Friday, November 24, 2017

What You Need To Know About Western Diets And Disease

By Eric Walker


With fast-rising obesity rates, the rate of chronic illness within the US is also rising. The undeniable link between Western diets and disease is worth noting. It appears that what people eat can have a significant impact on their lifespans and their overall life qualities. Following are several things that modern consumers should know concerning the connection between dietary decisions and all-around health.

It is first important to note that people in the west are consuming an inordinate amount of sugar. These individuals are eating a lot of highly processed and refined foods that contain unnecessary additives. This is the primary cause of obesity in the west, as well as diabetes, hypertension, and many other common ailments.

Beyond increasing the risk of diabetes, obesity and many other issues that are weight-related, refined sugar is responsible of causing internal inflammation. In the west, this is actually one of the top causes of disease. People who maintain diets that are high in sugar tend to have a much higher likelihood of things like arthritis, cancer and even fungal infections that are widespread and systemic.

Corn happens to be a major commodity in the west and people are eating massive and regular servings of this vegetable. Unfortunately, however, they are not consuming it in its original state but are being exposed to byproducts of corn that the human body cannot effectively metabolize. Among some of these are maltodextrin and both corn syrup and high fructose corn syrup.

There are times, however, when dietary concerns are far more related to the foods that people are not eating than the ones that they are actually consuming. People in western countries are not always making an effort to eat heart-healthy fats, whole grains, and multiple servings of fresh produce. This means that the are not experiencing the natural, revitalizing benefits of these goods.

Another important thing to note is that modern food production has had a significant and very negative impact on overall food quality. Soil depletion has lead to a shortage of minerals in cultivated foods. Thus, even when people are doing their best to eat healthily, they are often still missing out on a range of essential nutrients. This is why more people are experiencing significant vitamin, mineral and other nutrient deficiencies.

Diets in developed nations should be significantly higher in nutritional value than the diets in undeveloped nations. The introduction of genetically modified foods and the lack of nutrients in food that has been locally cultivated, however, have raised a number of new and serious health concerns. Americans are undernourished, even as many of them remain overweight. Surprisingly, this has even lead to a number of mental health issues such as chronic anxiety, chronic depression, mood swings, and more. With nutritional deficiencies, emotional distress is often one of the very first and most common symptoms.

Westerners often maintain diets that are largely animal based as well. The best way to fuel the body, however, is by implementing a diet that is largely plant-based. This helps fight internal inflammation, diminish cancer rates, and fuels the body with essential antioxidants and phytonutrients. These nutritional additions actually stave off disease rather than contribute to it, by bolstering the immune system and limiting inflammation.




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