If you think that your doctor, your insurance company, or the government will keep you healthy, consider that no one cares about your well-being like you do.
“When it comes to your health, you need to become the expert because it is your day-to-day decisions that have the greatest impact on your health and quality of life,” according to Dr. James Chestnut, author of The Wellness Paradigm. Medical doctors as a general rule cannot “fix” you. They can give you a drug or perform a surgery that keeps you from expressing symptoms, but true healing comes from addressing what created the disease process in the first place.
The doctor is with you for a brief time. A 10-minute office visit is not enough time for the doctor to untangle the lifestyle choices you have or haven’t made. A prescription drug can change your symptoms but will do little to address the cause of them. Drugs should not be a substitute for examining the real cause of symptoms, which are oftentimes poor lifestyle choices. The Medicare and Medicaid guidelines (the government’s standard of health care) offer no reimbursement for preventative care.
Health insurance could easily be renamed “disease insurance.” Most insurance plans only offer sickness care, which is payment for services after you become sick. There is no reimbursement for being proactive and preventing disease with quality lifestyle choices. The responsibility of wellness lies squarely on your shoulders. Making good lifestyle decisions has to be your choice.
“When you take charge of your life, there is no longer need to ask permission of other people or society at large. When you ask permission, you give someone veto power over your life.”
– Albert Geoff
“Health insurance has as much to do with being healthy as life insurance has to do with being alive. If you rely on an insurance company’s recommended plan for your health care needs, we hope you have good life insurance.”
– Author Unknown
Fresh Ideas to Extend Your Expiration Date
No one has as much interest in your health care as you do. Healthy and unhealthy decisions add up over time. It is impossible to undo a lifetime of unhealthy decisions in one doctor’s visit, one vitamin, one pill, or one chiropractic visit. Sustained action over time leads to results. It is a responsibility that begins and ends with you.
You don’t have to be sick or have an unwanted diagnosis to add healthy choices to your life. Some of the best ways to enhance your life are through healthy foods, exercise, healthy emotional patterns, yoga, meditation, chiropractic, massage, and acupuncture. All of the above will optimize your potential and help you tune into your body.
Getting healthy is as simple as adding healthy lifestyle changes. Seriously, that is all it takes. It doesn’t have to be overnight, and it doesn’t have to be all or none. For example, add a fresh fruit or vegetable before every meal or add 30 seconds of deep breathing into your daily routine. If your work involves increased sitting, set an hourly timer. Then when it goes off, get up, stretch, and walk around. You can add healthy lifestyle changes, and over time they will become second nature to you. Taking care of yourself is a decision that you can make without relying on the government, an insurance company, or a doctor.
Learn More
How We Do Harm: A Doctor Breaks Ranks about Being Sick in America, by Otis Webb Brawley, MD, is an informative look from the director of the American Cancer Society on how medical treatment is decided, to whom it is given, and its effectiveness.
