Here's a health-care fix: Start taking better care of yourself

By Diane Dennis

Boom!, Oct 12, 2009, Updated Oct 30, 2009

Diane Dennis is a life transition coach appearing monthly on television’s “AM Northwest.” Contact her at 503-972-3441, Dianeden@centurytel.net or www.coachdianed.com.

Everyone is talking about health-care reform. Almost everyone agrees that health care should be accessible for every American, but we seem to get stuck in the details. President Obama appeared on national news recently to give a state of the union pitch for sweeping health care changes. The American republic responded loudly —along with the GOP and South Carolina’s Joe Wilson.

As a former nurse, I confess a certain prejudice toward those patients who had diseases, injuries or illnesses directly tied to lifestyle choices. Obesity from poor nutrition, amputated feet from jumping trains, clogged arteries from high-cholesterol foods, emphysema from pack-a-day habits were the type of patients I would want to — but did not — scold.

Now, as I look at the possibility of government control over health care and tax dollars with the words “budget deficit” flashing before my eyes, I realize more than ever we are going to need to individually take responsibility for our own bodies. America is long overdue for a nutritional overhaul. We have more bad choices than ever, and it seems what we consume has fallen down a very slippery slope.

Of course, I fall victim to the same temptations we all do. Every store during the month of October sells humongous bags of individually wrapped candy. And of course we buy them with the intention of giving them out to children on Halloween — but come on now, who doesn’t sneak a few?

We all have our own little temptations, and eating right is a daily choice. To take this a step further, developing diseases and disorders that are caused by nutrition is also a choice, a very personal one.

When you are 12 years old and eat a bag of candy, you won’t wake up with Type II diabetes the next day. Over time, however, the likelihood of developing diabetes is a real threat by ingesting enough foods laced with refined sugar. The length of time between cause and effect is long enough for us to trick ourselves into believing we can beat the system.

Alas, if we live long enough we shall discover that eventually we will pay the price for wearing out our pancreas with sugar, or clogging our ticker with high-fat foods.

I heard a great quote the other day from one of those daytime TV doctors. He said if we would eat only those foods that our great-grandparents ate, none of us would have nutrition-related health issues — and obesity would be extinct in this country, instead of the epidemic it has become.

What a concept. My great-grandmother grew everything she ate, and mostly ate only that which she grew. I don’t think she ever heard of extra-cheesy Doritos. During her era, fast-food chains had yet to dot every street corner.

Come to think of it, Grandma Quinn was never sick a day in her life and lived to be 100 years old. If she were alive today, bless her soul, she would have a few juicy words to say on the subject of how we eat today.

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