It is not excessive calorie intake but not enough exercise causing
of the obesity crisis? According to a recently published paper in The American Journal of Medicine[i]
this is the heart of the growing health crisis in this country. I am a little
skeptical of that particular finding but that is another topic for another day.
Now, before going further, can we all agree that the word ‘crisis’ is becoming
overplayed? There is crisis in the
Middle East, Ukraine, on the border with Mexico and hundreds of other places
and circumstances around the world. There is financial crisis on Wall Street
every other day on top of local, national and international political crises. I
don’t know about you, but I am getting a little tired of hearing the word
“crisis.” Yes, problems exist, everybody’s got problems. Identifying problems
is well and good. However, if this is the only step to be taken than nothing
has changed or improved the status quo. It is time to stop focusing on the
problems and start looking for solutions.
As a health and fitness professional (I label myself as such
because of my education and experience, but, it is mainly because I work with
people to construct positive health changes that they can learn and apply to
actually living) articles like the recent one from AJM used peak my interest. I
say used to because to me this sort of thinking is becoming antiquated. Yes, there is a major and continually growing
problem of poor health in America. With an adult population that is more than
2/3 overweight and 1/3 obese there is absolutely a problem.[ii]
But this is not the heart of the issue, it is troubling, but it is a symptom of
underlying problem within this country and it is problem that few people, if
any, are talking about.
At the heart of the health troubles facing this nation lays
two fundamental concerns. The first is that the healthcare system in America is
broken. But, not in the way some would
have you think. In my opinion, this brokenness has nothing to do with the cost
of or method by which payment is given for health services rendered. Health
care may be expensive, but then, it is not pricey if you do not need it. The
underlying problem with the American health care system is precisely that it is
not health care. Nor should it be. Think
about it: when do you go to the doctor? When do you need medication? When you
are sick or injured and therein lay the problems. The American health care system predominantly
reacts to a problem after it exists. Perhaps it would be more accurate to call
it Sick and Injury care. Do not get me wrong, I am not bashing the quality of
health care in America. I think the
quality of it is outstanding. If I have
to go to the doctor, there is no better place to be. What I am suggesting is that
we should take responsibility for our health seriously enough that we spend as
little time in the doctor’s office as possible.
Little, if any, effort is made to address health issues from
a position of proactivity and prevention. What if instead of spending billions
trying to treat problems, society spent millions working to prevent the
problems from happening in the first place? I will give credit where credit it
is due, as a parent I can attest to the fact that the health care system does
this brilliantly with childhood vaccinations. But what about with the problems
that come later in life like high blood pressure and Type II diabetes? Health
problems that are closely tied with being overweight or obese are behind the
times when it comes to being treated in a manner that focuses on prevention or
elimination of these health concerns. Oops, did you catch that? The focus
should be on the prevention and/or elimination of these problems instead of
simply treating symptoms. I made a suggestion that would cut the drug companies
profit margins. Maybe they would find a way to make those medications and
health services more affordable if the market was less demanding. It is simple
economics: small supply with high demand and suddenly prices sky rocket. This
is where we are now. The reverse is also true: a larger supply with little
demand and prices come down in an effort to increase sales for a product or
service that nobody needs. Wow, did I just figure out how a free-market,
capitalistic society could fix its own health crisis?
But of course, this kind of substantive change would require
action on the part of those who currently rely on this broken health care
system. This is the caveat that is hard to swallow. It is not the doctor’s role
to improve your health. Treat an injury or recover from an illness? Absolutely.
But proactively work to keep your body healthy? Not the doctor’s
responsibility. The brokenness of healthcare in America is not with the
“system” or in the doctor’s training. It is in the misplaced reliance of the
population to look at the health care system as being responsible for
performing a duty is was never meant to.
So we come to the second part of our discussion of the cause of the
health crisis in America today. Change requires action, in order for action to
succeed one must exercise (pun intended) personal responsibility. One must
proactively choose to improve health. It is time to do so.
It is time to move past the doom and gloom cries of alarm at
the growing number of overweight and obese people in our society. Get over the
fact that, as a society, our health is deteriorating. Please stop wondering
what the cause is or who is to blame. Instead, let’s start looking for answers.
But do not look into research studies or news headlines. My opinion is that
science and research, while wonderful in its time and place, is spending too
much time and effort looking at the problem instead of searching for a
solution.
However, there are those out there, people like myself, for
whom healthy living is a passion born from choosing to take control. Change is
hard, I know because I have lived it. If you are not familiar with my story,
allow me to give a brief synopsis. I was an obese teenager, at sixteen years
old I weighed 260lbs, was pre-diabetic and pre-hypertensive. I am thirty-one
now and I have lost roughly 100lbs and kept it off for fifteen years. The
change that has occurred in my life is why I now work in a career that allows
me to help people make their own changes. I could digress into a plethora of
topics regarding nutrition and exercise.
Instead, allow me to be straight-forward. My life changed because I took
responsibility for my health. I chose action over inaction, responsibility over
excuses, and productivity over negativity.
I made a choice. So can you. Yes, you can make that same
choice. Embracing responsibility and taking action is never easy. But, if you want to be free of a problem
there is a price to be paid. Everyone pays for their health; it is just a
question of when, where, and how much. A person can pay for his or her health
in the doctor’s office and in the pharmacy. Or, you can pay for your health in
the gym and at the grocery store. Either way, a payment for your health will be
paid somewhere. Where will you spend your money? More importantly, where will you spend your
time? More money can be made, but once
time is lost, it is gone forever. I can think of a lot of things I would rather
do with my time than sit around at the doctor’s office. Perhaps if we spent
less time there the cost would not be such an issue. But what do I know about
expensive health care? Other than my annual physical, I have not seen a doctor
in the last 18 months.
[i]
Ladabuam et al. Move More, Eat Less:
It’s Time for Americans to Get Serious about Exercise. The American Journal of Medicine, 2014 issue 10 page 1016.
