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As a medical doctor it’s pretty common to see an array of patients. Whether that’s men, women, young, old, single, or with families it becomes routine for a physician to expect the unexpected. However, what shouldn’t become common are the chronic illnesses we have to diagnose. Which begs the question, is it possible to reverse your chronic disease?
The Problem with Chronic Diseases
Chronic diseases have become an epidemic and are becoming the leading cause of death and disability.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention six in ten adults in the US have a chronic disease and four in ten have two or more.
These chronic conditions include: Obesity, Diabetes, Heart Disease, Fatty Liver Disease, and Elevated Cholesterol levels. As well as Cancer, High Blood Pressure, Stroke, Alzhemier’s Disease, Emotional Depression, Anxiety and select Autoimmune Diseases.
As unsettling as that sounds there’s still hope! Research has found that many of these chronic diseases are actually rooted in poor lifestyle choices. Meaning it is possible to both prevent AND reverse chronic disease as well.
The Connection Between Weight and Chronic Disease
Poor lifestyle choices are what cause us to be overweight or obese putting us at risk of the diseases mentioned above.
Harvard health agrees that abdominal fat in particular is especially worrisome as it pours free-fatty acids into the liver, pancreas, heart and other organs impairing their function.
As dire as this may seem, there is good news as well.
The Solution
You can not only PREVENT a chronic disease from occurring but also REVERSE the chronic disease YOU ALREADY HAVE!
How? By simply changing your lifestyle habits in order to lose the excess weight!
Let’s discuss what 6 simple lifestyle changes you can implement in order to reverse your chronic disease today!
Table of Contents
6 Simple Lifestyle Changes That Can Reverse Chronic Disease
1) Healthy Eating
Diet is a large factor in the development of a chronic disease.
Eating excess calories consisting mainly of sugar, starches, and trans-fats is a major cause for obesity, diabetes, heart disease and cancer.
Instead, what is recommended is a wholefoods plant-based diet which is low in animal protein, fat, sugar and refined carbohydrates. As proof there is a whole host of scientific evidence which shows how eating a wholefoods plant-based diet can prevent and reverse chronic disease.
But what exactly is a whole foods plant-based diet?
A Whole Foods Plant-Based Diet Consists of the Following:
Whole foods: is natural foods that are not heavily processed
Plant-based: are foods that are derived from plants and not animals including meat, milk, eggs or honey.
Where the major food categories for this type of diet are:
1) Fruits: all types
2) Vegetables: all types
3) Tubers: root vegetables like potatoes, carrots, parsnips, sweet potatoes, beets etc.
4) Whole grains: cereals, grains, quinoa, popcorn kernels, brown rice, millet, whole wheat, oats, barley etc.
5) Legumes: beans, lentils, pulses and similar ingredients
Other foods that are included (but only to be consumed in moderation) are nuts, seeds, tofu, tempeh, whole-grain flour and breads and plant based milk.
The benefits of this diet is not just reversal of your chronic illness but also disease prevention, easier weight management, and a lighter environmental footprint.
Take charge of your diet by adopting one of these eating patterns today.
Check Out More Diets For Reversing Your Chronic Illness:
The Best Diet for Prediabetics and Diabetics – Voted #1 in 2020!
How To Lose Weight With The Anti-Inflammatory Diet
The Best Probiotics For Your Gut! A Doctor’s Guide
How To Quit Sugar For Good And What To Eat Instead!
2) Increase Physical Activity
The amount of physical activity we as adults get is generally not alot when compared to previous generations. This is because we now spend a majority of our time either working from a desk, commuting to and from work, or eating meals. And the one thing that all these “activities” have in common is that we do them predominately sitting down or while stationary!
Which is why only 1 in 4 US adults and 1 in 5 high school students meet the recommended physical activity guidelines. And to add further insult to injury about 31 million adults (50 years and over) have been found to get NO physical activity beyond daily living altogether!
The reason why these stats are alarming is because lack of exercise contributes to chronic illnesses. Therefore, if we aren’t moving, we’re more prone to developing these long lasting illnesses instead.
However, the good news is that regular exercising can improve our symptoms and prevent chronic illnesses from arising.
The Types of Exercises That Help Reverse Chronic Disease
1) Aerobic or cardio workouts – such as high intensity interval training (HIIT) which improves heart health, endurance and aids in weight loss.
