Posted by Matt  on  08/19  at  08:19 AM

I’m in full agreament Shin. I have long believed that our helath care system is on the skids simply becasue our health and how we take care of ourselves is simply terrible.

I see the body not as a machine but as an organisim and like any organism once damage is done it seldom can ever be “fixed”. There is always some sort of lasting scar or other damage. preventative helath care is the only way to ensure maximum health. Once somthing goes wrong no drug or surgury can bring you back to 100%.

Posted by Linda E. Paxton  on  08/19  at  08:36 AM

Hi Shin! I TOTALLY believe in health care prevention! Its all about eating right getting enough sleep and excercising daily!
Its a package deal! Those are the 3 main things you need to focus on in prevention of having a healthy body! When your body does change due to age you still need to focus on those things but in a different way. You have to focus on the AMOUNTS of those three things I said. Its about respecting your body as a temple. And your in charge. Just sharing what I believe in. Hopefully the system will have to change and EVERyONE will see that it is about Prevention.

Posted by Peter  on  08/19  at  08:49 AM

Good tip! I will definitely make a concerted effort to cut down on my simple carbs and start eating more fruit and fresh veg! I do eat quite alot of fruit and veg right now but also a lot of simple carbs like rice, pasta & bread. I’m 56 and struggling to get rid of my paunch! Working out has vastly improved my strength and overall muscle mass but has not got rid of the stomach fat!

Posted by Mike A  on  08/19  at  08:57 AM

Wow Shin,
This is great info. I believe that part of our nations problem is our Fast Food dependency. If some of the 99 billion served at Mickey D’s were able to get veggies (jalapeno poppers do not count) instead of fries would surely help. I am going to do my best to follow this new pyramid. Great article

Posted by Jenny  on  08/19  at  09:00 AM

I agree wholeheartedly! I have Type 1 (autoimmune) diabetes. Type 1 diabetics have a NON-FUNCTIONING pancreas, which makes no insulin. This is a completely different disease than Type 2 disease, which is typically caused by over-consuming the wrong types of food, combined with a lack of exercise. Type 2 diabetics have a mostly-normal functioning pancreas, but it cannot keep up with the over-consumption of the wrong types of food and lack of activity that leads to high blood sugars.

Many diabetics neglect to control their blood sugars, which leads to cardiovascular disease, neuropathy, and other (very costly) complications. However, those of us who CHOOSE to take control of this disease (through careful blood sugar-monitoring, insulin dosing, healthy eating and proper exercise), can lead a very normal, complication-free life! It’s a CHOICE!

My health is phenomenal, and I feel like it’s MY RESPONSIBILITY to manage this disease to the best of my ability in order to prevent the expense (and personal devastation) that comes along with the typical diabetes-related complications. If everyone in this country took RESPONSIBILITY for their own health, a great deal of money would be saved and the quality of life would skyrocket! Just my 2 cents….

Signed,
A very grateful diabetic & fitness trainer

Posted by schmadrian  on  08/19  at  09:10 AM

Such a huge (and hugely important) topic. Even though I tend to get my words wholesale (I’m a writer, after all…) I’m going to be very brief here (for me, anyway):

While what you’ve presented here is dead-on, for me, I still flinch when the focus is on something that, because political philosophies are involved, can end up derailing the actual bedrock discussion. I know that paints me as a skeptic, but these days I’m amazed at how much energy is spent on not addressing what the core issue is in any situation, and rather, moot discussions and arguments result.

Over the past 60+ years, our society has slowly, gradually moved (pun intended) to being a sedentary one. We have labour-saving devices, practices…the savings from which most people don’t use for more leisure activities, but for more leisure down-time; watching tv, online entertainment, ‘playing’ video games, etc. We consume mostly pre-packaged calories that cannot be considered ‘food’, that are chock-full of non-food entities. In doing all this, we have become entirely detached from our physical selves…and we seem to revel in it. The end result? A pandemic of obesity, Type II diabetes, all manner of heart disease, arthritis, cancers.

