Show 929: Can You Become Disease-Proof?

Research has shown that more than 80 percent of the chronic diseases that cause so much trouble today could be prevented by making some specific changes in our daily lives. That’s way better than any prescribed medication.

It probably won’t come as a surprise to learn that you should follow a healthy diet, move your body every day, avoid smoking and control your weight. But this seemingly simple advice is far from easy to accomplish.

Skills for Staying Healthy

The problem, says Dr. David Katz, is not that we lack the willpower to make the changes we should. We need skillpower to get on track with a healthy lifestyle and keep it up over time.

Are you suffering whiplash from the diverse dietary plans that are promoted so vociferously? Should you eat low-fat or low-carb? Follow the China diet or a Paleo plan? Dr. Katz has some straightforward advice to cut through all the confusion and help us learn to love foods that will love us back.

In his book Disease-Proof, Dr. Katz provides concrete advice on how to shop, cook and modify our environment so that eating healthfully becomes easier. He also describes how our lifestyle changes can alter the way our genes behave (through epigenetic effects) so that we can add life to our years as well as years to our lives.

Guest:

David L. Katz, MD, MPH, FACPM, FACP, is Director of the Yale University Prevention Research Center and editor in chief of the journal Childhood Obesity. He is a clinical instructor in medicine at the Yale School of Medicine and Director of the Integrative Medicine Center at Griffin Hospital. He is also President Elect of the American College of Lifestyle Medicine. His book is Disease Proof: The Remarkable Truth about What Makes Us Well.

His website is www.davidkatzmd.com