The Limitations of Drug Treatment for Chronic Diseases and Fundamental Solutions

Medication is Just a Temporary Fix

There's a major misconception that many people have about chronic metabolic diseases like hypertension, diabetes, and high cholesterol. They think that taking medication equals getting cured. But this is completely wrong. Medications simply delay complications - they don't provide fundamental treatment.

Let's take hypertension as an example. High blood pressure is a signal that your blood vessels have narrowed. The coronary arteries are thin vessels located right next to where they branch off from the aorta, and when blood pressure rises, they're prone to blockage or rupture. To prevent life-threatening complications like brain hemorrhages, heart attacks, and torn coronary arteries, we need to lower blood pressure immediately.

But here's the crucial point: when medications forcibly lower blood pressure, the condition of peripheral blood vessels actually gets worse. They become more oxygen-deprived and deteriorate further. Of course, you should take the medication - not taking it when your blood pressure is high poses immediate serious risks. But we shouldn't think of this as treatment.

Diabetes Medication Works the Same Way

Diabetes treatment follows the same principle. Instead of naturally resolving diabetes, we're taking measures to forcibly lower blood sugar. This keeps muscle cells' insulin resistance intact while only lowering blood glucose levels. The tissues' inability to properly metabolize glucose remains unchanged.

This maintains the oxygen-deprived and acidic state of tissues, so the problem ultimately isn't solved. It only delays major diabetic complications like peripheral vascular complications, foot necrosis, blindness, diabetic nephropathy, and neuropathy. Eventually, the deteriorating condition of peripheral blood vessels can become the cause of more serious metabolic diseases.

What Cholesterol Levels Tell Us

When blood tests show high cholesterol or triglycerides, it means your diet has been high in fats over the past two weeks. We do lipid profile tests in the emergency room too, and I recently saw some shocking numbers. A man in his mid-30s had triglyceride levels of 5,000. Normal is 150. Usually, even high levels are around 350 or 450, but 5,000? His blood would probably look slightly white when drawn.

In a proper medical process, when high cholesterol is confirmed, we should educate patients to change their diet for a week to a month and monitor them. Only when that doesn't work or familial hypercholesterolemia is confirmed should we prescribe statin medications. But reality is different - due to extremely short consultation times, patient compliance issues, and diets centered on fats and processed foods, we're just prescribing medications.

How Obesity Affects Chronic Diseases

The reason reducing obesity helps with chronic diseases like hypertension and diabetes is clear. Fat cells aren't dead tissue - they're living cells that store fat. These cells need to metabolize energy, and blood vessels need to reach the fat layers.

As fat layers accumulate, blood vessels become much longer. With many more peripheral blood vessels, higher pressure is needed to send blood there, causing blood pressure to rise. It's a vicious cycle.

Not All Carbohydrates Are Bad

Not all carbohydrates are bad. There are complex and simple carbohydrates. Complex carbs are less refined and preserved as close to their original state as possible, including the outer shell, so they're absorbed slowly. Whole wheat is a prime example. When they enter our body, they require multiple processes to break down, taking time and slowly raising blood sugar while providing energy when chewed thoroughly.

On the other hand, one of the most dangerous simple carbohydrates is liquid fructose, also called corn syrup. It's made by extracting substances from corn into syrup and extracting only the sugar. How quickly does this raise blood sugar? Plus, being liquid, it's absorbed extremely fast. Liquid fructose is in all soft drinks, and when people consume it thoughtlessly as a water substitute, it creates severe blood sugar spikes.

Trans Fats: The Fats to Avoid Most

Among the major causes of poor circulation, there are completely bad fats we must avoid. One of these is trans fat, which is even worse than saturated fat. Trans fats are represented by margarine and shortening - they're vegetable oils that have been hydrogenated to solidify at room temperature.

Because these are cheap and advantageous for frying, shortening and margarine have been used. Trans fats can also be found in snacks, so we should avoid such foods and stick to the principle of consuming unsaturated fats rich in good fats without trans fats.

Breaking Free from the Protein Myth

The importance of protein is somewhat true. There's an expression that "the thicker your legs, the less likely you are to get diabetes," meaning that having more muscle cells reduces the possibility of insulin resistance. This is correct, but only in the context of normal metabolic processes.

These days, some people drink protein shakes to build their bodies, but this is dangerous for them. Protein inevitably produces many nitrogen compounds in the body, which can have adverse effects. The liver's burden increases as it metabolizes ammonia, putting stress on the liver.

So we need to move away from the protein myth a bit. We can get sufficient protein from the minimum amount absorbed from regular meals, and we should absolutely avoid excessive protein shake consumption just to eat more protein.

The Trap of Low-Carb High-Fat Diets

Many people ask about low-carb high-fat diets. The theory is that by increasing fat intake and extremely reducing carbohydrates, our body's metabolism uses fatty acids through fat metabolism, leading to rapid weight loss. The rapid weight loss part is true.

But the problem is that doing this isn't physiologically natural for our bodies. It's not easy to selectively eat fats, and when doing low-carb high-fat diets, by the time ketones appear, you feel dizzy, nauseous, and like you have a cold. These symptoms occur because of insufficient glucose, also called keto flu.

I question whether it's right to force the body into a ketone state. While it might help with immediate weight loss, it can be considered unsuitable for normal physiological functions.

How to Choose Good Fats

Among foods that improve vascular condition, the most important are good fats. Good fats refer to unsaturated fatty acids rich in omega-3. It's best to avoid saturated fats that solidify at room temperature.

Among unsaturated fats, perilla seeds are a very useful plant that can provide lots of omega-3. Perilla seeds are a special plant with a high omega-3 ratio that we can easily access. Perilla oil is made by pressing once, so it should be consumed quickly. The principle should be to consume perilla oil within one month of production.

Eating whole perilla seeds is even better, but you shouldn't make them too sweet by sprinkling sugar like traditional sweets. I also recommend lightly washing whole perilla seeds and adding them to rice.

The Real Effects of Exercise

Exercise is extremely important, but it doesn't just burn calories. If you try to achieve diet effects by burning calories through exercise, you'd need to do too much exercise. You'd need to run very fast for 30 minutes just to burn the calories in one bowl of rice.

But exercise isn't just for dieting purposes. Its much greater effect is pumping lots of oxygen into our body and increasing blood flow to cells. It has the effect of powerfully circulating blood flow, opening blood vessels to the ends of peripheral vessels to raise temperature, and promoting metabolism.

Therefore, we should think of exercise not simply as a way to consume calories, but as having the effect of smoothly starting up our body's metabolism.

Practical Methods for Daily Life

Some people ask, "If I have to avoid all processed foods, what am I supposed to eat?" This shows how many of the foods we see around us are far from our physiological responses.

First, you should avoid eating out. When you eat outside, there's a lot of added sugar, and you're bound to eat sweet and salty foods. For office workers, I recommend having packed lunch for at least one meal.

Make your rice brown rice or mixed grain rice, and always keep green vegetable-centered foods nearby. You must eat six to seven plates of vegetables per day. While cooked or steamed vegetables are good, raw vegetables seasoned with perilla oil are also excellent.

In Conclusion

We must be clear that medications cannot cure chronic metabolic diseases. Medications are just temporary measures to prevent immediate dangerous complications. The fundamental solution lies in lifestyle changes.

It's important to choose good fats, avoid processed foods and trans fats, and maintain a diet centered on complex carbohydrates and vegetables. Adding appropriate exercise to activate metabolism is the path to true treatment.

Most importantly, don't be fooled into thinking that taking medication means you're cured. Remember that a fundamental approach through lifestyle improvement is necessary. This is the real way to fight chronic diseases.