When is the last time you took a moment to consider where you fall on the spectrum of health and disease? I don’t mean whether you’re experiencing “symptoms”, but rather whether you’re living life under the terms you control and desire.
Most people never take the time to consider this option. They simply follow habitual patterns of daily behavior without regard to outcomes. Life doesn’t have to be based on luck. Whether it’s Cancer, Type 2 Diabetes, Obesity, Stroke, Heart Disease, Alzheimer’s Disease, High Cholesterol or High Blood Pressure:
THESE DISEASES AND CONDITIONS ARE PREVENTABLE FOR THE MOST PART!
.
So why do so many people suffer from these diseases and conditions if they’re preventable for the most part?
Human behavior relies on painful EXPERIENCES over KNOWLEDGE. This means most individuals need to “suffer” a health crisis or condition before taking action steps to address it. In most cases, these action steps are designed to “stabilize” rather than correct and restore health and function.
Why are most people willing to live life along with these various health diseases and conditions?
It comes down to our relationship with experiences and knowledge. As long as symptoms are not EXPERIENCED, health is considered “good”. The KNOWLEDGE that symptoms are the FINAL STAGES of disease when the body can no longer compensate for damages incurred, does not provide enough incentive to alter human behavior toward the concept of disease or disease prevention. Instead, we choose pain and loss of function as indicators confirming problems exist. We then turn to our doctors for answers in the form of “pills” for these self imposed conditions. If their “solutions” improve our symptoms, we fool ourselves into believing “good health” has been restored. Blinding oneself from reality, however, doesn’t prevent these diseases from taking 3 out of 4 lives.
REGARDLESS OF SYMPTOMS:
-
How truly healthy is the individual required to be on lifelong medications?
-
How truly healthy is the individual whose regular diet consists of chemical toxins (preservatives, dyes, antibiotics, hormones, pesticides, sugar, etc…) found in most grocery isles and fast food restaurants in place of essential nutrients 99% of the population isn’t even aware they need (anthocyanidins, betanin, ellagic acid, lycopene, carotenoids hesperidin lutein & zeaxanthin, quercitin, resveratrol, etc…) found in vegetables and fruits.
-
How truly healthy is the individual who chooses sedentary existence over life sustaining MOTION/EXERCISE?
-
How truly healthy is the individual who bases health on “painful”/symptomatic EXPERIENCES , rather than KNOWLEDGE used to understand the guidelines to achieving healthy outcomes?
All About Healthy Choices 
[…] via “IT’S FOR THE MOST PART, PREVENTABLE!” — All About Healthy Choices […]
LikeLiked by 1 person
“…It requires learning and adjusting behaviors to satisfy BOTH wants and needs. It provides an opportunity to live life as one chooses rather than living life as a victim of circumstances…” Just this lunch I passed over a meal I would have loved to eat because I had already had some other source of lipids and all and I didn’t want to add to my ‘feeling of guilt’ later on about how much I have already indulged in this weekend. That to me is self discipline and I have learned alot and made those adjustments not waiting for painful symptons to tell me enough is enough sort of… Thank Doc as usual
LikeLike
Oh Dr. Jonathan, again you have been here right when I needed a reminder of where and what I believe I should be doing with my health. I love that I can sit down here and read exactly what I need to hear at the exact moment I am struggling with my health journey. Being a food addict is a struggle I deal with daily, beside mantras, deep breathing and just staking the big step back at times, its really nice to have you and your wise words and informative blogs to help me through my journey. and the picture with the lady holding the gun is very disturbing!!! Certainly makes a point for sure. thank you again…..xxkat
LikeLiked by 1 person
Expressing how people are “hurting themselves” versus providing pictures that clearly show these dangers, helps different people connect better with the concepts.
LikeLike
Certainly helped me….I still can close my eyes and see it….I am and have never been fond of guns….worked for me….Kat
LikeLike
Just wanted to let you know that quite a few of my friends on Facebook are enjoying your post! You are making a difference !! xxkat
LikeLiked by 1 person
Such a sweet comment Kat! Thank you for all your encouragement and your willingness to be part of my stories. Your comments have had many readers recognize their own difficulties and confront them.
LikeLike
Just speaking the truth…its one of the hardest things I have ever had to do – loose weight !! Aghhhhhh !!!!
LikeLike
Dr. J., it’s a simple concept, maintain a healthy lifestyle over the years to manage aging health problems. Heredity plays a part in what diseases we are prone to. That’s a given. What isn’t a given is that we will suffer & die the same as our parents. I’m fortunate to have gotten the message early on (around age 23) about healthy eating, exercise, and the perils of smoking & drinking alcohol. Today at age 78, it’s a mindset! Without being pushy, I help friends & family to change old living habits & thinking about health. They do listen, so it’s in their minds when the are ready to hear it. 🌷Christine
LikeLiked by 1 person
I like your approach. Making certain our friends and family are AWARE of essential habits is a great option. It has to ultimately be there decision to move forward and apply these principles to achieve a better quality of life.
