If we can reach populations in developing countries and help them understand the value of their indigenous diet and lifestyles rather than copying ours, perhaps we can reverse the exponential rise in cardiovascular disease that is plaguing them.
Interpretation
Promoting indigenous diets can help combat health issues in developing countries.
Dean Ornish emphasizes the importance of understanding and valuing traditional diets and lifestyles in developing countries. He argues that by appreciating these practices instead of imitating Western habits, communities may be able to address and potentially reduce the increasing rates of cardiovascular disease that they are facing.
In practice
In a health workshop discussing heart disease prevention, this quote can highlight the significance of traditional diets.
When we understand the connection between how we live and how long we live, it's easier to make different choices. Instead of viewing the time we spend with friends and family as luxuries, we can see that these relationships are among the most powerful determinants of our well-being and survival.
Your body has a remarkable capacity to begin healing itself, and much more quickly than people had once realized, if you simply stop doing what's causing the problem.
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I've found that if I tell somebody 'Eat this and don't do that,' it's not only not helpful, it's counterproductive because even more than being healthy, we want to feel free and in control, and as soon as somebody tells us to do something, there's a tendency to do just the opposite.
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A vigorous five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.
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The steep price tag of cancer treatment needs to continue to be a part of the national conversation, not just the patient-doctor one.
If you take care of your body, it'll take care of you.
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