A doctor warns about two simple dietary mistakes that increase the risk of chronic diseases
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Nutrition may be the key to protecting yourself from diseases, including devastating conditions like cancer.
That’s according to doctors like Dr. Frank Dumont, an internal medicine physician and executive medical director of Virta Health, a Colorado-based group that addresses metabolic health through diet.
In an on-camera interview with News Digital, Dumont said Americans have experienced an increase in obesity, diabetes, autoimmune diseases and cancer in recent decades, which “probably has a lot to do with our lifestyle.”
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“We know that food is a big part of that… our diet has changed dramatically over the last few decades,” he said.
“A lot of the foods we eat are much more processed. They have much more simple carbohydrates and simple sugars than before.”
“The better you know your body, the better you can make decisions and make these kinds of changes,” one doctor said. (iStock)
These foods have been linked to increased insulin and inflammation, leading to health complications, Dumont warned.
To reduce the risk of chronic diseases, he encouraged people to make the following simple changes.
“It depends on the individual situation,” he said. “The better you know your body, the better you can make decisions and make these types of changes.”
1. Choose real fruit instead of fruit juice
To help achieve the goal of consuming more fiber and natural products, Dumont recommends eating real fruit instead of drinking fruit juice, which is highly processed.
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“Fruit juice may have some benefits – it has minerals, vitamins and micronutrients – but the bottom line is that it is more processed and a lot of the fiber that is supposed to go hand in hand with the sugar in fruit has been removed,” he said.
Eating whole fruits instead of drinking processed fruit juice is a healthier option, the doctor recommended. (iStock)
Dumont added that he does not believe in “villainizing” the fruit, as it has come under scrutiny for its high sugar content.
“The fruit is in very good health,” he said. “It depends on that person’s individual metabolism. If someone is that metabolically ill, that insulin resistant… even some very healthy fruits may be more than their body can handle.”
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“But for most people, and especially earlier, when they’re not as metabolically sick, the wonderful thing about fruit is that you’re actually packing all that sugar into the fiber.”
2. Choose not to eat breaded chicken
According to Dumont, making this small change, even at a fast food restaurant, can improve overall health.
Instead of selecting a high-carb menu item, like a breaded chicken sandwich, choosing a chicken salad makes for a more complete meal.
Choose grilled chicken in a salad instead of breaded chicken in a sandwich, one doctor recommended. (iStock)
He also recommended choosing grilled chicken instead of fried and breaded.
“If you put it on top of some lettuce with a good, healthy dressing, it can be extremely healthy to eat at a fast food restaurant while you’re on the road,” he said.
Food as medicine
Dumont said he has seen many patients lose their fight against chronic diseases when treated with medication alone.
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“I saw people getting sicker and sicker and that was really disheartening for me,” he said. “What I discovered later in my career is the power of nutrition and lifestyle. And it’s something that, honestly, I’ve been trained to be pessimistic about.”
In his training, Dumont said he was taught that patients rarely make healthy lifestyle changes and that switching to medications and procedures should be “rapidly” encouraged.
“If you give people the right information and they are able to implement it, you can help them do it in a way that is really enjoyable and doable for them,” one doctor said. (iStock)
“I found out that wasn’t true,” he said. “If you give people the right information and they are able to implement it, you can help them do it in a way that is really enjoyable and doable for them.”
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“The power of that was greater than the power of the medicines I had been using.”
The doctor said he now sees people improve significantly when they match their nutrition with what their bodies need.
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Dumont said he has worked with patients who “feel like they’ve failed at everything they’ve tried to improve their health and then all of a sudden they feel empowered to say, ‘I’m listening to my body. I’ve learned from my body, I know what works for my body and look what I’ve accomplished.'”
“It’s a night and day difference,” he said. “And now I’m very optimistic about it.”
Angelica Stabile is a lifestyle reporter for News Digital.