I was asked to give a presentation to my friends at Willamette View Independent Living recently and I based my talk on this quote from Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn, Jr.
I know it sounds like a strange statement, but when you look at some of the statistics today, like these from the CDC that say:
- 71.6% of adults, 20 or older, are overweight (2017)
- 39.8% of adults, 20 or older, are obese (2017)
- 20.6% of adolescents age 12-19 are obese (2015-2016)
- 18.4% of children age 6-11 are obese (2015-2016)
- 13.9% of children age 2-5 are obese (2015-2016)
You begin to wonder, don’t you?
Add to those facts the number of people here in America today who have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, some form of heart disease, or type 2 diabetes….and I tend to think he may be right.
But wait, what does all of that have to do with the way we eat you ask?
There is a slide in the presentation that talks about where most of us get our daily calories from….
- 63% come from processed food
- 25% come from animal-based foods
- 12% come from plants
And remember, french fries, ketchup, and pizza fall into the PLANT category according to out school lunch programs.
In other words, we eat like CRAP (Calorie-Rich-And-Processed), and we’re fat and sick because of it.
That is why I chose this topic for my presentation, to point out the obvious problem, and then to offer 10 easy solutions to help improve not only our weight but also our health.
As I said in the lecture, this is NOT meant to be a “How to Become Vegan Guide” but rather simple, common-sense steps that anyone can use to improve the way they eat.
Even if you just implement ONE of the ten steps you are better off than you were before.
So with that said, here are my ….
10 Simple Ways To Improve Our Health
Rather than go into detail on each and every step, I thought I would just point you to the YouTube Video I made of the presentation instead.
In the video you can see every slide I used in the presentation and listen to me briefly explaining why we should be avoiding those foods.
As I said, this is not an ‘all or nothing’ deal.
Even just eliminating fast food, which is step 1, will make a HUGE difference in the way you look and feel.
And it IS common sense, right? Do you really believe those greasy burger & chicken joints are good for you? Chock FULL of vitamins, minerals, and overall good nutrition?
Come on….. you know that fast food is nothing more than salt, sugar, and fat – with all kinds of engineered ‘flavors’ to make sure we keep coming back for more. It’s a train wreck waiting to happen.
Remember, the more steps you implement, or to put it another way, the more healthily you eat, the better off you will be in the long run.
You will then be well on your way to taking control of your health and maybe even becoming a Brand New Vegan yourself.
Enjoy the video.
PS – As an added bonus to those of you who are subscribers to my newsletter, I am also going to make the pdf version of my talk available for download in my free resource library.
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