Figuring Out Healthy Life?

Figuring Out Healthy Life is a blog about my personal journey to changing my lifestyle and that of my family's. I will offer my point of view during this transition and the lessons I'm learning along the way. I will also offer tips to ease the transition to a healthier lifestyle that I have encountered or used along the way. I am a physician, an anesthesiologist to be specific, and I take care of people each day with chronic diseases. Many of the diseases can be prevented or improved with a better lifestyle. That simply. However, many people do not know the toll that an unhealthy diet takes on the body, or those that do know, find it too complicated and overwhelming to change their ways. Several chronic diseases are lifestyle-related, meaning people can get them by living an unhealthy lifestyle. These include heart disease, diabetes, obesity, and even some cancers to name only a few. I know you're asking why in the world would an anesthesiologist care so much about diet-related health. Our diets have a tremendous impact on our health. I did not even really appreciate it until my oldest daughter, who seven at the time, was diagnosed with Crohn’s disease a couple of years ago. I knew that it was unhealthy to eat certain things, and I thought I had a decent grasp of what was considered healthy. However, I did not gain a full appreciation of how much it affects our bodies until I started learning more about diet-related health. The cause of Crohn’s disease is not entirely understood. They believe there is a genetic component, as well as an environmental component. At the time of her diagnosis, I was not aware of anyone in my family with Crohn’s disease. It turns out that my husband may have had a relative with the disease; although, that relative has since passed away from other causes, so it is not entirely clear whether this person had Crohn’s or not. It is beside the point. She has Crohn’s disease and will have it. A short time after her diagnosis, we had a consultation with a registered dietician. She explained to us that there are foods that cause inflammation and foods that combat inflammation. Wait, what? This was not a topic I remember discussing in medical school. Nonetheless, I was very intrigued. At this time, I was already a vegetarian and had severely decreased the meat intake in my household. I had developed a vested interest in what we ingested because I started the journey of educating myself on the effects of our diet. It all happened by accident. I had been talking to my husband about potential business ideas. He told me we should watch this movie called What the Health that he heard about through other’s discussions. I had never heard of the movie but watched it and was intrigued nevertheless. I understand the presentation of some of the information was controversia