Staying Healthy in the Fast Lane

staying healthy in the fast lane

professionals), then we are going to have more and more people
with more and more busted spokes, which are more costly to fix
and result in a lot more disability.
It is true that our ever-evolving medical technology advances
impressively over time, but the overall functional health of our so-
ciety doesn’t improve because we are doing too little to prevent
these spokes from going bad in the first place. Sooner or later indi-
viduals, health insurance companies, and governments will no lon-
ger be able to pay for these repairs, and we will go bankrupt or just
not take care of certain groups of people. This is the direction and
present state of U.S. healthcare in which we find ourselves today.
I would like to make a very important point about the meaning
of “preventive medicine.” When I say preventive medicine, I’m not
talking about a government program making children and adults
get more and more vaccinations or pap smears and mammograms.
I’m talking about economic incentives that teach, encourage, and
demand that people eat right, get exercise, lose weight, and pre-
vent and reverse the chronic diseases I have been talking about.

How Alternative Medicine May Fail

There is no magic bullet to being healthy. Good health is a daily
consistent practice of simple principles and disciplines that incor-
porate physical activity; a whole-food, unprocessed, vegetable-
based diet; and a positive, loving mental outlook on life. Any prac-
tice that improves one, two, or all three of these areas is going to
improve the overall health of the individual and society.
Alternative medicine will fail if it puts more emphasis on so-
called natural therapies than on the person’s lifestyle of regular
disciplines that enhance the synergy of diet, exercise, and mind-
body practices in addition to these natural therapies.
I have been around a few famous health gurus since 1983 when
I started practicing integrative and primary care medicine. A good
number don’t appear to practice what they preach and don’t look
all that healthy. All I can say is that alternative practitioners bet-
ter provide the basics of creating a wellness lifestyle, then add on