In today’s society, the vast majority of people rely on medication to treat symptoms of all sorts. “Nearly 70 percent of Americans are on at least one prescription drug, and more than half take two” (Mayonewsreleases). A large portion of this can be attributed to chronic disease. While medication can be advantageous in certain circumstances, it is not always the most ideal way to heal. Popping pills daily does not work wonders for your well-being in the long run. There are healthy alternatives to prevent and reverse disease with drugs.  Diet along with aerobic and resistance exercise can replace the need for medication to treat chronic diseases such as heart failure, cancer, and diabetes in adults. 

First, we must understand what a prevalent issue chronic disease has become. According to Booth, a chronic disease is “…slow in its progress and long in its continuance” (qtd. in Dorland’s Illustrated Medical Dictionary). The underlying causes of these diseases are typically present for many years before the symptoms start to show themselves.  They have increased greatly within the past few years and are a serious issue to be aware of. “Chronic disease conditions cause great human suffering, affecting 90 million Americans” (Booth). Some examples include cancer, diabetes, stroke, and asthma. However, heart disease in particular has raised concern due to its increasing levels. “Since 1900, cardiovascular disease has been the number one killer in the US every year but one (1918)” (Booth). These statistics can be used to encourage Americans to fight all heart and chronic diseases and to do all in their power to prevent their occurrence to begin with. 

Diet is a crucial component to fight disease and alter genetic sequences. Everyone is aware that the food you consume is a large factor of your health. However, it can be even more effective than many may imagine. There is no medicine more powerful than the nutrients you feed your body. Food can completely transform your health through special ingredients it contains. “These are called phytonutrients — special plant chemicals that are not calories, protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, but special molecules that interact with your biology, special molecules that act like switches on your DNA to heal your body” (Hyman). Although DNA determines a large portion of your biological future, ingredients in what you eat can alter code sequences, proving that you cannot rely solely on genetics. Food composition can be just as crucial to your well-being. “What you eat programs your body with messages of health or illness” (Hyman).  Mark Hyman took a trip to China to lecture on nutrition and ended up learning some information himself. He found that the Chinese have already incorporated phytonutrients into their meals and everyday diet. They have educated themselves on how to take advantage of phytonutrient effects by consuming medicinal food. Plants of color contain protective mechanisms that are the source of these powerful nutrients. All colors serve as different healing components for the body. They can balance hormones, detoxify, and serve as antioxidants. For example, red fruits and vegetables rid the body of damaged genes. Yellow groups reduce the risk of cataracts, orange protect against cancer, purple protect against heart disease, and green can prevent tumors (Hyman). This is due to the chemicals that make up each color of the fruit or vegetable. It is more effective to eat your medicine and reconstruct your health through diet than to rely on drugs to do the work for you. 

The association between diet and chronic disease is constant through all stages of life. It begins at fetal stages and continues into elderly years. Therefore, chronic diseases that appear in adults are the effects of cumulative poor health over the years. The first stage of life begins in the womb. Delayed fetal growth as a result of the mother’s diet has been linked to coronary heart disease, stroke, and diabetes for the future baby. Over nutrition in this stage is correlated with cardiovascular disease. Another stage is breastfeeding, which may lower the risk of later developing obesity. However, substitutes in the formula may increase the risk of chronic diseases including diabetes and cancer (Diet and Nutrition). This proves that as a pregnant mother, your diet will affect not only your own health, but also your child’s. In the stages of infancy and childhood, large gains in weight or height can also contribute to stroke and diabetes later in life. When maturing into childhood and adolescence, unhealthy habits such as bad diet, little exercise, and use of substances including alcohol and tobacco can expose humans to a dangerous and unhealthy environment, which causes chronic disease risks to increase dramatically. (Diet and Nutrition). It is alarming that these diseases are being developed at earlier stages because they endure throughout life. However, the majority of chronic diseases do not fully develop until adulthood, making it the most critical time to watch what you eat. By making the right choices, it is possible to halt or even reverse effects obtained earlier in life. “Genetic factors determine how susceptible a person is to develop a disease, whilst environmental factors determine which susceptible individuals will actually develop an illness” (Diet and Nutrition). Environmental factors are just as critical in ensuring your health. Children who are at risk due to genetic factors can avoid disease through diet. While some may be at an advantage with genetics, their poor eating habits can make them just as much at risk. 