So here’s what I’m saying: before any sort of new legislation or laws could ever have any discernible effect on the status quo, we need to pull back and recognize where we are. Determine with all honesty and humility just how we got here. Accept responsibility for all of this…and then make a conscious decision to change. Otherwise, we’re going to continue our downward spiral. The problem is that quantum shifts on a societal level tend only to happen when a) there’s a crisis, or b) when something ‘sexier’ is offered. Oh, and that people don’t like being told what to do.

Taking a page from Michael Pollan’s book ‘In Defense of Food’, here’s my personal motto:

‘Cook real food. Be active. Have fun.’

Posted by Patty  on  08/19  at  09:10 AM

Eat fruits, vegs, seeds, beans…skip dairy and manimal “products”. Get rest and daily execise.

Posted by Patty  on  08/19  at  09:11 AM

I meant “animal”

Posted by Laurelin  on  08/19  at  09:12 AM

We say now prevention of unneeded sicknesses but one day people understand that life is to be lived in the body and not preventing all movement by transportation our mindset is too much on “easy living” and it isnt actually easy at all.
Consumerism is the idea behind this life-style and to change that we need a global awakening to new values in living. One by one, we will notice that moving ones body, eating differently; more natural foods are simple things that provide a real high quality life experience for everyone that wants it.

Posted by Barry Segal  on  08/19  at  09:30 AM

I’ve been “with” you for just under 3 months now Shin and you’ve effected a change in my life, i.e. at 67 I’ll be back running games as a Soccer Referee even having had a knee replacement and a quad bypass (CABG—a few years back). The “Calorie Reduction” advice (crunch the numbers instead of doing crunches) is brilliant in it’s simplicity. People who don’t connect with you are missing out regardless of “Health Reform” legislation! BS Greenbrae CA

Posted by Tony Smith  on  08/19  at  09:46 AM

Hi Shin,

Thanks for the great advice on eating and exercise.
I have been doing exactly that for the last 2 years and I feel great!
I regards to the healtcare system I think we have allowed the goverment to babysit our health and that has been a big mistake. I have never in my life seen this goverment do anything right including providing health and welfare of it’s citizens. Each person needs to be responsible for their own healthcare.  The more we allow the goverment to control our lives the more freedom we give up to a bunch of politicians that can’t even deliver the mail with out screwing it up.
I don’t know about you but I want the freedom to choose what I eat, where I exercise and what type of health care coverage.  When goverments determine what is best for you…then we are no longer free men.

Posted by Paul Symington  on  08/19  at  10:11 AM

I believe there are many people throughout the world (in internalised nations), who seem to be trapped in this matrix of long hours sitting, driving, watching mind numbing TV and eating nutritionally devoid food.

I live and work within the UK and continually see individuals make food choices based on cost and simplicity (to them anyway). The supermarkets are packed with cheap sugar laden and carbohydrate products which along with little exercise lead to a nation of obese people and a massive National Health Service (NHS) dept.

I think there are three things we can do as a united intelligent society, firstly through pressure on governments and supermarkets (including the Tax man), force items that are vital to health i.e. fruits and vegetables (nuts, seeds) to become cheaper and available to everyone as apposed to the unbelievable cost at present i.e. cherries at £3.00 for a hand full (a no go for anyone on a limited budget). Secondly put tax onto items that are know to be counter productive to health, simply Tax them out of existence i.e. cigarettes, hydrogenated foods (biscuits), and unhealthy diet products . Then thirdly make it a point of all employers, local governments and planners to provide the opportunity to do exercise either before work (walk, cycle scheme including schools) or provide an exercise area for staff, with time to do exercise (30 minutes plus).

Off course being human there will need to be an incentive and motivating factor, this is where the skill will be needed. It could simply be a reward for maintaining good health, which could be seen in either tax or national health contributions being lowered.

At the end of the day people need to choose, stay healthy or face the misery!

Posted by Brian B  on  08/19  at  11:06 AM

Here is what makes me sick, if we are only talking about the heathcare system today. I have insurance and yet I still have to pay every time I go to the doctor. You have all of these PPO and non PPO plans, but they are all the same. You either pay a big premium to avoid some of the charges after your visit, or pay less and pay more after your visit. I am not even talking about any kind of procedures. Average income families are suffering big time, more so now then ever.
My family lives in France. It’s not a perfect system, but it works.

