Dr. Mercola December 31 2005 1,318 views
According to the American Public Health Association's annual report, the trend of improvements in Americans' overall health has come to a halt as more people become obese and fewer quit smoking.
The report, which examines 18 health indicators including smoking, infant mortality, and immunization, shows that although U.S. overall health improved by an average of 1.5 percent a year during the 1990s, that increase has slowed to just 0.3 percent since 2000.
Findings included:
Although I am no fan of smoking, I rarely suggest that a smoker stop smoking. For nearly everyone, getting their food choices under control is far more important.
My sister attended the first smoking cessation clinic I directed 20 years ago when I did not yet understand this principal. I was focused on "preventive medicine" and was convinced that helping people stop smoking was the most important move you could make for their physical health.
Well, they sure fooled me because this simply isn't true.
I really did not understand insulin and nutritional typing back then and was clueless about the importance of grain restriction. So my sister did not have this help and as a result her weight more than doubled and now she is obese. I sincerely believe she would be healthier smoking and at a lower weight.
Ideally, of course, she would not smoke and eat the right food. But for most people this becomes a near impossible task, as the stress caused by stopping smoking typically prevents good food choices and food is used as a reward for giving up the smoking.
So my current approach is to get people on a healthy diet and then have them stop smoking. Once they are eating properly it actually becomes far easier to stop smoking.
1. Retool your diet based on the right foods your body burns and consumes best for your unique nutritional type.
2. Reduce, with the plan of eliminating, grains and sugars from your daily diet.
3. Start moving on an exercise plan today!
4. Rebalance your intake of omega-3 fats by taking a high-quality fish or cod liver oil daily.
5. Tackle the emotional issues that have crippled your health by learning an effective energy psychology tool like the Emotional Freedom Technique. This can help smokers (and sugar addicts!) quit and get on the road to better health.