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The Best Ways to Prevent Chronic Illness

Are you overweight or feel like crap? Turns out most people are, even our youth. Staying healthy shouldn’t be this difficult. Find out a straightforward fix to prevent chronic illness that often goes ignored.

healthy and vibrant woman on the beach preventing chronic illness

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This post is all about ways to prevent chronic illness.

In the U.S., more people die from preventable diseases than ever. Obesity is a widespread pandemic. We are consuming products that our bodies haven’t adapted to. People are fatter and sicker than ever before. If you struggle with your health, you are not alone! Learn how to prevent chronic illness and get back on track before it is too late.

Wellness Wisdom: The Best Ways to Prevent Chronic Illness

For most people, the way to health seems like a rocky road to nowhere. Unfortunately, our society has its fair share of problems concerning health, and most of these are diseases caused by excess—too much salt, sugar, and unhealthy food.

Compared to fifty years ago, we eat more often, and the food quality is much worse. We are filling ourselves with products instead of wholesome, real food. As a result of our food addictions, we are sick, overweight, yet starving for proper nourishment. That makes it challenging to stay healthy.

After World War II, the country began booming with new food industries and exciting trends in food products that everyone wanted to buy. What once was a minimalist society changed dramatically. The dream of success was becoming a reality for many entrepreneurs and businesses looking to grow rich with their latest products and ideas.

Fast forward to modern times, and finally, we notice the problems being driven by consumerism. Hindsight is 20/20, but the issues that are causing widespread disease are not going to go away any time soon.

why everyone is getting sick and how to prevent chronic illness

How to Prevent Disease in an Unhealthy World

From pollution and a growing waste problem to detrimental effects on climate, consumerism creates a path of destruction. At this rate, we are turning the Earth’s natural resources into trash about 70% faster than would be sustainable (1).

Consumerism drives our country. It is a luxury to live in such abundance that we can buy things beyond what we do not need. However, this trend is wasteful and unsustainable. It cannot go on forever without disastrous consequences.

Oh, but such consequences have already begun to take effect. Climate change, pollution, habitat loss, and the compounding mountain of plastic waste seem intangible. It is out of sight, out of mind for most of us.

an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure steps to prevent chronic illness

The Key to a Health is Prevention.

However, those aren’t the only things going wrong. Our parents, sisters, brothers, friends, and maybe even ourselves suffer from chronic diseases. And, if you have one, chances are you will develop a few more chronic illnesses in your lifetime.

Gut Health and Chronic Diseases

Research shows that a poor diet and other environmental factors can have a detrimental effect on the gut microbiome, which is a critical factor in disease.

Humanity has experienced a dramatic increase in chronic health problems such as cancer, obesity, diabetes, allergies, and autoimmune disorders over the last century. By the 1960s, doctors and scientists concluded that chronic disease resulted from cigarette use, high blood pressure, diet, and lack of exercise, all of which are preventable. (2)

The keys to preventing chronic illness lies in our environment

The Keys to Preventing Chronic Illness Lie in Our Environment.

Recent technology has led to much progress in understanding the pathology of diseases. Now, we know health depends on how our genes react to our environment. Everything around us, from the air we breathe to the foods we eat, makes up our environment.

While it is essential to understand that diet is not the only culprit that can negatively impact your health, it is a great place to start. Changing your diet can have a positive impact on gene expression. Healthy eating is something we can control. A nutrient-dense diet can result in quick, measurable improvements in one’s health.

Unfortunately, it is difficult to change our habits in a society set up to keep us checking our phones, clicking ads, and spending money on unhealthy foods.

So, we become overweight and maybe even diabetic. Our environments stay the same or worsen over time, and we may develop heart disease or cancer. Some of us are fortunate to go on and live a long life, but a limited one due to disease-related disabilities.

We become bound by health problems and all the medical costs that go with them. As a result, we no longer feel like living our best lives. Prevention is the key to a healthy lifestyle. Disease and deterioration do not have to be inevitable.

Read more about how the environment affects gene expression.

prevent chronic illness with sustainable, natural living

Prevent Chronic Illnesses with Sustainable, Natural Living.

Historically, when people lived more sustainably and were self-sufficient, they were healthier. Chronic illnesses didn’t occur very often. They didn’t have access to junk foods, and it was more common to eat much less. They didn’t eat three meals and two snacks daily, as we do in modern times.

Data shows that economic growth leads to chronic disease, obesity, and climate change. (3)

Abundance is a blessing, but data shows that the wealthier we become as a nation, health declines for both people and the environment. Furthermore, we saw much evidence of climate recovery during the pandemic in 2020-2021, as most of the world was in quarantine (7).

Also, our current food systems in America and most of the world are unsustainable. Excessive use of pesticides and fertilizers, among other things, creates devastating environmental problems.

It shouldn’t take a devastating economic collapse to force us to create more sustainable systems.

Preventing Chronic Illness is Simple; Treating it is Difficult.

