What's In Plain Sight

Whether you’re ecstatic or stunned over yesterday’s passage of the healthcare bill, one fact remains: you are the one in charge of your own health.

It’s not a new concept. About 2500 years ago Hippocrates, the father of modern medicine, said, “Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food.” What that means today is exactly what it meant then: you’re the one in control. Here’s an example. A friend visited his doctor about an acid reflux problem. You know what she told him? “You were in here a year ago complaining about your back, and I told you to lose 20 pounds; you’ve gained 10.”

Way to go, doc! Way to not just throw a prescription at him and send him out the door. And way to light a fire under someone who needed it.

Said friend decided to let food be his medicine. For him, that specifically meant cutting down the extras and focusing on healthy choices. He began to exercise. Over the next several months, he dropped more than 40 pounds. And every concern he’d taken to his doctor went away.

No matter what entity claims to be in charge of healthcare, you are the one with the most control over your health. Your healthy choices are not up to your doctor, they’re not up to your HMO, and they’re not up to the government. Whatever the current state of your health, the choices you make—how much you move, how well you eat, and how much you sleep—have a major impact on your wellbeing.

Be healthy.