Choosing a Healthy Life

Malpractice insurance costs are soaring, forcing an increasing numbers of doctors out of practice. Personal insurance premiums have increased to the point that employers are cutting that benefit from the employment package to improve their bottom line. The verbiage associated with most health care coverage is confusing at best. Who can understand the latest legislation concerning Medicaid coverage? Can we decipher how it is going to make us healthier? Most of us just barely understand a basic HMO or PPO insurance plan. Most of us do not want to read the information. We long for a time when we went to a doctor and they gave us some remedy so that we could get back to the business of our lives. If the insurance complications do not affect us directly, we are not immune from having aging parents or young children that these plans affect. It seems that there is no escape from the stress associated with the soaring costs of health care where parties are attempting to push the coast burden around and make it so confusing that few can tell who is ultimately going to get well.

Curiously, at the same time, there is an ever-increasing gap between caregivers and those in need of care. The media reports a shortage of nurses. The media also reports an increasing number of Americans are uninsured. The media screams that we as Americans are sicker than ever. The National Center for Health Statistics published in 2004 (http://www.cdc.gov/nchs/hus.htm) reports that Americans spend far greater amounts of money than do all other major developed countries. The statistics also show that this investment is not giving us improved health. It appears as if the situation is worse. There isn't another major developed county in the world that spends anywhere near what the United States citizens spends. It is truly confusing why Americans receive such little true healing from those dollars invested. These statistics don't address why health care is so expensive, how so many people are suffering with chronic disease, or how treatment can be afforded. It seems quality of life, or economic survival doesn't count. Americans only get counted when they are dead.

Who can we turn to? The medical community has problems of its own. The latest pharmaceutical disasters have left doctors scared to prescribe the latest drugs. The safety of treatments has undermined our trust in the FDA. It seems that the experts are just as confused as we are. We are sure that disease is winning what with obesity, cancer, and cardiovascular disease and psychological disorders being reported more than ever. As a culture, we have become accustomed to making our health care someone else's responsibility. We look to science for that next miracle cure. The fact is that science is coming up empty handed. Real and lasting treatments seem to be illusory. No real cures seem to be available. Often life long treatments are contradictory. The cholesterol reducing efforts to battle heart disease have run the gambit from "don't eat eggs" to "eat eggs", take this drug, or that drug, and the entire effort has resulted in increased sales for reduced fat products at the grocery stores, but little else. No real decrease in heart disease has resulted. Is there any way for Americans to live long, happy, healthy, vital lives?

The real answers to getting well, and staying well reside within each one of us on a day-by-day basis. We live and die by the choices we make. We must assume full responsibility for our health, happiness, and well being as this is the only viable means for health. We must realize that there are no magic pills. We must realize that there is a difference between symptom free and getting well. We must not use medication to allow us to continue to poison our lives, and expect some miracle to clean it up. If we want health, we must choose a healthy lifestyle.

More and more experts now agree that our health care is our responsibility. Obesity is our problem. High blood pressure is our problem. Diabetes is our problem. Cancer is our problem. Healing will require real changes on how we view our health and what we do about it. We cannot continue to pursue the same beliefs and behavior and expect to get different results.

The bottom line in health care delivery is that every individual is responsible for his or her own health care. What we eat, how we sleep, how we interact with other people, how we think, how we structure our lives determines how happy and healthy we feel. We have but one body in this lifetime. It is our body that allows us to experience our lives, engage in meaningful careers, enjoy loving relationships, and celebrate our purpose. It is worth taking care of each day. What we are looking for is basic body maintenance education.

Do you remember the old advice "an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure"? It's true. It is obvious that we can no longer afford to get sick, either financially or emotionally.

What can you do?

  1. Develop a plan to create the kind of life that you wish to experience. Do not let fad diets, advertising, or quick fix solutions derail you from your plan. Use a plan that works and stick with it. Make your plan realistic and will fit into your lifestyle. Start with foods that you and your family WILL eat. There is no value in buying extreme health foods that no one likes or will eat. Adding fresh fruit and vegetables that every family member likes will improve your chances for success.
  2. Get support and "buy in" from friends and family. This will strongly affect your chances of success. Once you have decided that you are going to take responsibility for your health, do not allow others to sabotage your efforts. Surround yourself with people and places that support your plan.
  3. Consciously evaluate your unhealthy habits to determine how they can be eliminated. Sometimes simple planning can drastically improve things. For example, having apples, grapes, carrot sticks, or bottled water in the car will prevent those trips through the drive through windows. Packing a healthy lunch can eliminate junk food cravings.
  4. Keep it simple. Do not engage in very complicated health maintenance routines because they won't last long. While there is a time and a place for extreme diets, exercise programs, and healing rituals, everyday is not the time or place for this kind of thing. General walking, a daily vitamin, good meals, sound sleep, and peaceful surroundings are easy to implement, can be shared with the entire family, do not require expensive equipment, and are generally available to you at all times. Best of all, these basics have a very large impact on your total wellness.
  5. Evaluate the kind of entertainment you and your family will engage in. There is great wisdom that says that where your attention goes, so shall you. If you are watching people live in unhealthy ways, so will you. Choose carefully what you spend your attention on.
  6. Natural Holistic Health recommends that you choose the kind of health care provider that works for you. Do not be bullied, tricked, persuaded, or scared into doing something that does not make sense to you. Choose a health care provider who has time to listen to you, can help you with your health goals, can advise you about diet and exercise, and can answer questions about routine health practices such as vaccines. This provider should be your health care partner. Shop until you find someone that you feel you can trust with your life. You may have to.
  7. Become educated. Enroll in Healthy Eating Classes, Stress Relief classes, Yoga classes, Natural Remedy classes, or Alternative Healing modalities lectures. The costs are usually minimal but benefits can be enormous. Read health related books. There are wonderful books on cooking, exercise, natural remedies, healthy lifestyle, and so much more. Share with a friend. Better yet, join a healthy lifestyles discussion group. Natural Holistic Health is sponsoring a healthy lifestyles discussion group once a month free of charge. Share what you know with others.
  8. Live well, love deeply, laugh often, and celebrate your life. Many studies show that happy content people heal better, live longer, and are generally more productive. You have this life to enjoy. Have fun.
  9. Let your healthy happy life be a statement to the world that Americans can do better. Good health is not unobtainable. Vitality is just a decision away from reality.

A wellness plan is 40 days of INTENTIONAL TRANSFORMATION. Call to Begin.

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