Written by the editors at Weight Loss Buddy Press with help from Hans A. Diehl, DrHSc, MPH, FACN, CNS
About two-thirds of the people in the U.S. are either overweight or obese. The U.S. Surgeon General has said that about 75 percent of Western diseases, such as heart disease, stroke, high blood pressure, diabetes, gout, arthritis, weight gain, high blood pressure, diabetes, some cancers, impotence, diverticular disease, constipation, heartburn, and gallbladder disease, are "related to lifestyle." They are directly linked to our high-fat diet, lack of exercise, smoking, drinking too much caffeine, and being under a lot of stress without enough support.
Hans A. Diehl, DrHSc, MPH, a cardiovascular epidemiologist, set up the Coronary Health Improvement Project more than 20 years ago to try to fix this scary problem (CHIP). Since then, this 40-hour community-based lifestyle intervention programme has helped more than 40,000 people get healthy again by preventing, stopping, or reversing their diseases. It has been done in more than 150 cities in North America, as well as in Bangalore, India, Australia, and Switzerland. Depending on the needs of the group, the meetings are either "live" with Dr. Diehl giving the programme in person (usually four times a week for four weeks) or "video-based" with certified CHIP facilitators (normally two times per week for eight weeks). Dr. Diehl has also written the best-selling books To Your Health, Dynamic Living, and Health Power, which he wrote with Aileen Ludington, M.D. He is also the executive editor of a 24-page quarterly newsletter called Lifeline Health Letter, and he has made a lot of health videos. CHIP gives people power through its scientifically-backed, educational, and inspiring programme that helps people deal with common western diseases that used to show up mostly in older people. Today, more and more people are getting these diseases at much younger ages. CHIP could make all the difference in a person's life, even between life and death.
In Rockford, Illinois, a city of 130,000 people, CHIP started a "community health transformation template" in 1999. The goal was to make Rockford the healthiest city in the United States so that it could serve as a model and template for cultural change on a community-wide scale. HHS Secretary Tommy Thompson recently recognised CHIP as such a model, and it was "approved" as a "STEPS to a HealthierUS" applicant by the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). In addition to "live" CHIP, schools, churches, corporations, and hospitals also offer a number of CHIP videos. In Rockford, CHIP is run by the Center for Complementary Medicine, which is part of the Swedish American Health System.
Who usually takes part in CHIP? Most people who take part in CHIP are over the age of 40. Most of them are between 50 and 59 years old. There are twice as many women as men, and almost all of them are in relationships. Peer-reviewed clinical research has shown that they have the following lifestyle diseases:
10% of people say they have heart disease
27 percent of people have high blood sugar
42 percent of them are too heavy.
49 percent have signs of high blood pressure
60 percent are obese
89 percent have cholesterol levels above 160 mg/dL.
Over the course of the programme, people who follow it to the letter are likely to see big improvements in their health, such as:
The average drop in serum cholesterol is 15 to 20 percent.
On average, people lose six pounds
About half of the people with type 11 diabetes had a huge drop in how much insulin and other drugs they needed.
Bringing down the levels of high blood pressure
Diminishing of angina
&61550; Lower levels of depression and higher self-esteem
Timetable for classes and video lectures
Week 1
Miracles, Medicines, and Mirages in Modern Medicine
The problems with using high-tech medicine to treat diseases caused by lifestyle choices
Portrait of a Killer: From the Inside Out
Many lifestyle diseases are caused by atherosclerosis.
Trying to find the killer
Taking a look at the things that can cause heart disease
Eat more and lose weight.
Basic rules for losing weight in a healthy way and keeping it off
Week 2
Smoke and Mirrors
The risk factor for coronary heart disease that can be changed the most is smoking.
Fiber's Amazing Powers
The role of fibre in preventing and treating diseases caused by living a certain way
Reversing Hypertension
Changing the things that cause high blood pressure the most
Disarming Diabetes
Changes in lifestyle that can stop or reverse diabetes
Controlling cholesterol well
Dietary factors that have a big effect on cholesterol levels in the blood
What's Cooking?
The part that eating too much fat plays in lifestyle diseases
Week 3
Fit at Any Age
How regular exercise can help stop and prevent disease
How to Know About Osteoporosis
This so-called "disease of ageing" and how to stop it.
The way of life and health
Clinical studies that show how choices about how to live affect health
The Best Way to Eat
Recommendations for a healthy diet to prevent and treat Western diseases
Week 4
Cancer and Food
Diet plays a role in the development of common cancers and in preventing them.
Mental Atherosclerosis
How important it is to be able to change in order to get and stay in good health
The Gift of Letting Go
How a willingness to forgive can improve your mental and physical health
Getting to Know Yourself
How a healthy person gets self-worth, keeps it, and what role it plays
The Story of Connie Thebarge
Doctors at the Ottawa Heart Institute in British Columbia, Canada, told Connie Thebarge, who was 59 years old, that they could no longer help her. After all, she had diabetes and painful diabetic neuropathy, as well as high blood pressure. She had two heart attacks, then had a triple coronary bypass and an angioplasty that didn't work. She had to take 27 pills every day. She was also sad, which wasn't a big surprise.
Still, more than a decade later, Thebarge walks three miles a day, swims twice a week, dances, and travels to Florida and Europe. She also takes a lot fewer pills now that she is no longer depressed. How did this come about? Thebarge took part in CHIP, which changed her life.
May be copied and shared as it is.
