Did you know that “prevention” is one of the six guiding principles Naturopathic Doctors and Integrative Health Professionals follow in their practices? Along with 1- Do No Harm (Primum non nocere), 2- The Healing Power of Nature (Vis medicatrix naturae), 3- Identify and Treat the Causes (Tolle causam), 4- Doctor as Teacher (Docere), 5- Treat the Whole Person (Tolle totum), and 6- Prevention (Praevenic).Diabetes Type 2 is a perfect example of why prevention is important!
Heart disease is another
Certain Cancers is another
Osteoporosis is another example
Some of the diseases listed above are in the top killers in developed countries. In Canada, 44% of people aged 20 years and up have at least 1 of the top 10 chronic diseases (1). In the United States; The CDC estimates that six in ten adults are currently living with a chronic disease such as cancer, heart disease, or diabetes (2). That is huge and scary!
Diseases start brewing in our bodies usually long before they show up. And when they do, it is much harder to work at reversing them than to just prevent them in the first place. Prevention is something so important that it would be awesome if we learned it as kids; at home and in school. Healthy lifestyle habits need to be taught early on and practiced by parents and caregivers so that kids can grow up into adults who’ll already be used to doing the things you need to do to stay fit and healthy.
There are numerous lifestyle habits that you can add into your life starting today. The key is to be consistent, and slowly but surely, you’ll get there. One easy thing can be going for a family walk after supper instead of watching TV or playing video games. It could be drinking lemon water when you wake up. It could be swapping unhealthy cleaning products in your home for healthier ones. There are a ton of small changes that you can make that will benefit your health today and for the long-term. All you have to do is START.
If you need help with this, reach out to me and we can have a consultation to evaluate your current lifestyle habits and I can offer you recommendations to get started. Email me at cynthiajannutrition@gmail.com
1. https://www.canada.ca/en/public-health/services/chronic-diseases/prevalence-canadian-adults-infographic-2019.html
2. https://www.statista.com/topics/8951/chronic-disease-prevention-in-the-us/#topicHeader__wrapper
