Heart Disease- Part One

I know you've heard America is getting bigger. This first slide makes it very clear America has changed size over the last 40 years. Regardless of whether you agree the standards are too tight or not, clearly we are getting bigger as a population. 

Part of the justification of standards as tight as they are is the growth of illnesses that are related to weight gain. As we get bigger as a population, there is an increased prevalence of many illnesses. Diabetes is just one of them. As you can see from the second slide, the top two maps are the growth obesity from in a 10 year window of time. The bottom two maps are growth of type two diabetes during the same period of time. Understand this!! Type 2 diabetes has exploded in our country, and it's directly tied to our weight gain. 

Part of this sad story is that type 2 diabetes use to be referred to as adult onset diabetes. It was rare to have this type of diabetes happen in children 40 years ago. Now, 90% percent of the individuals that have diabetes have type 2 diabetes. That statistic scares me a ton! 

What scares me as well is that long before individuals are diagnosed with diabetes they go 10-15 years with elevated blood sugars before diabetes finally kicks in. The truth of the matter is that the heart attack that you're going to have (if you're going to have one, and MOST of you are, MOST OF YOU! It's the number one killer in America) anyhow, the heart attack that your going to have is being built right now with your lack of exercise and the food you're eating. The disease has already started, and plaque is growing. 

I can hear the thoughts of many of you who complain that the scale doesn't accurately reflect health risk. You're just a bigger person, and you come from a long line of bigger people. Certainly BMI (Body Mass Index) doesn't really accurately reflect risk. I agree! So does a bunch of data! However, take no comfort in that belly of yours my friends. It's no friend of yours! 

As you can see from the last slide, BMI doesn't really show you whether you have risk of heart disease or not. Look at the bottom row of BMI tertiles. The bottom row, the risk stays the same from right to left at .05 as BMI goes up. 

However! As that belly starts to poke out a little regardless of the fact whether your skinny or overweight you risk of type 2 diabetes and heart disease goes up. That belly is a bomb! It's dangerous, and it's doing horrible things to your insides. It is telling you that something in your lifestyle is screwed up! 

The point I'm hoping to make is that if you are over weight, you're headed type 2 diabetes. And with that joyful disease comes a long list of gifts: Heart disease, Stroke, Eyesight loss, Kidney failure, foot ulcers, nerve damage, loss of limbs due to poor circulation, and so many more! 

A related point, some of you are genetically unlucky (see Jacob family). You have a gift given to you by your ancestors that puts you at risk of heart disease. The good news is it's easily diagnosed and treated with some pretty good natural solutions. It doesn't show up on a standard cholestrol panel, but a good doctor who knows your family history should send you to get an advanced lipid panel and this can identify what actually is wrong and help to identify the correct solution. FYI, most americans being treated for heart disease  don't have the correct solution in place. I'll make that case later, but it's easily proven.