from Dr. Hyman and let him know your thoughts by posting a comment on his blog.
One thought on “Dr. Mark Hyman Articulately Cites Flaws in Our Health Care System, Comparing to Al Gore’s “Inconvenient Truth””
well done
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