The human body can transform and fight disease through the power of diet when you know how to nourish it correctly. In order to prevent disease, a range of food choices can be used. However, in order to reverse disease, a very strict diet must be put in place. The foundation for an optimal diet is low in fat and simple carbohydrates and high in plants, omega 3, and fatty acids (Ornish). “Fat has 9 calories per gram whereas protein and carbs only have 4” (Ornish). Less fat has the benefit of fewer calories without less food, filling you up faster. A recent problem is that Americans are eating more fat than ever and even more simple carbohydrates. Simple carbs are bad carbs that include things like sugar, white flower, white rice, and alcohol.  They do not fill you up because they contain no fiber and are absorbed quickly, causing blood sugar to spike up. Good carbs, on the other hand, include whole foods or unrefined carbs such as fruits, vegetables, whole wheat flour, and brown rice. They fill you up before eating too many calories and contain disease protective substances (Ornish). Within just hours after a high fat meal, blood flow is measurably less, while meals low in fat result in an increased blood flow. It is not just what you exclude from your diet, but also what you include. Omega 3 is a healthy fat found in fatty acids such as fish oil. Bad fats are trans fatty acids found in saturated fats and processed food. It has been found that Omega 3 may reduce sudden cardiac death along with reducing risk of prostate, breast, and colon cancer (Ornish). It can also contain protective benefits. A study conducted by Ornish found that heart disease patients who tried these eating habits saw significant and increasing improvements in their health. For example, a patient was told he needed to have a bypass surgery. Instead, he changed his eating habits, and a PET scan a year later revealed that his artery was not nearly as clogged. In fact, he experienced a 300% improvement in blood flow. This shows that major changes can occur without use of drugs or surgery. Little steps and small changes lead to big differences. In another instance of a study by Ornish, 99% of his patients were able to stop progression of heart disease by restricting simple carbs and focusing on whole foods and Omega 3. After a year, almost 80% of patients eligible for bypass surgery were able to safely avoid it for at least 3 years. The most effective way to enhance your diet and health is to modify the type of food you eat. 

Another study looked at cancer rather than heart disease. It took 90 men with prostate cancer who chose not to have surgery. The data found that after a year of following the same diet as the patients with heart disease, none of the patients who made these lifestyle changes needed treatment anymore. However, patients who served as the control group still needed to undergo the surgery. The experimental group reversed cancer while the control group had their cancer progress (Ornish). The more drastic diet changes people made, the more it affected the growth of their tumors. The body has a large spectrum of capabilities if you treat it right and feed it the nourishment it needs to repair and defend. 

Another component that is vital to fend off disease and lessen the need for medication is exercise. According to Dr. Mark Tarnopolsky, “the most effective, potent way that we can improve quality of life and duration of life is exercise” (Oaklander). Another study has been conducted using mice to learn more about the health effects of exercise. This study included several mice with a disease that caused them to age prematurely. Some of the mice exercised daily while others participated in no activity. The active mice with the disease were significantly healthier than the inactive mice. They lived much longer and proved that exercise helped to offset the effects of their disease (Oaklander). Researchers decided to delve deeper into these findings. They took blood instantly after a workout and found that the heart, lungs, bones, and muscles all benefited from the reactions that occured during and after physical activity. Another important beneficiary is the brain. Exercise has been linked to a decrease in depression and an improvement in memory and learning. This occurs because exerting energy promotes blood flow to the brain. This process “triggers the growth of new neurons and helps repair and protect brain cells from degeneration” (Oaklander). It also slows down cell aging by adding to the telomeres that protect our brain cells. Even small amounts of exercise a day can have dramatic effects. A short work out of high intensity has the same effects of a longer workout of lower intensity. The powerful effects of exercise work wonders for the human body. “If there were a drug that could do for human health everything that exercise can, it would be likely the most valuable pharmaceutical ever developed” (Oaklander). 

