Healthy eating not always magic tonic
Nutrition can help, but it doesn’t mean you’re immune from all disease
The idea that we can control our health destinies based on how we eat, exercise and live is an enticing one, especially in our risk-averse society. Unfortunately, an unwavering belief in the power of a healthy lifestyle can turn the pursuit of health into a sort of moral imperative, leading to everything from weight stigma to a weighty sense of personal responsibility. The reality is that a healthy lifestyle can’t eliminate all risk of sickness and disease, and an unhealthy lifestyle doesn’t necessarily doom us.
I’ve watched cancer patients grapple with guilt, thinking they caused their cancer because they didn’t eat “healthy enough”. I’ve had healthy patients in larger bodies face not just weight stigma but also false assumptions that they have diabetes or heart disease. And then there are my always-been-thin patients who are stunned when their cholesterol or blood-sugar levels climb too high, explaining, “I’ve never exercised or paid attention to what I ate — because I didn’t have to”.
The relationship between nutrition and health isn’t black and white. Yes, food can be good medicine, but although nutrition — or lack of it — does play a role in whether we develop a chronic disease, it’s only one player. Most diseases arise because of the complex interactions
Nutrition may not be able to cure all that ails you or remove all risk.
between our genes, diet and environment.
It’s true that some health conditions respond so well to a change in diet that no medications are needed.
However, other diseases are impacted little by nutrition — other than the fact that nutrition supports underlying general health. Although nutrition and lifestyle can alter the course of some of the diseases we fear most — diabetes and heart disease come to mind — sometimes they aren’t enough on their own.
We saw a stunning example of that in February when celebrity fitness trainer Bob Harper suffered a major heart attack while working out in a New York City gym, despite being the picture of health. Harper has a family history of heart disease — his mother died of a heart attack — and even his high level of physical fitness, nutritious eating habits and lean body didn’t stop this shocking event.
We humans love the idea of a “magic bullet”, but we also like the certainty of a payoff for our efforts. When we make it a priority to eat nutritiously and exercise regularly, it’s often buoyed by the underlying assumption that if we do everything right, we’ll be healthy and live to a ripe old age. That makes it easy to hear about cases such as Harper’s and decide, “Well, if all those vegetables and trips to the gym might not stop me from having a heart attack, why bother?” That’s missing the big picture.
Nutrition may not be able to cure all that ails you or remove all risk of disease, but neither are your genes necessarily your destiny. Eating nutritiously may help you improve your genetic hand. This really could prevent or delay chronic disease and help you live longer — but there are no guarantees. Just like in poker, life is a gamble.