Health Care for You

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© Jacquelyn Johnston, M.Ed. Diabesity Coach

I’m sure I’m not the only Canadian watching with much interest the progress of the health care bill south of the border. Many of us have relatives and friends there, and are hearing what it means to them.

As a Canadian I cannot imagine what has taken our friends south of the 49th parallel so long. 100 years, to quote President Obama. I’m sure proponents and opponents alike have many valid points to put forward. I’m not commenting on the politics or the economics of the bill.

That being said, here are a few observations from someone who has universal health care. In all the talks about the Bill two stakeholders have emerged: health insurance and doctors. That seems to surface in up 99% of the media reports.

It seems that the main source of concern is a serious diagnosis that could make you lose your house. That’s a terrible thing to have to happen to anyone, but wait! Let’s take a step back for a bit.

Has any regular citizen given a thought to why people end up getting that sick in the first place? And what the main triggers of chronic conditions are? Those are perhaps the first things to think of when we discuss any aspect of health care.

On TV last night I saw a mother with several young children going to a free mobile clinic to get care for her sick children. The woman was obese—I mean o-bese. That’s clue #1. That’s the top trigger. And oh, by the way, the doctor she went to see was obese too. Go figure.

Get this. Heart disease is the top killer in North America. Unfortunately, the first symptom is often sudden death. Not exactly a symptom that can be reversed. And one of the best way to reverse the trend is to buck it. How? Simple. Don’t get overweight. How to do this? Don’t dine on pretend food. Exercise daily. But you knew that.

You don’t need to trot to the doctor for the first symptom you have. Take some of the allergy ads for example. Take this and you breathe easy. Oh yeah? Yeah! Till the next attack.

Take this and your arthritis pain will go away. Yeah, right. It might for 20 minutes, but the arthritis will still be there.

Take this and your cholesterol will go down (and go on eating fries daily). Good plan. For a heart attack, that is. But don’t worry. The doctor will be there with the paddles.

Have three doughnuts for breakfast. Go ahead. Chomp down on them. Goodbye pancreas. Hello Diabetes.

You get my drift.

The Sick Care System is not a license to abuse your body. The name of the game is Prevention. Educated grocery shopping.

Folks, our kids are the fattest in the world. This is a generation marked to die before their parents. We’ve got an obesity crisis on our hands. A tsunami of obesity-and-diabetes called Diabesity.  Health Care Reform can no longer be reactive.

You could begin with tape measure. What’s your height in inches or centimeters? How about your waist? If it’s more than half your height it’s time to take a serious look at your New Year’s resolutions! Why? Ask you question in a comment. I’ll be happy to tell you.

Next, if you go to Google you can calculate your Body Mass Index. Over 25? Your heart’s begging you to do something differently.

Enjoy the season, enjoy Christmas. I wish you the best of both. Talk soon. Any questions, just ask.

May the New Year bring you the best of health. Whether the bill gets signed into law or not doesn’t change this: YOU are in charge of YOU!

Jacquelyn

Jacquelyn Johnston M.Ed.
Professional Health Coach and Educator,
Solutions and Support for Optimal Health