Taking Responsibility For Your Health
“The truth that makes men free is for the most part the truth which men prefer not to hear.” -Herbert Agar
I believe that the truth will set you free, but I have discovered that before it sets you free it usually makes you miserable! Too often the truth really does hurt.
I’ll never forget seeing a bumper sticker that said, “Humpty Dumpty was pushed”. How very subtle, yet how very telling of this generation as it has to do with accepting personal responsibility.
Today’s generation will be remembered for the following statement: “It’s not whether you win or lose; it’s where you place the blame.” As Mark Twain put it, “Don’t go around saying the world owes you a living. The world owes you nothing. It was here first.”
People are rapidly exiting the engine-room of responsibility, regarding preventative health, and quickly making their way through the box cars on the blame train to the excuse-caboose. There they sit and commiserate with their companions of complacency on why their obesity, diabetes, heart disease, osteoporosis, etc., is something or someone else’s fault!
Health care spending in America continues to rise at a rapid rate seriously crippling the income of both businesses and families.
I don’t blame the doctors, entirely, though they should know better. If you talk to any physician, you will quickly learn that 95% of their years of training is all about diagnosing and treating medical problems, not figuring out how to prevent them.
This truth was made clear to me recently while sitting in the hospital room of a friend who had experienced warning signs of a heart attack. When his cardiologist walked in, I almost fell off my chair. He was at least 70 pounds’ overweight! Which begs the question, how could someone who’s livelihood consists of operating on people with cardiovascular disease, neglect doing the simple things necessary to personally prevent that disease?
Consider these facts; 70% of all health-care costs are the direct result of behavior. 74% of all costs are confined to four chronic conditions: (1) cardiovascular disease, (2) cancer, (3) diabetes, and (4) obesity. 80% of cardiovascular disease and diabetes is preventable. 60% of cancers are preventable. And 90% of obesity is preventable.
I certainly don’t have all the answers to fixing health care in America, but I do know this much; there is no way someone like myself – who takes excellent care of his body with maintenance and prevention-should have to pay the same for health insurance, as my friend’s cardiologist!
A simple maintenance program
Why are so many people so stubborn when it comes to the relatively simple task of taking good care of their most valuable asset-their body?
And again, it’s not necessarily about maintenance and prevention to live longer. It’s about spending as little time as possible, sick at the doctor, in the hospital, on medication, etc. Especially in today’s economy, it’s about spending fewer dollars treating ailments and diseases that could have been prevented.
It’s amazing to contrast the difference between the approach taken with dental health care, and every other kind of health care. You can’t get out of the dentist’s office without being lectured on everything you need to do to prevent tooth decay and gum disease. Brush, floss, gargle, and get your teeth cleaned often, etc.
As soon as our children can stand at the bathroom sink without falling, we painstakingly show them how to correctly brush their teeth – teaching them that they only have one set of teeth so they best brush often. Then we keep up the pressure on them to make sure brushing becomes a daily habit.
What if I told you I could write a prescription for a medicine that would do all of the following: lower blood pressure, blood sugar and weight; improve cholesterol, sleep, and bone and heart health; and decrease the risk for cancer? Imagine one prescription that could do all of those things and more. Would you be interested? Well, that prescription really exists. There’s just one catch: You’ll need to work out consistently.
We need desperately in this country to take personal responsibility! There is a principle that is older than dirt, and everyone knows it’s true: You reap what you sow! This universal law of cause and effect simply says, use it or lose it, or as it relates to our bodies—move it or lose it!
The bottom line is each of us has the brain power to pay attention and do what needs to be done to keep our bodies in peek physical condition.
