Treating disease with the right diet

Time and again patients come to me with mild elevations in their blood sugar and cholesterol and blood pressure. The decision is always whether to start medication or change their diet. Many give in to taking medication as it seems to be the "easy path." Its not. In fact, its probably not the better path either. The problem with medications is for one, people(and often doctors) become dependent on them. Many patients feel that once a blood pressure or diabetes medicines are started, they will never get off of them. People often continue poor lifestyle habits, such as eating the wrong foods and not exercising, and they fulfill that prophecy of never ending medications. Doctors often lose momentum with patients as it takes less time and effort to start a medicine than to intensively discuss diet and exercise regimens. These are big problems. Escalating health care costs are another byproduct of this situation. More medications, more labs to be drawn, more visits to specialists, even gastric bypass surgery... it never ends. But it can be stopped. I've seen it happen. All it takes, as Dr. David Kessler says, it to change the rules. People have to change their rules of eating. Cook more, learn healthy tasty ingredients to use and choose food wisely when eating out. I'm hoping that this blog and its links to interesting cooking and grocery sites will help people find the right path. The time is now!!