Peachy the Magazine September 2013 | Page 62

As a physician, it is my personal goal during the remainder of my career to focus on the prevention of disease. I do not define prevention as ordering tests and procedures, though they may be necessary at times. I want to focus rather on helping patients improve their personal health and thus reduce their need for healthcare in the future. There are many conflicting sources and few patients get the information they need from their doctors. Most doctors do not have training in nutrition and preventative measures and even if they had the advice, they lack the time with patients to implement it. Many patients rely on the health information from the internet and medical shows like Dr. Oz. This information can be confusing, costly and sometimes wrong. It is my hope that the information you will receive from my unbiased, reliable articles will help guide you toward the right path. Most medical conditions are preventable. Lifestyle changes can reduce the incidence of over 80% of the more common medical conditions. We must focus on the changes today to prevent problems tomorrow. If not today, then when? Stay tuned… Supplements In a perfect world we would get all of our nutrients and vitamins from the food we eat. However, most Americans eat a nutrient poor diet, consisting of processed foods and few fruits and vegetables. Sadly, when we make the effort to eat healthy foods, we still will not receive the daily nutritional requirements. Stress, lack of sunlight, toxins and preservatives in our environment add to this depletion and deficiency. Making every effort to optimize the diet is best yet everyone should take some basic supplements to meet nutritional needs. These include a good multivitamin, Vitamin D, and essential fatty acids. Navigating the supplement aisle can be overwhelming. Over-thecounter supplement sales have become a multi-billion dollar business. Multivitamins and supplements are unregulated which has led to much confusion for the consumer. When choosing a multivitamin, there are a few key points to consider. First, the use of raw materials and whole foods deemed free of mercury and other toxins should be visible. Second, 62 PEACHY