2) Strength training – provides muscle strength and endurance making it easier to do daily activities and wards off age-related decline in muscle mass and joint instability.
3) Flexibility exercises – are important to maintain optimal range of motion around the joints and prevent falls from occurring with joint instability.
With all that said and done, how often should you be exercising and at what intensity in order to reap all the benefits?
The Mayo Clinic recommends 30 minutes of physical activity at least 5 days a week.
But remember that some movement is always better than NO movement, so take your time getting started! And continue to make it apart of your daily routine as you slowly build up from there.
Talk to your doctor before beginning any new exercise so that they can decide what is right for you.
Check Out More Exercises To Do For Your Chronic Illness:
Top 11 Resistance Band Exercises For A Total Body Workout At Home
21 Fitness Motivational Quotes To Conquer Your Goals
4 Minute Flat Belly At Home Workout Plan
Top 9 Fat Burning HIIT Workout Videos For Beginners and Advanced
3) Develop Strategies To Manage Stress
In today’s world, stress is a daily phenomena that we all experience and unfortunately many of us don’t deal with all that well.
Whether that’s stress due to high work load, too many family obligations or due to traumatic events, it can become burdening on the body and mind.
In fact according to various research papers, a relationship between stress and illness has been proven time and time again.
While acute stressors are okay because it helps to boost the immune system, chronic stress is the one that causes damaging effects.
Chronic stress generally occurs when stressors last for more than 1 month, are overwhelming, and can not be resolved.
The body undergoes what is called a “fight or flight” response releasing a surge of hormones called adrenaline and cortisol.
When the perceived threat has passed, hormone levels return to normal and other body systems resume their regular activities. However, when the stressor is constantly apart of your life your body remains under attack so the fight or flight response remains on. This results in diabetes, stress ulcers, peptic ulcers, ulcerative colitis, atherosclerosis, heart disease, depression, and schizophrenia.
The way to handle stress is by identifying what your stressors are and to find healthy ways to manage them.
A good example on how to manage stress is by implementing regular yoga practices. Yoga is considered to be one of the best ways to fight stress and manage anxiety. Additionally, it helps reduce chronic disease risk factors and may even alleviate chronic conditions such as depression, pain, anxiety and insomnia.
This is because it is a mind-body practice used in integrative medicine that helps brings physical and mental awareness to one’s self.
Yoga’s 3 Main Components To Help Reverse Chronic Illness
1) Poses or postures which are series of movements that enhance flexibility and strength.
2) Breathing exercises which helps to control your body and silence the mind.
3) Meditation or relaxation which can be done at the beginning or at the end of the yoga practice itself.
I personally do yoga and find it really helps me to relax and decreases my stress levels. What I like the most about yoga is you can do it whenever, wherever and all that is required is a good, non-slip yoga mat.
The GoYoga mat is known to have a good grip and be extra thick, all with an excellent price point.
Click on the BalanceFrom GoYoga Mat at Amazon
This yoga mat pictured above is so popular that I decided to order it for myself. It comes with an excellent price tag and has all the features that I really look for in a good yoga mat.
These include: Double sided (!) non-slip surfaces, which is extra thick, moisture resistant, long in length and doesn’t wear and tear easily. So be sure to check it out if you think it’ll suit your needs as well!
As mentioned earlier, meditation or regular breath work can also help manage your stress levels too. It can be done in conjunction with yoga or simply as a separate practice. It has long been touted as a stress reliever as it relaxes the mind by focusing your attention on something other than your thoughts.
In fact, health professionals have found great use of mindfulness meditation through a structured program. This program is referred to as mindfulness-based stress reduction (MBSR) and helps those with a chronic illness.
The program has the following tenets associated with it:
1) Eating a healthy diet, regular exercise and getting a good nights sleep.
2) Practicing relaxation techniques such as yoga, deep breathing, massage and meditation.
3) Participating in relaxing hobbies such as reading or listening to music.
4) Fostering healthy relationships
5) Laughing
6) Volunteering
7) Seeking counseling
Choose what works for you as everyone is different. As long as you manage your stress in a healthy way you’ll be able to cope better with whatever life throws your way in the future!
