Give your Body What it Needs
Michael Bronco
In America, taking medications has become the norm. And it is a widely held belief by users, and by much of the medical community alike, that drugs are necessary for a good quality of life. But I couldn't disagree more. Just like our current financial meltdown, caused in large measure by a reluctance to take a good hard look at what was taking place all along, I believe that we'll pay a very dear price for all the pill popping. Now, in the next issue, I promise to write about how to run a faster 10K, or how to finish your first triathlon in less than 14 hours, or maybe how to have the body of a 14 year old by next summer !
Something like that.
But for now, something a bit more important.
In a recent study, Crestor, America’s most popular cholesterol medication, was shown to reduce heart attacks, not only in those with elevated cholesterol levels, but in those with low cholesterol as well. I’ll say it again: CRESTOR has been shown to reduce heart attacks in people with low cholesterol.
What? People with low cholesterol have heart attacks too?
Yup. In fact, exactly 50% of all heart attacks occur in folks with low cholesterol. Another interesting little tidbit is that the folks with the highest cholesterol levels in the world actually live the longest. The bottom line: cholesterol is only part of the problem. In my opinion it is STRESS that is the leading cause of heart disease. Again, it’s just my opinion.
And just in case you were interested, it was the makers of Crestor who ran the aforementioned study.
But you shouldn’t be surprised. I’m not. This stuff goes on all the time. And who can blame them? They’re no different than any other company trying to sell a product to make a buck.
As far back as World War II, researchers found that half the folks who die of heart disease have low cholesterol and half have high, so there really isn’t anything earth shattering here. The real question for me is: what are we doing to take charge of our own health? And how did America become so full of lab rats standing in line for the next drug?
The truth is we don’t need to be sick. Our bodies have the ability to take care of themselves. But that takes some work. Particularly in a society that doesn’t put a premium on following a healthy lifestyle. It means that you might need to prepare food ahead of time and take it with you rather than relying on what is available at the local deli. And it might mean that you exercise regularly and develop good sleeping habits. If you take a look at my other articles you’ll see that there is a pattern to my advice: personal responsibility and commitment.
In my two decades of study and practical application I have learned that being truly healthy comes down to the three S’s: controlling STRESS, proper SLEEP and not being SEDENTARY. Diet, of course, is also extremely important, but it is easier to be successful with your diet when the three S’s are mastered first.
STRESS leads to poor diet choices and out- of- control eating habits, lack of SLEEP causes hormonal imbalances that can leave you feeling hungry even when you don’t need food, and a SEDENTARY lifestyle lowers energy, and in many cases leads to varying degrees of depression, which again can cause bad eating habits.
And the result of all the above, of course, is that we gain too much weight, suffer from one or more ailments, and then rely on some form of medication (or several) to try to fix it all.
But it doesn’t work. As mentioned, those with low cholesterol have just as many heart attacks as those with high cholesterol, so elevated cholesterol may be nothing more than a sign that something isn’t right. It’s a clue that something needs to change. If you think about it, artificially controlling medical conditions may actually do nothing more than hide the deeper and more sinister problems.
On a lighter note, YOU can change all the above. Nearly 100% of you. In rare cases, genetics or exposure to environmental forces make medicine necessary to improve one’s quality of life. And for that reason, I say hooray for modern medicine! Keep up the good work! But when nearly our entire adult population (and many of our children) is on at least one drug, something is wrong.
For starters, our lifestyles are killing us. Too much, too fast, and not enough rest. The processed foods we eat are void of any meaningful nutrition and we eat WAY too much of them. And our kids are now experiencing their own health problems. In just five years, nearly 1/3 of all high school students will have diabetes, and I actually think that this is a conservative estimate.
But like I said, we can change all this. We can be more responsible and reevaluate our priorities. And just to be clear, I have absolutely no problem whatsoever with medicine or drug companies. I just think that our perspective is off. First of all, all the focus seems to be on simply staying alive, but as Abraham Lincoln so aptly put it, “It’s not the years in a life that matter, but rather the life in the years.” Here, here Father Abe!
So for me, it’s about teaching how to make whatever years you do have the absolute best that they can be.
Eat healthy, get plenty of rest, learn to deal with stress, exercise regularly and see what happens. You may still need medicine in spite of your best efforts and you may not. Only time will tell. I know for sure you’ll feel a lot better. And you’ll enjoy life more. Beyond that, no one can guarantee anything.
Just give your body what it needs and see how it rewards you. Who knows, in a year’s time you may actually show up at the beach with the body of a fourteen year old. Or, not.
But at least you’ll show up.