Chronic diseases account for 35% of all annual deaths, with the main one being heart disease, which accounts for about 30% of all deaths and is most prominent in middle- to high-income countries.
If you study the diet of these high- and middle-income countries, you will see high concentrations of trans fatty acids, meat, dairy products, and fast foods. The main cause of heart disease is the food we eat, so it should come as no surprise when we learn these statistics considering the average diet.
If we look at more chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, and obesity, they account for about 35 percent of all annual deaths. The good news is that these figures don't have to be this way.
Forward-looking scientists over the course of the past few decades have made it crystal clear that a diet plan consisting primarily of fruits, nuts, and seeds promotes optimal health. Add a healthy life of joy and exercise and chronic illness is greatly reduced.
Plant-based diets prevent deaths from chronic diseases
There have been numerous studies that provide solid evidence that getting most calories from plant-based foods greatly reduces the risk of disease. One of the most advanced studies ever carried out on the subject was The Chinese Study.
In the study, a professor emeritus at Cornell University, gave details of the connection between nutrition and heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.
Recognized as the most comprehensive nutritional study ever conducted on the relationship between diet and risk of developing disease, the Chinese Study cuts through the haze of misinformation and examines the source of nutritional confusion produced by government entities, lobbyists, and opportunistic scientists.
Research published in the journal Food Technology illustrates how recent nutritional discoveries demonstrate the fact that plant- based diets are essential to avoid chronic disease. Bioactive compounds in plant-based foods interact with cells, enzymes, hormones, and DNA that affect gene expression and changes in cells - the interaction helps to greatly reduce chronic disease.
Inflammation is the cause of chronic diseases
Evidence shows that inflammation is often the cause of most chronic diseases, and antioxidants in raw or minimally cooked natural foods counteract free radicals that fan the flames of inflammation and damage form and function cellular, while altering the integrity of DNA as well.
Plant Bio-compounds are effective in controlling a gene that has been linked to cardiovascular disease and plaque build-up in the arteries. As covered in the China study, a plant-based diet can actually help rebuild and repair artery walls that were once destroyed by animal cholesterol.
Better to prevent chronic diseases than to regret them
While a plant-based diet can be seen as a cure for certain diseases, it is often better to avoid health problems than to always demand a cure. This efficacy can be done by consuming a highly plant-based diet.
"Prevention is always better than cure ... Foods that can help prevent cancer and other chronic diseases include artichokes, black pepper, cinnamon, garlic, lentils, olives, pumpkin, rosemary, thyme, watercress, etc."
Let food be your medicine
As Hippocrates said many many years ago, "Let food be your medicine." This may not only suggest that a healthy food diet is a great form of medicine, but that consistently consuming a diet like this will help reduce the need for medication.
While some of us can speculate on which foods are healthy, many studies suggest that diets containing limited healthy organic plants, fruits, nuts, and starch is what is healthy. Scientific and medical research helps to demonstrate this especially by examining the most common diseases and their causes.
This does not mean that one cannot be healthy by eating a diet that includes fast foods, fats, and hydrogenated animal products, it simply means that the risk of disease increases over time.
Most would agree that a well-timed transition is much healthier and you feel much better while eating a cleaner diet.
These diets are often given a bad name because people looking to transition are doing it too fast, incorrectly, or are eating large amounts of processed vegan or vegetarian food.
Peripheral neuropathy, a result of damage to the nerves outside of the brain and spinal cord (peripheral nerves), often causes weakness, numbness and pain, usually in your hands and feet. It can also affect other areas of your body. Your peripheral nervous system sends information from your brain and spinal cord (central nervous system) to the rest of your body. The peripheral nerves also send sensory information to the central nervous system.