Check Out More On Reducing Stress:
11 Absolute Best Yoga Poses For Beginners
Morning Yoga Stretches: Secrets To Waking Up Happier
Meditation 101: The Ultimate Guide To Meditation For Beginners
Top 5 Ways To Relieve Anxiety Naturally With Supplements
4) Form & Maintain Healthy Relationships
Everybody wants to have healthy relationships with everyone in their lives.
As a result, having strong relationships are integral in warding off chronic illnesses just as having strained relationships can cause harm to our health and wellness.
Though there have been many studies that revealed intimate partners have an effect on our well-being, it seems ALL relationships play a central role in our health.
For example, toxic partners, friendships or co-workers can all contribute to a negative internal environment leading to stress, depression, anxiety, and fatal heart conditions.
It’s also been noted that the family emotional climate has a big effect on developing or worsening chronic conditions over a 20 year span of time!
Furthermore, people who feel lonely, depressed and isolated are three to ten times more likely to get sick and die prematurely. Dozens of studies have shown that people who have social support from family, friends and their community are happier, have fewer health problems and live longer.
How Strong Relationships Reverse Chronic Illness
1) People who care about your health will promote positive behaviors and will want you to form healthy habits.
2) Emotional support provided by positive relationships enhances psychological well-being.
3) Positive relationships relieve deleterious levels of stress by triggering the release of stress-reducing hormones, as proven by research.
So it should now make sense why fostering healthy relationships is an important facet in being able to live a disease free life.
The best way to start forming healthy relationships is to now define what it is.
Healthy relationships are characterized by compassion, security, safety, freedom of thinking, sharing, listening, mutual love and caring, healthy debates and disagreements and respectfulness.
Once you understand what makes a healthy relationship, you will be able to foster and maintain one for the betterment of your health.
Check out more on forming healthy loving relationships:
14 Tips For Building A Healthy Loving Relationship
7 Ways To Be A Better Wife & Improve Your Health
17 Self-Relationship Goals: Quotes To Nourish Your Inner Soulmate
5) Improve Your Sleep
As more and more studies are showing, sleep is a huge factor that impacts chronic illness formation.
Poor sleep has been linked to heartburn, diabetes, heart disease, lung disease, mental health, obesity and many more.
Signs of poor sleep quality include not feeling rested even after getting enough sleep, repeatedly waking up during the night, or experiencing symptoms of sleep disorders.
An adequate amount of sleep for an adult should be 7-8 hours/night.
If you are not getting the required amount of sleep it may be time to develop a proper sleep hygiene now.
How To Get A Better Sleep To Reverse Chronic Illness
1) Be consistent by going to bed and waking up at the same time.
2) Make sure the bedroom environment is hospitable to sleep. Meaning dark, quiet, relaxing and at a comfortable temperature.
3) Remove electronic devices such as tv, phones, computers etc. from bedroom.
4) Avoid large meals, caffeine, and alcohol before bed time.
5) Get exercise during the day as it can help you to fall asleep easier at night.
Try and practice these good sleep habits in order to get a better nights rest at the end your day!
If even after attempting these changes, there appears to be no difference in your quality of sleep, talk to your doctor.
6) Avoid Risky Habits
This is one topic I think we are all familiar with and understand the impact risky habits have on diseases, specifically chronic illnesses.
Researchers have long recorded the damage that smoking, alcohol, and drugs has on your health. Hence why all 3 habits are hence labelled as major risk factors for many chronic conditions.
Make a healthier choice to quit today for the safety of your own health. And to help reverse any chronic disease you may have.
Check out more to help with chronic illness:
Top 17 Simple Healthy Habits That Will Change Your Life!
3 Simple Steps To Lose Weight If You Weigh Over 200lbs
5 Reasons Why You Are Not Losing Weight & How To Change It!
2 Things I Started Doing To FINALLY lose weight!
How To Lose Weight FAST – Research Proven Results
Choosing health and happiness should be our number one priority.
By making these 6 Simple Lifestyle Changes you can change the outcome of your life today:
1. Eat a healthier diet consistently
2. Incorporate daily activity regularly throughout the day
3. Develop strategies that will effectively help manage stress
4. Form and maintain healthy relationships with others
5. Develop a proper sleep hygiene
6. Avoid engaging in regular risky behaviors