Thanks Shin, I always look forward to your articles.

Posted by Jeane  on  08/19  at  12:12 PM

Would like to supplement this article by adding you need to be aware of the source of your food. Total health includes your environment. Eat from your local organic farmers. Avoid genetically modified veggies (for more on that go to hulu.com and view THE FUTURE OF FOOD). Try to eat like a vegitarian.
Also, when you practice a healthy lifestyle, if you do have to have surgery, you bounce back immediately. Recovery time is shortened considerably and you’re back in the gym in no time! Be Well!

Posted by Bob  on  08/19  at  01:06 PM

Where I can disagree with with some of your health care facts. Harry Truman said it best, ” There are lies, damnable lies, and statistics.”  I whole heartedly agree that as a nation, we need to get our lifestyle act together with proper diet and exercise.

Posted by Gerd Schweinitz  on  08/19  at  01:12 PM

Hi everyone, as a prospect medical student, one of the new key trends that medicine is facing right now, is the development of preventive medicine, like we have all hear “Prevention is better than cure”. I believe it is incredible the role that education and information play in our society. If more people could read this great type of articles and learn more about how to be healthy (And really believe that change can happen) we wouldn’t be facing all the problems of a new health reform and we could have a better reputation staying away from the ranking of the most obese country in the world. This is only one example, however, there are so many other health problems in consequence of the rhythm and habits of life that the average Americans have. There are such lazy people that the easy way for them to face all their problem is blaming the government and don’t get any responsibility. They always think that others are guilty and they don’t realize how much part of the problem they are. Once we educate and motivate the population, things will be different around here.

Thanks for sharing this article and let’s spread the word!

Posted by schmadrian  on  08/19  at  01:52 PM

I’ll throw a few more things into this ongoing discussion:

-Any use of words like ‘lazy’ is going to be a buzz-kill. This is all about life-style, not about pejoratives. This creates an ‘us versus them’ attitude. And that’s doomed to failure.

-In almost every situation in today’s world that seems like it needs to be changed, don’t forget that in the background, someone has a financial stake in keeping things the way they are. You want people to stop eating crap? The people who make that crap…the companies, their shareholders, their employees…don’t want that change. (Without getting into the specifics of the ongoing health care reform effort, we can see this here, too: who’s got the most to lose if cost-savings are valid? Hence some of the ground-level resistance.) The battle will be a long one, a slow-moving one.

-If anyone wants to see where we’re headed, just look at the humans in ‘WALL-E’. I only recently viewed it, and I’d had no idea that as well as ‘the robot story’ going on, there was this pretty deft portrayal of where the current trends are leading re: obesity and our general detachment from our physical forms.

Posted by Ted  on  08/19  at  04:27 PM

Great article Shin! Thank you. I feel that as an individual we can effect change at small levels. Healthy living starts at the home and should be reinforced in the schools. Parents, educators, coworkers etc…can influence others in making healthy life choices. Set the example for others to follow at home, work, school, and in life. I have influenced my kids, co workers and others in making healthy decisions that will lead to longer life! Each and every one of us has the ability to spread the word and adopt healthy life styles that can influence others to get in shape. This small effort can spread to others in which they can “pay it forward!” since joining the max club my whole team minus one person is now eating healthy and working out! This on a small scale can slowly change our society from sick care oriented to preventive oriented. Of course this is grandiose thinking but I am a tenacious positive guy who loves his country. I want our citizens to be strong healthy and free. Take care all and hope you all have great days!

Posted by Trish  on  08/19  at  04:49 PM

This is Absolutely the only way to go.. its logical and its RIGHT..
Its so great to see there are people out there who are realising this, the only way we are going to ‘spread the word’ effectively, is to live by example..
Long gone are the days where we were ‘actively’ collecting our foods for the day.. digging the garden crops, planting, harvesting.. hard days but they were healthy days..we need to step back a little to those days.. planting up little gardens, putting in a few fruit trees.. at least you know where your veges have come from, what fertilised them, the pride in growing your own (a great feeling! its all about feelings), benefit from eating healthy.. at the same time you will save money.. get a little therapeutic healing from being with nature.. cut the costs of exporting and importing.. cutting down fuel prices..packaging etc.. saving our environment by saving ourselves..it all goes hand in hand..

