What is causing Canadians to become more ill?

Chronic disease rates are on the rise in Canada, a trend that is expected to worsen over time. An aging population is not the only explanation, doctors tell The Epoch Times. They also see it as a sign and symptom of unhealthy lifestyles and an overburdened health-care system that focuses on acute care instead of prevention.

“In Canada and many other Western countries, we have very reactive health-care systems where there is very little emphasis on prevention,” said Dr. Saverio Stranges, a medical doctor and chair of the department of epidemiology and biostatistics at Western University in London, Ont.

“We have completely given up the idea to prevent disease from occurring in the first place,” he said, noting that this is why the growing prevalence of serious illness is affecting elderly and working-age Canadians alike.

Past president of the Ontario Medical Association Dr. Shawn Whatley, also a medical doctor, agrees.

While having an “acute care mindset” is great for someone with a broken bone or another type of injury, it doesn’t often help treat what Whatley calls “lifestyle illnesses.”

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“With acute care, the goal is to help someone get back to normal, say walking properly after a broken ankle,” he said. “When you start talking about lifestyle issues, you’re not talking about getting back to normal—you need to create a new normal.”

For David J. Schleich, past president of the National University of Natural Medicine in Portland, Ore., that means having better education in place for the public and doctors alike.

“There’s a lack of education, not only of the medical professionals so they know what to do, but also of the people themselves in elementary and secondary schools,” said Schleich, who holds a PhD in medical history and health policy. “There’s zippity doo dah by way of curriculum that teaches people about the primacy of food choice and lifestyle.”

Dr. Brian Day, a practising orthopedic surgeon and past president of the Canadian Medical Association, said change would not be easy, however, because Canada has become a “victim of the success of medicine.”

“Preventative health care is not covered under the Canadian health system, so if you go for an annual physical without a complaint, that’s not covered. In Canada, it’s not considered essential,” he said.

Failing to recognize obesity as “a chronic and progressive disease, combined with a lack of access to effective treatment and prevention strategies,” cost Canada more than $27 billion in 2023, the report said.

The best way to avoid obesity-related conditions and to improve health overall is by managing weight and living a healthy lifestyle, Stranges said. That, he said, begins with proper nutrition.

It is also about self-discipline, Day said.

“I like chocolates and candy. I like sweet stuff, but I just bite my lip and don’t eat it,” he said, adding that self-control is key to maintaining a healthy weight.

Importance of Diet

Poor dietary patterns and reliance on processed foods is an ongoing issue for Canadians, Stranges said. The key to getting people to change their diet, he said, is education because people need to understand where they are going wrong and why it matters.

Schleich said chronic illnesses are on the rise because food quality has been on the decline since the 1950s.

It’s an issue that has received much attention in the United States lately as well, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. promising to fix the “broken food system and Make America Healthy Again” as President-elect Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Health and Human Services.

Schleich said while many of the products that use added sugars and high-fructose corn syrup on grocery store shelves are advertised as low-fat or low-calorie choices, that doesn’t mean they are healthy. Products like ready-to-serve cereal, crackers, chips, and pasta kits are what he calls “inflammatory foods.”

“One look at grocery stores, all those centre aisles are loaded with these attractive boxes of junk,” Schleich said. “It tastes amazingly good, but nutrition-wise, it’s terrible. It’s inflammatory.”

Inflammatory foods are those that are heavily processed or contain high levels of saturated fats, added sugars, high fructose corn syrup, or trans fats. Eating too much of these foods can lead to obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer, he said.

Even those trying to eat healthy have to be careful, Schleich said, noting that an apple a day to keep the doctor away really depends upon the apple a person chooses. Some fruits and vegetables are heavily sprayed with pesticides. Meat also needs to be sourced carefully to avoid harmful substances, he said.

“You have meats that are loaded with all sorts of drugs and hormones and so on,” he said. “You have vegetables that are not organic, and have been sourced with the presence of various toxic pesticides … it’s so pervasive in the main food supply, people just eat them and their bodies are harmed over time.”

Schleich recommends buying organic and whole foods as much as possible and paying attention to the ingredients in products to ensure they aren’t heavily processed. For example, instead of reaching for a sugary cereal, he suggests steel-cut oats.

Despite a dwindling reliance on whole foods in favour of more heavily-processed meals and snacks, life expectancy has increased in Canada because of medication, Stranges said.

“People living longer lives does not necessarily mean that they live healthy lives,” he said. “Lifestyle factors, the way people eat are factors in that.”

Medication Reliance vs. Healthy Lifestyle

Over reliance on medications contributes to chronic conditions because it is often a band-aid solution for a more serious problem, Stranges said. The medications may treat



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