Health in the Age of Chronic Diseases

Let's call it the Five Per Cent Community. It's not unlike the one per cent club.

?Both are rare privileges.

?The former has all the health in the world and the latter all the wealth.

?The Five Per Cent issue was much discussed when a 2015 study posted that only about 5% of the world's population was healthy.

?The World Health Organization predicted that global chronic disease prevalence would rise 57 per cent by 2020. The pandemic compounded the numbers, and the world is still grappling with the final tally of COVID-19's impact.

?Two questions underline these numbers and projections: Why are we so vulnerable to diseases today? Are we less healthy than the previous generations?

?The answers are not a resounding yes.

?And that's unfortunate because we are living in the best possible times. Healthcare is evolving at a tremendous speed. The technologies to treat chronic and complex diseases have never been so result-oriented. We have more food to eat today than people in previous generations. We have better medicines and medical treatments than ever before. We are also living longer.

?So much good news. Yet, lifestyle diseases are on the rise. More people are suffering from heart problems, diabetes, hypertension, and obesity, than before. Younger adults are dying of heart attacks. More children are obese today than in the previous generations.

?It's hard to miss the connection: our modern lifestyles.

?So how do we solve the Five Per Cent problem?

?By asking yourself, how beautiful is my body? No, it's not what you think. It's not what your mirror reveals. Instead, think of a camera that captures shots of your organs. How beautiful will those images be? Would your lungs show up clean? Will your heart look clear, strong, free of plaque? How about your liver? Will it look firm and handsome? ?Will your intestines look unclogged and clear?

How about your kidneys? Will they appear in full flush?

This prime state of the internal organs is the actual definition of a beautiful body.

Humans are designed to walk, run, sweat, and toil. We are built to eat to live, pick and choose the foods that will sustain us, and voluntarily desist from indulgence.

There is a work and reward system that is hard-wired into our bodies. It is an intelligence that is more than two million years old. So, when we work our body less and reward it more, we pay the price for disrespecting this intelligence.

Let us help ourselves have a beautiful body inside out. This pursuit is the oldest secret of preventative medicine in plain view.?