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January 29, 2018

Chronic Disease Can Be Prevented

Cancer, heart disease, diabetes and Alzheimer's. There’s a host of other but let’s call these the big 4. This quote from medicinenet.com, “chronic diseases generally CANNOT be prevented by vaccines or cured by medication, nor do they just disappear.” These are disease that doctors, generally, do not have a cure for and that is because the root cause of the symptoms are largely something that is within the control of the patient and not the doctor. The two main causes for these diseases? Sedentarism and excess refined carbohydrates.

The heart disease and diabetes are the easy ones. I think we’re all getting very comfortable admitting that sugar is largely responsible for how those diseases develop in a person. If you still don’t believe the heart disease one I’ll make it simple, too much sugar in your blood thickens the blood, makes it almost like molasses. This in turn makes it harder for cholesterol to get through your arteries and then boom...lights out.

Cancer and Alzheimer’s are the new ones and these are also not very tricky to discuss but certainly people still haven’t quite come around on sugar being the root cause here so let’s dive into that.

The brain runs on glucose. This is quite common knowledge and it’s no wonder you get a headache every time you have gone more than 4 hours without food. Does the brain HAVE to run on glucose? No. It actually runs better on and prefers ketones. So, if the brain runs on glucose but doesn’t need it, what happens when you overload the brain with glucose i.e sugar? You have a problem. The constant burning of sugar in the brain causes a glycation to take place on the brain in what is essentially the brain drowning in sugar. It becomes like a white cloud that just hangs over the brain and eliminates cognitive function.

Cancer. As we’ve all been told for quite some time we have cancer cells in us that are just "dormant." And, while that’s kind of true, if that were really the case it makes you wonder why some people never have their cancer cells “wake up”. The truth of the matter is we all have cells in us...duh. A cell can become cancerous when the mitochondria ceases to function. The constant glycation of the mitochondria basically causes it to ferment and instead of dying it turns into a cancer cell to sustain some semblance of life. Yes, cancer is a natural response of your body to preserve in what other words might be a dead cell. If the cells die out, you die, so your body aims to keep you alive by converting the cell.

I’m going to tell you a story now about an aunt of mine. She had a cancerous tumor, went to see a doctor, the doctor told her she needed to do some bouts of chemo before he could remove it. She agreed. She did 6 rounds. She went back to the doctor and he told her that the tumor was still at a size he was not comfortable at removing. He said she had to do 3 more bouts of chemo. She agreed again. She returned only to be told that it STILL could not be removed. She lost trust in the doctor and went to see another doctor. This new doctor told her the same thing. “I need you to do a bout of chemo just once more in order to remove it.” She agreed, AGAIN. This new doctor told her the same thing after. “The tumor is STILL not a size in which I feel I can comfortably remove it.” My aunt did more than enough rounds of chemo in order to shrink the size of the tumor, of that I am certain. However, did she change her diet? My aunt has always been overweight. She’s always enjoyed soda and tortillas. Why change it if no one recommended it? Well, I am certain the tumor didn’t shrink because cancer cells are fueled by glucose.

Chronic disease are largely diseases that can be prevented. They can be prevented if you do some high intensity exercise. You can actually lower your insulin sensitivity and increase your HDL cholesterol levels with high intensity exercise. They can also be prevented if you’re staying away from refined carbohydrates. These are just the facts.

To learn more about them and how to get your nutrition in check, email me at jobie@crossfitvirilis.com. 

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