Get Real About Health Care Reform

About 6 months ago I quit paying alot of attention to the news. I still listen to NPR, watch Stewart and Colbert and read homepage headlines; but I'm not super-engaged. So what I'm saying is, I'm not really that sure what is going on with health care reform, except it isn't really going. I do know that no one is even really talking about health care reform, but health care finance reform (and not really doing much with that either).

I'll hear on TV all the time that here in the US we don't have a health care system, but a sick care system. It isn't even that. We run a symptom care system. My head hurts, take this pill, I can't breath, take this pill; run this test, cut that out to alleviate this/that symptom. If we were even serious about sick care, we would get to the root cause of headaches, backpain, shortness of breath etc and fix it (which IS what I do, but that's another subject for another day).

The leading causes of death, disease and health care expenditures in this country are all life-style related. Smoking, diet, accidents and sexual. There isn't a single disease, disorder or system that smoking doesn't mal-affect. If in 2009 you still smoke, come by the office so I can wack you with a stick.

Diet. We eat like crap and don't exercise, and the food we eat we think is good, is crap. The average American should eat about 1800 calories a day, we usually get 2600; of which about 60% is usless, i.e has no nutritional value. Such as simple carbs, alcohol, fats and some dairy products (ice cream, processed cheese etc). We should get most of our calories from fruits and veggies (potatoes, lettuce and ketchup are not veggies); followed by lean meats (no visable fat) and tree nuts. Less than 10% should come from a refined source. In short, if it comes in a sack, box, bag or comes from the grocery store ailes and not periphery; don't eat it.

Even then, much of our fresh food is lacking or even dangerous. The way our meat is grown (feed corn, drugs and hormones) creates a biochemical change in that meat that promotes inflammation in our body.

If we want to get serious about health care reform, let's reform our health.