How Food Helps Combat Disease
By Lizzie Streit, MS, RDN, LD
You’re probably familiar with the catchphrase “food is medicine,” insinuating that the food you eat can be an antidote for health issues. While it’s not necessarily accurate that food can replace medications, the sentiment carries some truth.
A healthy diet can absolutely help in chronic disease prevention and treatment. In fact, the World Health Organization (WHO) estimates that 80 percent of deaths due to heart disease, the leading chronic disease in this country, may be preventable through lifestyle modifications.
This article provides insight into how diet plays a role in chronic disease, including heart disease, type 2 diabetes, cancer, dementia, and arthritis.
Chronic Diseases in the United States
A chronic disease is one that persists for over a year and needs continuous monitoring or treatment. In the United States, about half of the population has at least one chronic disease. Some of the leading chronic diseases include heart disease, cancer, and diabetes but also lung diseases and mental health diagnoses. These conditions can lead to disability, death, and poor quality of life, as well as high health care costs.
Heart Disease
Heart disease accounts for a significant amount of deaths every year, but it’s also a preventable condition. Most of the risk factors for heart disease, including unhealthy diet, overweight and obesity, physical inactivity, smoking, and high blood pressure, are modifiable. You can’t control having a family history of heart disease, but you can act to improve your lifestyle and lower your risk.
Here are some tips for eating (and exercising) your way to a healthy heart. These tips are helpful for both prevention and treatment of heart disease.
Fill up on plant foods. Think fruits and vegetables, nuts and seeds, and beans. These foods provide fiber, vitamins, minerals, and beneficial compounds that can help lower cholesterol and overall keep your ticker healthy.
Choose mostly whole grains. Instead of white bread and foods with refined carbohydrates, opt for brown rice, 100% whole grain bread and pasta, quinoa, farro, bulgur, and oats. Whole grain foods have more fiber than refined options.
Be careful with salt. Excessive sodium intake has been linked to high blood pressure. Instead of adding salt to foods, season them with herbs and spices. Enjoy restaurant foods in moderation instead of everyday, and look for low sodium canned items.
Watch the fat. Go for mostly unsaturated fats, especially extra virgin olive oil, avocado, nuts and seeds, and fatty fish, in place of saturated fats from animal products.
Move! Incorporate activity throughout your day to hit the recommended 150 minutes of moderate physical activity each week. Take the stairs, walk with your family around the neighborhood, or pick up a new exercise class.
Type 2 Diabetes
Type 2 diabetes is a reality for so many Americans, with the number of diagnoses continuing to climb. This condition is marked by insulin resistance that leads to high blood sugar levels. Over time, uncontrolled blood sugar can contribute to kidney disease, high blood pressure, heart disease, and even blindness.
Diet plays a pivotal role in diabetes prevention, but it’s important to emphasize that good nutrition can also help with treatment and even lead to remission in some instances.
Almost everyone can benefit from the diet and lifestyle recommendations for type 2 diabetes. Here are some of the top tips:
Drop some pounds. Modest weight loss, even just 5% of body weight, can be extremely helpful for improving outcomes of type 2 diabetes.
Build a diabetes-friendly plate. Fill at least half of your plate with non-starchy vegetables, a quarter with lean protein, and another quarter with healthy carbohydrates. Whole grains, sweet potatoes, and fruit are good carbohydrate choices. If you need help building a fresh meal plan, consider a meal delivery service.
Make food choices to prevent complications. Since diabetes can put you at a higher risk of heart disease, consider some of the aforementioned tips. Choose mostly unsaturated fats and be wary of sodium intake.
Improve insulin sensitivity through movement. Exercise can be hugely beneficial for keeping blood sugar levels under control. Just remember to discuss changes to your exercise routine with your doctor first, especially if you are on medications.
Cancer
Although there are many factors that influence cancer development, diet and lifestyle are thought to play a role. Maintaining a healthy weight, eating a nutritious diet, and staying active may help prevent cancer. Plus, eating well during cancer treatment can be helpful for improving strength and energy levels.
The American Cancer Society recommends the following guidelines for nutrition and physical activity:
Lose weight if needed. It’s estimated that excess body weight may be responsible for close to 11% of cancers in women and 5% of cancers in men in the United States. Prioritize weight loss by eating a healthy diet and exercising or even following a meal plan with 1200 calories per day.
Eat nutrient-rich foods and limit foods associated with a higher cancer risk. This means enjoying deeply pigmented vegetables and fruits and fiber-rich beans and grains that contain antioxidants and other beneficial compounds. On the other hand, limit red and processed meats, sugar-sweetened beverages, sugary desserts, refined grain products, and highly processed foods.
Skip the alcohol. Excess alcohol intake can have cancer-causing effects. In fact, not drinking alcohol at all is often recommended to help prevent cancer. Instead of a nightly beer, reach for water or a mocktail instead.
Alzheimer’s and Dementia
Alzheimer’s disease is the most common form of dementia, affecting more than 6 million people in the United States. Other chronic conditions, including heart disease and diabetes, are risk factors for Alzheimer’s disease. Since nutrition can play a role in the prevention of treatment of these conditions, it has a potential role in preventing dementia too.
Many of the tips for brain healthy eating focus on managing underlying conditions and include the following:
Keep blood pressure under control. Monitor your blood pressure regularly with the help of your doctor, and take any medications as needed. From a dietary perspective, limit sodium intake and increase consumption of potassium-rich foods (like squash, beans, bananas, and avocado).
Manage blood sugar. Eat balanced meals with lean protein and healthy fats, alongside mostly non-starchy vegetables and a serving of healthy carbohydrates. Limit eating carbohydrates, especially refined carbohydrates, alone.
Maintain a healthy weight. Similar to the recommendations for other chronic diseases, weight loss is suggested if you are overweight or obese to reduce the risk of dementia.
Arthritis
It may not be as well-known of a chronic condition as heart disease and diabetes, but arthritis is a potentially debilitating issue that affects almost a quarter of all adults in the United States. Nutrition can play a pivotal role in treating arthritis, via reducing inflammation. In addition, maintaining a healthy weight is important for protecting your joints and potentially preventing knee arthritis.
The Arthritis Foundation recommends following a diet similar to the Mediterranean diet that includes anti-inflammatory foods. Here’s how to do that:
Fill up on fish. Enjoy fatty fish, such as salmon, sardines, and anchovies, twice a week to get enough omega-3 fatty acids. These fats help fight inflammation, which contributes to arthritis symptoms.
Eat nuts and seeds. When it comes to arthritis, a handful of nuts a day may help keep the doctor away. The monounsaturated fat in nuts and seeds, in addition to the many vitamins and minerals, makes them particularly nourishing.
Cook with olive oil. Extra virgin olive oil contains a compound that may have excellent anti-inflammatory potential. Luckily, it’s easy to incorporate olive oil into your diet and reap the possible benefits. Use it as the base of a salad dressing or toss vegetables in some before roasting.
Don’t fear nightshades, but be aware of them. You may have heard that you have to avoid nightshade fruits and vegetables, such as eggplant, tomatoes, and potatoes, when you have arthritis. While no scientific research supports the theory that these foods worsen arthritis flares, some people report improvement in symptoms when they remove them from their diet. If you’re interested in eliminating them and tracking the effect on your arthritis, consider working with a registered dietitian to guide you through the process. However, keep in mind that many people don’t see a difference after getting rid of nightshades too.
Note from Healthy For Life Meals: If you have a chronic disease or want to make dietary changes for disease prevention, our meals can help! They’re full of the healthful foods mentioned in this article and can help with weight loss. Check out our menus and get started today!