By Alexander Green Editor’s Note: The battle over healthcare reform is raging in D.C. But we wanted to remind you that one person has far more influence over your well-being than any politician does: you.
Enjoy this essay from Alexander Green’s Beyond Wealth series. No matter where you stand on the new healthcare bill, we think you’ll appreciate this advice.
In several columns over the last few years, I’ve explained why you should listen to Warren Buffett.
In today’s column, however, I’ll explain why sometimes you shouldn’t.
With a net worth of $75.3 billion, Buffett is one of the best investors who ever lived – perhaps the greatest.
But when it comes to the subject of nutrition, he’s an odd-lotter at best.
Buffett is a junk food junkie who admits that he eats like a 6-year-old. He drinks at least five Cokes a day – usually with Cheetos or potato sticks – and sometimes has chocolate chip ice cream for breakfast.
Granted, the man has made it to 86. But as someone who would like to benefit from Mr. Buffett’s wit, wisdom and money management skills for years to come, I wish he’d lend an ear to Dr. Michael Greger.
Greger, a physician and internationally recognized nutrition expert, is the author of How Not to Die.
Greger has not discovered the secret of immortality. (If he had, I’m sure you’d have heard about it.) But he has made it his mission to help Americans prevent, treat and even reverse 15 leading causes of death.
Those are heart disease, lung diseases, brain diseases, digestive cancers, infections, diabetes, high blood pressure, liver diseases, blood cancers, kidney disease, breast cancer, suicidal depression, prostate cancer, Parkinson’s disease and iatrogenic causes.
(Iatrogenic means “caused by diagnosis or treatment by a physician.” Medical errors are the third-leading cause of death in this country.)
Greger argues that these deaths are preventable because they are related, in part, to how we eat. (That includes the iatrogenic deaths. After all, the best way to avoid misdiagnosis or maltreatment in the healthcare system is to not get sick in the first place.)
Some folks believe that premature death is just a matter of bad luck or bad genes. Not so. The evidence shows that only 10% to 20% of the risk of these diseases is related to genetics. Most of the rest is due to a poor diet.
Unfortunately, most people don’t get the advice they need on this important topic from their general practitioner.
Only a quarter of medical schools offer a single course in nutrition. And six out of seven graduating doctors surveyed felt they were not adequately trained to counsel patients about their diets.
When it comes to the profound connection between diet and disease, most of us are on our own.
So let’s start with the basics…
Four simple, healthy lifestyle factors have a strong impact on the prevention of chronic diseases. They are…
Not smoking
Not being obese
Exercising at least a half-hour a day
Eating a healthy diet.
If you can check off all four, Dr. Greger says you’ve reduced your cancer risk by more than …read more
Source:: Investment You
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