As a nation, we are conservative about health, but we are liberal when it comes to disease. Unfortunately, we need to be more aware of some scary statistics. Sixty-four percent of Americans are overweight — the highest percentage of any country!

More than 30 percent of those are classified as obese. The rate of obesity has doubled for children and tripled for teenagers in the last 20 years. In addition to a significantly higher rate of health problems or chronic diseases, overweight people have a 45 percent higher risk of developing cancers.

All types of chronic diseases are on the rise, including heart disease, diabetes and cancer. Why are degenerative disease rates skyrocketing? We lack the truth about what contributes to these diseases. Why aren’t drugs curing many of our diseases? It’s mainly because the human body is a self-healing mechanism when it’s cared for properly.

Health is by no means just about healing. It’s equally about prevention, and prevention starts with choice. It’s a thought process. It’s a lifestyle!

Drugs and surgery are perfectly fine for what they do, but they mask the symptoms of an underlying cause most of the time. Now, certain individuals need the medication, and for certain conditions, surgery makes complete sense. But for a lot of people, symptoms of an underlying problem are in fact being masked by the medications.

There are reasons these diseases happen. Drugs and surgery can often address these underlying reasons but not always.

The truth is that virtually every disease, physical or mental, is typically the result of one thing, and that’s stress on the body’s cells. Stressed out, dysfunctional or inappropriately functional cells are going to naturally lead to a disease because the body is a community of cells. It interacts. That’s why the hormones are so amazing.

When a little bit of hormone in one particular gland is excreted, it can do amazing things in other parts of the body. But, as long as the underlying source of stress on the cells of the body remains, the disease itself is going to remain or eventually return. That’s when we have to remove those negative sources of stress, and the body can either totally heal itself or have an improved healing process.

Toxins, which are a nutrient deficiency, along with negative emotions, are the major cause of “stress” on cells. Almost all degenerative changes are because of toxins, emotions, or cellular dysfunction. The majority of illnesses and disease is degenerative and preventable.

Our cells can turn off and turn on according to their environment. Our cell’s environment, which is the tissue it lives in, is determined by our lifestyle choices. Diet, toxins, chemicals, emotions, stress and the action of the cells inside us are a reflection of the cells’ environment.

True healing requires balancing all aspects of an individual — the emotional, mental and physical components. Otherwise, the real cause of ill health can be overlooked. Think of the mental, emotional and physical triad of health as a stool: If the length of a leg is off-balance, the entire stool is going to be off-balance. For more than 34 years, I have helped make my patients aware that the choices you make today will affect you tomorrow. The condition of your heart, and your total health can be improved by your choice.