Medicine and Health: The American Contradiction

[gnarlylove]

Around 700CE famous Chinese doctor Sun Si-miao said that when a person is sick, the doctor should first regulate the patient's diet and lifestyle. In most cases, these changes alone are enough to effect a cure over time. Only once these changes are identified as inadequate, says Sun Si-miao, should the doctor administer other interventions such as internal medicine and acupuncture.

In America the last thing the doctor has in his kit is our "freedom" or lifestyle choices. We have come to value freedom above responsibility and health. We often simply ignore our lifestyle is related to our health and well-being. In fact, success and wealth seems to be our preferred measure for how "well" one is. "Well-off" is not the same as "well-being." No wonder America is a diseased nation, mind and body (not to mention spiritually).

We are a nation divided against ourselves and this is on display in our medical system. If we simply made better choices about food we could better a large portion of the populous. This would reduce millions in preventable medical expenses reducing the tax burden of our medical system (a long-term debate in Congress). Not to mention cutting out fast food would reduce demand for pork and cattle thereby reducing methane contributing to climate change, if you respect the Earth. However, choices about food are too often motivated profit margins, not the nutritional margins. Simply put companies select for cheap, not nutrition. This is a failing all-across-the-board.

Modern life has distanced us enough from understanding this internal relationship of nature and humanity. When we refuse to acknowledge our choices as having effects on our life and nature then we are asking to be at odds with reality. By ignoring the link between well being and nutrition or between responsibility and liberty we are denying any real chance at pursuing life liberty and happiness. Can we learn this as a nation? A healthy nation is a healthy nation!

 

[Delta4Embassy]

Not that I've given you accolades, I have to take you out to the wood shed. Give up eating crappy food and accept responsibility? What are you a commie or somethin'?

 

[gnarlylove]

haha is it Satan's wood shed? Fire and Brimstone! At any rate I think we all have trouble with accepting responsibility. It's just can we learn to overcome lethargy produced by being inattentive to our needs. I think this is an on-going personal project where set backs shouldn't be judged harshly. I am still addicted to sugar (less so than last yr ). But we won't ever do very well if we don't acknowledge modernity's attempt at selling us a variety of "salves" (i.e. consumer products) is a root problem, not a solution. Humans should trust ourselves more and corporations less. It seems like the last 3 generations (including much of mine) will need to just die out before our ideas will change....I just don't know.

It's just refreshing to learn ancient Chinese medicine got it right so long ago. We really are smart when we avoid deception. Yeah right, like we can do that anymore and participate in society!

 

[gnarlylove]

The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 U.S. dollars; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight. [Read summary]

I happen to live right next to (one of) the fattest cities in America (hence the globe): Huntington, WV. We have more fast food per square mile than any other place on Earth (this might actually be true).

More available here: CDC

 

[auditor0007]

The estimated annual medical cost of obesity in the U.S. was $147 billion in 2008 U.S. dollars; the medical costs for people who are obese were $1,429 higher than those of normal weight. [Read summary]

I happen to live right next to (one of) the fattest cities in America (hence the globe): Huntington, WV. We have more fast food per square mile than any other place on Earth (this might actually be true).

More available here: CDC

While there is no doubt that poor diet can have a huge influence on our waistline, the even bigger elephant in the room is lack of exercise. I'm 50 years old and I consume between 3000 and 4000 calories per day. I weight 140 lbs. If I didn't exercise regularly, I would weigh 175 to 200.

 

[gnarlylove]

While there is no doubt that poor diet can have a huge influence on our waistline, the even bigger elephant in the room is lack of exercise. I'm 50 years old and I consume between 3000 and 4000 calories per day. I weight 140 lbs. If I didn't exercise regularly, I would weigh 175 to 200.

Thanks for your comment. It is true, exercise is an essential to being physically fit. But with my own body I've gone through several phases with repetition of eating well and not working out, working out and eating poorly, doing neither, and doing both. The results I've found is eating healthy is best (for me) if I can only muster the courage to do one or the other. Not only does it keep the waistline from expanding, it allows me to think more clearly and react better without glib frustration--especially when I cut out HFCS. Perhaps different body types respond differently but with exercise and diet in tandem, one becomes a powerhouse. Diet alone one can only achieve a baseline of health (mental, physical and even spiritual).