Glad to also hear you’ve only reached mid life as of today! ::D I expect you still have another 78 good years to go!
LikeLiked by 1 person
“For the most part”. And some of us get chronic illness in spite of the fact that we have made healthy choices, gone to all the right doctors for all the “right” treatments, eaten healthy, exercised, taken all the right supplements, etc. For some of us it is about attempting to find a way to make life meaningful while dealing with serious health issues that we have no control over. This comment is from the rest of us, whose illnesses are not self imposed.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Although I certainly understand and respect your position and welcome your views, the intent of this post should have been clear. Placing underlined letters in red and restating the point, “For The Most Part” three separate times, should have made it clear who the target population in this post was identifying.
You identified a minority position in our population. This doesn’t reduce the relevance of this group or the need to discover better answers to help this group facilitate the best quality of life possible. I was hoping, however, my phrasing, “For The Most Part” would help avoid defensive posturing.
The goal of this blog site is to help people better understand important realities necessary to improve chances of healthy living. I do not simply point fingers of blame; but rather identify problems and offer solutions to the best of my ability. I don’t do this for compensation. I do this to provide resources for those searching for answers and for those with limited means.
I was a practicing doctor for over 20 years. During that time frame, I met very few people (healthy or suffering chronic diseases) that lived the life you described (eating healthy REGULARLY, exercising properly REGULARLY, taking all the right supplements BASED ON ACTUAL OBJECTIVE TESTING, etc…) especially prior to being diagnosed with any type of malady. Regardless, I’m certain there are people that fit this criteria and unfortunately develop chronic diseases anyway. This small segment of people are not part of the group this post was addressing.
This post was addressing those CHOOSING to avoid responsibility. Although they have every right in the world to do so, their lifestyle and manifesting diseases ultimately place hardship on OTHERS as well. In my opinion, once other lives are negatively affected, an individual has crossed the boundary line of individual rights.
I wish you well on the difficult journey ahead. Although you place quotes around “right doctors” in your comment, I am not convinced you have actually found or experienced the “right doctors.” There are good, bad and mediocre physicians in ALL DISCIPLINES. Many people with Lupus, or other autoimmune disorders have been helped by quality functional doctor’s (naturopathic, chiropractic, medical, eastern, ayurvedic, etc…) that combined the various strategies needed to restore improved BALANCE to the body. Each person has unique needs. This means an individual diagnosis, (ex. “Lupus”) may require different approaches to care to produce positive results. It might require multiple disciplines working together to provide answers to your needs. I mention this hoping to renew your willingness to search for better physicians across the spectrum of care.
I sincerely want to thank you again for reading and commenting on this post. It is important for people to understand and experience the various views on health. It is through honest open dialogue where new ideas are discovered. Everyone (doctors and patients) benefit from such a forum. Thank you.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m sorry if my comment was offensive. It came from the place of feeling weary with working so hard to improve my health and getting worse instead of better. When I first started getting sick five years ago I had this dream that one day it would be over, I would find the solution and I would return to a state of good health. I am in the process of accepting now that that dream has died. I have had some very good doctors along the way. I’m just very discouraged right now.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I understand your feelings and emotions. I wasn’t offended; I simply wanted to make certain you were aware I was not making a “blanket statement” across the entire population.
We have two basic choices in life. We can focus on negativity and discouragement or we can choose to search for positivity and opportunities. This is NOT a pollyianna statement. Choosing the latter doesn’t remove the pain and frustration. It minimizes its harmful effects within certain limits.
Finding the willingness to create a new MINDSET is a very difficult undertaking. I hope you consider this option. We only get one chance at life; each day we allow to pass without discovering value makes the next day that much harder to receive.
LikeLike
I saw a commercial today for a drug to deal with a side effect of Type 2 diabetes – the side effects were horrible, and I immediately thought of you. This post is absolutely timely in light of that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The average consumer doesn’t truly believe those side effects are possible. Their response is, “if these horrible side effects really happened, the drug would be taken off the market.” My response is, “if these drugs with these side effects are allowed to stay on the market, can you imagine how much worse the side effects must be to be taken off the market?” I watch people walk away with very large question marks in their eyes!
LikeLiked by 1 person
That’s an excellent response!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you for this Jonathan. It is a real eye opener !
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hearing a similar message from different “angles” connects with people in different ways. The message is simple, yet rarely accepted. People are extremely resistant when it comes to accepting responsibility for their health (or disease.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
It seems like I’m always thinking about health and how to make my families life healthier, this becomes very hard to follow when pizza or cookies are nearby!!! When it comes to health my husband literally does not care. That’s his thing unfortunately I can only do so much.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Keeping “junk food” out of the house is a good start. “Out of reach, out of mind.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
The problem is it’s still in my mind! Lol …. but not having it here still helps
LikeLiked by 1 person