Chronic Illness: Our Greatest Health Challenge
“As a nation, we are spending too little on preventing [chronic] conditions, and we are losing too many lives. That's because right now we've got it backwards...We need to refocus our efforts on preventing disease, illness, and injury.”— U.S. Surgeon General, January 2007
Most of us know someone (perhaps ourselves) who has been affected in some way by a chronic disease. Chronic, or ongoing, diseases—such heart disease, cancer, and diabetes—are among the leading causes of death and disability in the United States. Chronic diseases account for 7 of every 10 deaths and affect the quality of life of 90 million Americans.1 Each year, over $700 billion is spent on diabetes, heart disease, and cancer alone.2-4
Therapeutic lifestyle changes such as diet, exercise, and stress management are now recommended as the "first line of therapy" for treating chronic illness or reducing the risk of other serious health conditions.
FirstLine Therapy® is a Therapeutic Lifestyle Change (TLC) program that can enhance your health and prevent disease. It can help you address a wide range of health conditions as well as other lifestyle related health concerns and symptoms. These include:
- Heart disease
- Stroke
- Diabetes
- Arthritis
- Osteoporosis
- Overweight/Obesity
- High cholesterol
- High blood pressure
- Alzheimer’s disease
- Fatigue
- Hormone imbalance
- Stress-related symptoms
- Poor memory or lack of mental clarity
- And many others
FirstLine Therapy® is about making choices every day that will enable you to achieve a long, full, and healthy life.
Ask your healthcare practitioner about FirstLine Therapy today.
Find an FLT-certified healthcare practitioner in your area.
View or download FLT Brochure
REFERENCES
- Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion. Available at http://www.cdc.gov/nccdphp. Accessed January 10, 2007
- American Diabetes Association. Direct and Indirect Costs of Diabetes in the United States. Available at http://diabetes.org/diabetes-statistics/cost-of-diabetes-in-us.jsp. Accessed 5/7/07.
- American Heart Association. Available at http://www.americanheart.org/presenter.jhtml?identifier=4475. Accessed 5/7/07
- American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2007. Atlanta, Ga. 2007