Have you ever heard the saying “never trust a skinny chef”? What if we stopped to think about our current healthcare model in the same light? Who are we taking health advice from? Are the individuals that are making recommendations for how to heal YOUR body taking care of their own? As a Doctor of Physical Therapy and someone with a deep passion for health, I feel a strong sense of responsibility to empower others to own their health. I recently had a conversation about the importance of eating healthy with another healthcare professional in my field who mentioned, “If I die at 75 and was able to enjoy my Doritos, pop, and sweets, I think it’s better than living until I’m 80 and have restricted myself with my eating”.
This way of thinking is bothersome to me for a couple reasons-
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When did eating artificial foods become a reward or a method of enjoyment? Unfortunately our food industry has constructed “food” in a way to include synthetic ingredients with a palatable taste and addictive properties. What if we rewired our thinking from eating nutritious food as a chore to thinking of it as a privilege to feed our bodies with nourishing food?
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We are not guaranteed to live to any certain age. However, eating fruits and vegetables and regular physical activity has been shown time and time again to be quite possibly the best “insurance policy” against most diseases.
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We must each take ownership of our individual health in order to make positive changes in our broken medical system. Our current system is designed to treat disease, which implies that the person is sick when he/she reaches the system. This has created a large dependency on synthetic pharmaceuticals that often mask the symptoms and create additional unwanted side effects.
Just to clarify, I am so grateful for the advancements of modern medicine and the accessibility to a healthcare system equipped with knowledgeable healthcare professionals. There is definitely a time and place for traditional medicine and other medical interventions. That being said, the system is not best equipped to treat preventative diseases or the common ailments that can be avoided if one chooses to live a healthy lifestyle. I believe we can make positive changes in healthcare cost and accessibility if we each take responsibility for creating consistent, healthy rituals in our lives.