We learned about ecosystems in school and how every living thing interacts and depends on one another in that system. However, we rarely consider that humans are a part of an ecosystem.

We are not separate from the environment in which we live.

We are a part of nature, and the expressions of our genes depend on their interactions within our environment. When we deprive our bodies of nutritious foods and expose ourselves to toxins, allergens, VOCs, and other harmful pollutants, we stand in the way of our health.

However, adopting a natural and sustainable lifestyle might be the simplest solution to your health and well-being. For example, eating more self-sufficient by growing a little (or a lot) of your food will change your health.

Furthermore, a nutrient-dense and organically grown diet can support healthy gene expression and prevent the onset of inflammation and disease. (4) The positive changes from living with nature instead of against it won’t stop there.

Collectively, we could make a real difference in more pressing issues like pollution and climate health.

You need not be an extremist against consumerism to make headway into a more sustainable life. But, consider how much money you spend on things that hurt your health. Read these tips about sustainable shopping!

a woman with locally grown vegetables

Why is This Way of Preventing Chronic Illness So Simple Yet Overlooked?

Sustainable living is not the most popular lifestyle. It doesn’t support the latest fashions, and few businesses make money off your choice to be environmentally responsible and more self-sufficient. 

Thankfully, with more discoveries in science and technology that add to this body of knowledge, the importance of eco-friendly and sustainable living is on an upward trend. Did you know you can reduce food waste simply by adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet?

However, having and applying this knowledge are two different things. We are creatures of habit, and that means change can be challenging. In a society with everything at our fingertips, living a slower life is complicated.  

I urge you not to wait until the day you receive a diagnosis to make changes to your lifestyle. You can prevent chronic illness by making a few adjustments now. Prevention is the key to a long, beautiful life.

Sometimes, a little knowledge can go a long way to change your life and the lives of others for the better.

Read more about TFH.

Key Takeaways on How Sustainable Living Affects Your Health

  1. Human health is proportionate to environmental health.  
  2. Our personal environments (diet, stress, pollution, etc.) determine our genetic expression.
  3. Many diseases stem from the reaction between our genes and our environment (5).
  4. The more we buy things we don’t need, the more our planet is damaged, and the fatter and sicker we become (3).
  5. Making more sustainable choices and opting to live a more natural lifestyle promotes environmental health in the world and in our personal lives.
  6. Choosing sustainably sourced foods for a nutrient-dense diet lowers your risk of developing a chronic disease by nourishing the microbiome and supporting gene health (6).
  7. A sustainable lifestyle better supports the environment and helps prevent the onset of illnesses in the body.
why does everyone ignore this key to staying healthy?

References and Further Reading

  1. The World Counts. (n.d.). The World Counts. Retrieved April 18, 2022, from https://www.theworldcounts.com/challenges/planet-earth/state-of-the-planet/number-of-consumers/story
  2. Mannino, D. M. (2019). Fifty Years of Progress in the Epidemiology of Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease: A Review of National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute-Sponsored Studies. Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Diseases: Journal of the COPD Foundation, 6(4), 350–358. https://doi.org/10.15326/jcopdf.6.4.2019.0145
  3. Egger, G. (2011). Obesity, Chronic Disease, and Economic Growth: A Case for “Big Picture” Prevention. Advances in Preventive Medicine, 2011, 1–6. https://doi.org/10.4061/2011/149158
  4. Cena, H., & Calder, P. C. (2020). Defining a Healthy Diet: Evidence for the Role of Contemporary Dietary Patterns in Health and Disease. Nutrients, 12(2), 334. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12020334
  5. Gene and Environment Interaction. (n.d.). National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences. Retrieved May 3, 2022, from https://www.niehs.nih.gov/health/topics/science/gene-env/index.cfm
  6. Matusheski, N. V., Caffrey, A., Christensen, L., Mezgec, S., Surendran, S., Hjorth, M. F., McNulty, H., Pentieva, K., Roager, H. M., Seljak, B. K., Vimaleswaran, K. S., Remmers, M., & Péter, S. (2021). Diets, nutrients, genes, and the microbiome: recent advances in personalised nutrition. British Journal of Nutrition, 126(10), 1489–1497. https://doi.org/10.1017/s0007114521000374
  7. Rume, T., & Islam, S. D. U. (2020). Environmental effects of COVID-19 pandemic and potential strategies of sustainability. Heliyon, 6(9), e04965. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.heliyon.2020.e04965

Did you know that the gut microbiota in a person with diabetes, obesity, or MS has a different profile than a healthy person’s microbiome? These diseases can be diagnosed just by looking at what is living inside our gut. Pendulum Therapeutics is ahead of the curve with these three probiotics, and you can buy them without a prescription. I reduced my weight and insulin sensitivity with Glucose Control. I use it and trust it. – Tara


This post was about how natural and sustainable living are vital ways to prevent chronic illness.

Would you like to learn more about how you can live a healthy and more sustainable life? Check out these articles!


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