A study published by Quan-Zhong Zhao and Liu Hui-Min examines the effects of long-term exercise on quality of life and heart function. They set up an experimental and control group to compare the outcomes in three different variables after three months of exercise. These variables included cardiac function, exercise tolerance, and living quality. Both groups received a conventional drug therapy. The control group only took part in resistance training (free weights, resistance bands, medicine balls), while the experimental group took part in both resistance and aerobic, or cardio, training (running, swimming, hiking). After three months, the results were taken using software. The experimental group was superior to the control group in all aspects of the study (Quan). Other than enhancing the human heart, aerobic exercise can strengthen your lungs, lower cholesterol, lower blood pressure, reduce risk of diabetes, and boost your immune system. “Long term aerobic exercise combined with resistance training can enhance the cardiac function of patients and increase their exercise tolerance and living quality” (Quan). This verifies that aerobic exercise can be used to improve many aspects of human health. It is unnecessary to take medication when you can heal naturally through physical activity. 

One explanation for why resistance and aerobic exercise may be such a compelling form of medication is that it enhances insulin and leptin receptor sensitivity. This process levels out glucose, insulin, and leptin levels (Doctors: Exercise is the “Best Preventative Drug”). When glucose levels are too high, there is too much sugar in the bloodstream. Insulin levels out the glucose, decreasing the risk for disease. Leptin regulates energy and controls food cravings. When leptin is too high, risk of disease rises. Heart disease, diabetes, and cancer can all be treated by exercise. Even just standing up within long periods of sitting throughout the day can improve your overall health. “Researchers have stated that exercise is the ‘best preventive drug’ known. One recent meta analysis found no statistically detectable differences between exercise and medications for prediabetes and heart disease” (Doctors: Exercise is the “Best Preventative Drug”). In addition, a recent study by researchers at Harvard and Stanford analyzed mortality rates of diabetes, heart disease, and stroke treated by exercise versus medication. It included 339,300 people and 305 randomly controlled trials. It compared groups who took medication without exercising and those who exercised without medication. The results showed that there was no difference in the treatment among the two. The human heart benefits from exercise because physical activity supplies your muscles with oxygenated blood, which forms new blood vessels and drops your blood pressure. The brain also benefits because exercise forms new brain cells, which improve your ability to learn and overall cognitive health. This is one of the best ways to fight depression because neurotransmitters are triggered that boost your mood. As Dr. Timothy Church stated, “Exercise is the best preventive drug we have, and everybody needs to take that medicine” (Doctors: Exercise is the “Best Preventative Drug”). 

Some may argue quite the opposite: that a pill can be used to replace diet and exercise rather than replacing medication with healthy living. Scientists have been working on creating a pill that they believe can take the place of exercise. They are studying the human body and what takes place after physical activity in order to create a pill that mimics the same molecular processes. “Researchers continue to make progress in identifying the molecular processes that occur when we exercise and the good things that does for our bodies. That knowledge, they say, should allow them to one day fashion a pill that has the same effect” (Rieland). In Great Britain, a molecule named compound 14 has been discovered that can bring about the benefits of exercise. It works by making cells think that they have no energy left. Because of this, the cells increase metabolism and take in a greater amount of glucose. To test the effects of this molecule, a study was conducted on mice. They were split into two groups, one consuming an ordinary diet, and the other being fed a diet high in fat. The mice on the high-fat diet became obese. Both groups of mice received the compound 14. The health of the mice on the normal diet remained the same, while the level of glucose in the blood of the obese mice dropped to normal. After a week of receiving it, they lost nearly 5% of their body fat (Rieland). However, science argues against the possibility of being able to create this pill. In order to do so, it must target many molecules that work together, whereas pills typically only aim at an individual molecule. Aside from this challenge, if the pill succeeds in being made, the effects will not be as beneficial as the natural form of exercise. Although the pill may be able to help burn off fat and lose weight, it cannot perform the same advantages for mental health and disease prevention that physical activity can. One of the greatest effects of exercise are the impacts it has on the human heart. By increasing your heart rate through exercise, the muscle of your heart is strengthened and cardiovascular health is improved overall. These benefits cannot be replicated in a pill. 

If everyone led a healthy lifestyle with an appropriate diet and exercise, diseases could be prevented before they start and positively impacted even after diagnosis. Longevity would increase along with mental health and well-being, and money would be saved in health care spending. The onset of disease is caused by both genetic and environmental factors. The environmental factors are determined by your lifestyle and include active and dietary circumstances, which determine the probability of disease just as equally as genetic factors by turning on and off gene sequences. “Encouraging healthy diets and activity in our nation’s children is critical to winning the war against chronic disease” (Roberts). It has been proven that a combination of diet and exercise can be so powerful in fighting disease that the need for medication can be abandoned.
