Our Health is Our Responsibility

I heard on the radio this morning that Americans have a shorter lifespan than 60% of other nations in the world; and it was attributed to obesity, infant mortality and lack of universal healthcare.

What they failed to mention; and what I firmly believe is that, for the most part, our own low mortality rate is caused by our poor lifestyle habits, our diets, chemicals in our air, our stress-filled days, among many other factors.   It is very disturbing to me that our poor health is attributed to lack of healthcare rather than the consequences of our everyday choices which cause us to need healthcare in the first place!

We are the richest nation in the world and in spite of that; we are still one of the unhealthiest because of our indulgent lifestyles. We think the answer lies in prescription drugs and good medical care, rather than eating foods the way they were intended--whole and pure—as opposed to processed with chemicals, sugar, salt, and other poisons.  Not to mention our obsession with food and the fact that we eat way above the requirements for our bodies.

Has man become so wise that we have become fools?  Fools to think that good healthcare is the answer to all of our problems? Fools to think that pharmaceuticals can cure our ailments?  Pharmaceuticals are successful in putting a band-aid on our health problems, so successfully that it is unusual for anyone to be prescription-drug free. We are not dealing with the real cause of these ailments and are becoming sicker from the many side effects of the drugs.

God knew in the beginning what foods would give us healthy bodies and vibrant lives, and to stray from those foods in ANY way will only lead to our declining health. Our bodies adapt for a time, sometimes a long time, because of the many avenues our bodies have to help us maintain good health; however eventually, because of our abuses, our organs prematurely wear out and cannot work as effectively, and disease sets in, which in most cases has been resident many years before it becomes evident on the outside.

Our nation leads the world in osteoporosis, arthritis, diabetes, heart disease, gastrointestinal disorders... I could go on and on. These myriad of diseases are almost always lifestyle induced. For example, osteoporosis is not caused by lack of calcium, but by the leaching of calcium from our bones as a result of eating too much meat, drinking too many sodas, and from lack of exercise to build stronger bones.

We are feeding our children foods laden with high fructose corn syrup, which cannot be processed by our bodies without depleting precious vitamin stores in order to get rid of this toxin. We are also feeding them foods loaded with MSG which is so harmful, especially to growing children, that it is disguised by many names on food labels. We give our children sodas, candy, and cookies, feed them donuts at school; and then give them drugs because they are not paying attention or behaving!

These are just a few examples of many crazy things we do that cause ill health, and now we want to blame our nation’s unhealthy status on lack of healthcare?

 Last week, I heard a radio station criticizing a school for trying to remove hot dogs from the menu, stating fanaticism and ridiculousness.  Hot dogs, as well as most luncheon meat, bacon and sausage, contain nitrates, chemicals that have been proven to cause cancer of the stomach, yet we feed them to children in school on a weekly, if not daily basis.

You are labeled extreme if you focus on eating raw fruits and vegetables; however it is not considered extreme to eat something that is made in a processing plant that is so dead it will keep on the shelf for hundreds of years.  

I am not even going to mention lack of exercising, harboring bitterness, stressful living, using unhealthy skin-care and household products, breathing toxins in through our lungs, and many other things that contribute to our lack of health and well-being.  Those are subjects to be covered at another time.

Put a potato in the ground, it will eventually grow a potato plant; put a potato chip in the ground, what happens? Live foods give life, dead foods are just that--dead. Dead foods will lead to our death; live foods to life and well being.  We are feeding ourselves dead foods, and expecting our healthcare system to fix the damage that we cause; it is not working. Let us get back to being responsible for our own health and not expecting healthcare and medicine to do a job that we should be doing ourselves. It is a lifetime investment, and the benefits far outweigh the effort in the long run.  It is never too late, because our bodies are in a constant state of repairing our imbalances--unless, we do not give them (our bodies) the tools needed to do the repairs. 

To repeat, our health is our responsibility;  let our hospitals and doctors be available for emergencies and things beyond our control, rather than to fix the messes we have made by our lack of responsibility for our own bodies. We are not dying from lack of health care, but from lack of self-care.  What can you do today to begin your journey on the road to good health?  Remember, it is never too late!

From my heart to your health,

Debby