WINDS OF CHANGE IN OUR SICKCARE INDUSTRY. WHICH WAY FORWARD? ONE STEP AT A TIME. (part 1)

Armand Dorian, MD, MMM, FACEP Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA Doug Crowe Alejandro Badia, MD Atif Zafar Dr. Mike Roizen Dr. Marcos Levy Arlen Meyers, MD, MBA Growth Academy Michelle T. O'Connor Allison Lane Michelle Trieste

It is not easy to extricate ourselves from the comfort zone of the known to explore and understand the unknown, even when, and sometimes especially when, it relates to something common like our health.

From an early age, we are told "the doctor knows best." In fact, the doctor has invested many years of their life in understanding the intricacies of the human body and how to provide solutions when things go wrong. We become dependent on the doctor's opinion based on their years of acquired knowledge. This psychological dependence on the guidance of the medical profession can cause us to relax and not take full responsibility for our own actions. We believe there is a "fix" for many of the afflictions that result from our poor decisions, so our health is not always a priority, and we enjoy life as our freedom of choice and finances permit. We generally use generous terminology for some of our afflictions, such as calling a person "large" when referring to an overweight person. Looking around, we become accustomed to seeing that "large" becomes normal.

We become accustomed to thinking that because someone has reached a certain age and is now suffering from some health disorder, that is the norm, and the solution rests with the medical profession and institutions. We do not generally look back and seriously introspect to see what we could have done or should have done to lead healthier lives and take some responsibility for our situation, rather than resting all hope on the doctor and hospital. Obviously, there are many diseases that are not due to lifestyle choices and are out of anybody's control. But consider that approximately 70% of non-communicable diseases are preventable.

Cardiovascular disease, hypertension, type 2 diabetes, and many cancers need not happen if we take responsibility and take action ourselves. However, we only become aware of this when someone close to us has one of these, and we begin to introspect and think. Once we embark on the journey of seeking and learning things that are not in our school curricula and that can make a significant difference to our health, we see that there is much we can do to prevent ourselves from getting sick.

Here is where we have to make sure the sources of new knowledge are very sound and reliable so that we can have faith in the education we are giving ourselves. Once we are absolutely certain that we have reliable sources of information, which we can prove, then we must overcome the fear of making some bold decisions that may be contrary to the general consensus and opinion of our friends.

I used to be criticized for some of the conservative actions I took. I freely confess that until today, I have never taken a recreational drug, not because of being a prude but simply because I did not want to be out of control of my decisions. I started investigating our food sources and compared them to those in some of the countries in which I have lived. I found that there is a lot to be said about what we eat. I was impacted by my father, who would go to the fresh market every morning in Italy and select fruit and vegetables with some evidence of insect blemish. When questioned, he told me, "This is one way I can be sure there were no insecticides used." That was 30 years ago.

I began reading labels on everything and understood that to produce better-looking food and higher yields, in order to offset rising costs, farming practices changed. Bigger, heavier machinery is used, compacting soils, and chemicals are widely used since commercial farming has become industrialized. Marketing has taught us that we want perfection in what we buy. We have become accustomed to buying with our eyes. I was particularly impacted by the chicken industry and how the industrialization and commercialization of this has reached such amazing proportions. The taste and texture of the chickens we consume in the US is very different from that in many other countries where the liberal use of hormones and antibiotics is not so widespread and the food consumed by the chickens is natural, like grass seeds, grasshoppers, etc.

I believe there are many people like me seeking answers, and thanks to the growing mountain of reliable information, we can and should make educated decisions not only to better our own lives but to impart this information to anyone who would listen.

Step one, therefore, is to take some bold action and understand the importance of the fuel we are putting in our bodies, which can either help or destroy us. We often take better care of our vehicles than our bodies. Taking control of our lives.