Why Prevention Matters More Than Ever

Important things rarely scream for attention. Sometimes, they don’t even tap us on the shoulder.

It’s the urgent things that demand our attention — often because we ignored the important things when we had the chance to act.

When things become urgent, we’re forced to respond, and the decisions we make are often rushed or reactive. But we’ll always have better outcomes when we prep, prepare, and prevent.

While studying under Chris Kresser at the Kresser Institute in 2016, he started our training off with these scary statistics.

We’re in the midst of the worst chronic disease epidemic humans have ever faced in our history.

Today, over a billion people worldwide suffer from some form of **"diabesity"—**a term coined by Dr. Mark Hyman to describe the combination of diabetes and obesity.

• Obesity in adolescence has quadrupled in the last 30 years. Nearly 20% of children aged 6–11 are now considered obese.

• 600,000 Americans die of heart disease each year.

• 1 in 4 women and 1 in 6 men suffer from an autoimmune disease.

• Over half of U.S. adults take prescription drugs. Among the elderly, 40% take more than five medications, and 90% use over-the-counter drugs regularly.

• Autism rates have more than doubled since the year 2000—and no, it’s not just better detection.

• Depression diagnoses increase by 20% every year.

Even more heartbreaking: for the first time in modern history, today's kids are expected to have shorter lifespans than their parents.

If trends continue:

• 95% of Americans will be overweight within two decades.

• 1 in 3 will be diabetic.

The financial and emotional cost of this is staggering. The annual cost of diabetes alone in the U.S. is $250 billion — more than the estimated cost of ending world hunger.

And yet, our outcomes don’t reflect that level of spending. In 2013, the U.S. spent $3.8 trillion on healthcare — nearly 25% of our GDP — and projections show we could be bankrupt by 2035 if this trajectory continues.

So with all this money spent, why aren’t we healthier?

Because we don’t have a healthcare system.

We have a disease management system.

I’ll be the first to say — there are amazing aspects to modern medicine. One of my sons broke his elbow in three places at age five. Thanks to surgery and pins, you’d never know it happened.My oldest daughter tore her ACL in high school — and after surgery and rehab, she was back on the soccer field.

Modern medicine saves lives and helps us live longer. But I think we can agree: It’s not great at promoting health, preventing illness, or knowing what to do when there’s no clear diagnosis.

So if you’re “not quite right,” but your labs look normal… the system often just says, "Let’s wait and see."

But we don't have to wait. We can choose to focus on prevention, to prioritize what's important before it becomes urgent.

This is why I do what I do — to help people take their health back into their own hands before they’re forced to make decisions in a crisis.

Let’s focus on building health, not just treating disease.

#PreventativeHealth #FunctionalNutrition #ChangeIsGood #HealthIsWealth #Priorities #SelfCare #WellnessWednesday #LiveYourBestLife