Episode 1 Transcript
Are you one of the 75% of Americans in crisis?
Welcome to Nutrition is the Key to Health Podcast where I talk about health, nutrition, and everything in between.
Hello, my name is Alicia.
Welcome to my journey of taking my life back through nutrition.
Disclaimer, I am not a physician, nurse, registered dietician, physical therapist, or mental health professional. This is my story and what I have done and learned over the course of my journey. If you plan to start a diet or exercise program, please get approval from your doctor.
Are you one of the 75% of Americans in a health crisis?
1. According to the
o Centers for Disease Control (CDC), who is the data-gathering hub for all things health in the US, 75% of Americans are at risk.
o The CDC posts data every five years or so on the health of Americans. The numbers that are listed do not actually reflect the health of our nation today, because they lag by years.
o This is so frustrating because come on, we are in the age of supercomputers and analytics. At the push of a button, they can generate the most accurate and up to date data and push it out to us, but they don’t.
§ Also, the stats are sometimes difficult to find. It is a worm hole of information that you have to navigate to get the information you are looking for.
§ Sometimes they will release a stat that is two years old but not always. For the most part, the data is years old.
§ So, I often ask myself why they do this. Is it on purpose? Does the government not want us to know the true health of this country, because they are pandering to huge industry groups like the dairy and beef, who contribute millions to the government to fight for bigger real estate on the USDA Food Pyramid or make large donations to electoral campaigns? I don’t know. That is way beyond my scope.
§ Does anyone really care about the health of America? They just keep on eating The Standard American Diet or (SAD diet) as it is called. Consisting of high fat, high sodium and sugary processed junk.
o Dinners are out of a package, or from a drive-thru and it has become our “new normal”.
o Highly processed packaged foods, trendy coffee drinks, and energy drinks have replaced real food.
o Exercise is virtually non-existent for most.
o We consume extreme portions at every meal.
o We intake far too much alcohol and recreational drugs.
2. Let’s look at the most recent fast states on the CDC.gov website
3. Leading Causes of Death in the US (2021).
o Heart disease: 695,547
o Cancer: 605,213
o COVID-19: 416,893
o 250,000 John Hopkins die each year due to medical error. This needs to be on the list, at number three but it is not even counted. Why is that?
o Accidents (unintentional injuries): 224,935
§ I will be interested in the fentanyl numbers when they are published, but they will not be updated until 2026 if the CDC stays true to form on their publications.
o Stroke (cerebrovascular diseases): 162,890
o Chronic lower respiratory diseases: 142,342
o Alzheimer’s disease: 119,399
o Diabetes: 103,294
o Chronic liver disease and cirrhosis : 56,585
o Nephritis, nephrotic syndrome, and nephrosis: 54,358
According to the CDC, heart disease has been the number 1 cause of death since 1910. Cancer has taken the number 2 since 1933. I think these have solidified their positions, on the team of mortality, don’t you? Cancer has been gaining ground on heart disease, so that will be interesting to see as well with the next publication.
There are 1.8M cases of cancer diagnosed each year, of which 35% of those lose their life to the disease. That is roughly 630,000 people each year. We are one of the top countries for medical care. Can American not do better?
Here is a fun fact. Cancer was first discovered 3000 B.C in Egypt but was not called “cancer”, but was documented in the archived surgery journals.
4. Other noteworthy stats:
o Almost 50% of Americans over 20 years of age have high blood pressure
§ If you are thinking yes, I am one of them, what’s the big deal? Mine is very well controlled by medication. I would say think again. High blood pressure is called the silent killer for a reason. It leads to heart disease and strokes. Wait, where is heart disease? Oh yeah, it's the number 1 leading cause of death. And between heart disease and stroke, those two causes of mortality account for over 40% of the deaths each year. Then add cancer in and you have mortality statistics that should make all of us sit up and take notice.
§ Our kids are being diagnosed with high blood pressure at an alarming rate due to their diet and obesity. This is not going to be a good outcome. Think about when you were a kid. We didn’t have these issues, because we still ate meals that were prepared and very little sodas, and processed foods.
o 21% have been diagnosed with diabetes, with others walking around undiagnosed.
o 53% of Americans drink alcohol over the recommended daily limits. Ladies and Gentlemen, when was the last time you opened a bottle of wine and only drank 4 oz? Chances are it is closer to two to three glasses a night or maybe even a bottle.
o Almost 75% of Americans or (251 M) are overweight or obese.
§ Obesity is defined of a BMI over 30%
5. Americans consume over 40% of their calories from fat
6. Nearly 50% of all Americans do not meet the recommended requirement for 30 minutes of exercise each day.
WOW, those are some very discouraging numbers. Take a moment and let’s just digest these.
Also, these are the stats from 2021. Do you think we have moved in the right direction for 2024? No, I don’t!
So, what does it all mean?
If you are one of these people who fall into any of these categories (and you have a very high probability that you are), are you at all motivated to take an inventory of your health and take steps to improve it? Or are you just going to remain complacent and say to yourself, I am going to enjoy my life, my father died of heart disease so why should I even try? Or, my mother died of cancer, it's in my genes. Then there is the catch-all, “We all die of something”? God has given us one life, and we don’t get a do-over!
We must shift this paradigm and change the way we think and eat to improve our health. Take it from me, you do not want to be on this freight train. Once you are on it, it is extremely difficult to get off.
Maybe you are like me, when stress plays a role in your life (and when it does not), and you tend to find yourself gravitating toward those comfort foods like ice cream or cheese.
There are many diets or ways of eating. Which one is safe, and which one is right for you? What about all the misinformation out there? Who can I trust and what diet is right for me? Is it Keto, Mediterranean, Paleo, Whole 30, Omnivore, or Plant-Based? So many questions, and after all we are not registered dieticians.
The one thing I can tell you is that you have to get back to the basics and start taking back your life. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and your health took decades to get to the point where it is.
8. So how do you start? Start by relying on the things we know to be true regardless of any diet we choose. Simply things like:
· Drink more water instead of soda/coffee/energy drinks each day
· Park further away from the store, school or work and walk, so you get your steps in each day.
· Try to spend 15 -20 minutes in the sunlight a day
· Get plenty of quality sleep and disconnect from all the texts, social media and bad news cycles.
· Go to your primary care provider and get an annual physical if you are fortunate enough to have health insurance. (It is estimated that 50% of Americans are uninsured.
· Get a journal and start keeping track of everything.
· Know your lab numbers like A1C, Glucose, Cholesterol, and Triglycerides, weight, height and BMI
· List any diagnosis you have gotten in the past.
· Make a list of all your medications that you currently take
· List your immediate family history of the diseases that are known in your family if you have that information.
· If it is in the budget, get a watch that will track your steps, calories, and so forth.
Take what serves you and leave the rest. But, I hope that I can help others to navigate, inspire, and maybe even elevate their health and their life.