Posted by Timothy Cox  on  08/19  at  11:00 PM

It time to spend some of our money on us, open more recreational centers for our kids. Im a detroiter and a police officer, our kids are scared to come out side and play, or sitting in front of a play station. The education needs to start with our future. Yes im from the motor city and i don,t thank billion dollars company,s who saw it coming need a bail out the future needs a helping hand. Im 46 and i new i didn,t want an american car when i was a kid. Good health starts when a kid mined learns the most early in life, teach the right habits when they will lessen. Good heath care can only start with them, anyone over 14 is almost a lost cause.

Posted by Timothy Cox  on  08/19  at  11:07 PM

Ok i didn,t proof read it sorry… just that stressed out…

Posted by rita  on  08/20  at  10:43 AM

good logic..however our oceans are literally fished out, and if each of our 5 billion humans consumes 2 servings of fish a day…there isn’t enough to go around. Or take the example of the pure greed in China where sharks are slaughtered for their fins by the millions and left sink to the bottom of the ocean. SHAME ON YOU CHINA!!!!
same with grass fed beef..not enough land to feed the whole human race. HAVE YOU CHECKED THE PRICE OF GRASS FED MEAT???The cost is prohibitive for most of us with families to feed and average incomes.
It will be like it always is
The rich get the fresh seafood, the grass fed beef and the organic fresh produce and the rest make do with what they can afford.
Give us a solution that is real and not just the rhetoric how to lose weight balony

Posted by schmadrian  on  08/20  at  10:55 AM

“HAVE YOU CHECKED THE PRICE OF GRASS FED MEAT???The cost is prohibitive for most of us with families to feed and average incomes.”

I’m going to call you out on this.

So-called organic food is the price it is for mainly one reason: supply and demand.

If the paradigm were reversed, if grass-fed product were the norm, and factory crap the ‘esoteric’ choice, then to a great degree, the prices would reflect this. That is, be reversed.

(But let us not get into the discussion about price, because that brings up some nasty truths, even beyond the control exerted by the players on the ‘supply’ side. Such as the fact that Americans spend less per person on what they eat than any other industrialized nation. You are free to interpret this as you will.)

Sorry, I have to address this: “...not enough land to feed the whole human race.”

That might just be the most egregiously inaccurate comment I’ve heard today in all my travels. (And I’ve heard a ton of bullwah so far, and it’s not even noon.)

Posted by Rachel  on  08/20  at  01:40 PM

My husband just forwarded me this article.  The changes to the food pyramid and cutting grains almost entirely out is what I’ve been doing for the past several months…and it works. 

I was pregnant with our 4th child and diagnosed w/ gestational diabetes. The specialist my OB sent me to for management insisted I follow the food pyramid, and check my blood sugar 4x day.  I couldn’t keep it down and was hungry all the time and on the edge of needing shots.  My OB who is a DO rather than an MD offered this simple suggestion, “Omit all grains (or as many as possible) and replace them with more veggies and lots of extra protein (meat, eggs, PB, cheese, nuts & healthy oils).”  He said it would train my body to burn fats for fuel rather than carbs.

Amazingly enough I was no longer starving.  I ate tons of food and only gained 17# for the entire pregnancy and never needed to do the shots.  My baby was only 7lb 2.6 oz which is amazingly low for a baby when mom has GD.  I’m talking about 9-10-11 lb babies are the norm.

Happy to report that baby boy is now 16 weeks old and by continueing with the altered eating plan I’ve lost the full weight gain of 17 plus an additional 20 lb.!

Replacing grains with veggies and proteins really works to take the weight off!

Posted by schmadrian  on  08/20  at  08:27 PM

Shin;

You’re welcome. However, I do have point out that ‘the current state of affairs health and fitness-wise’ in America will only be considered a ‘crisis’ when the average person perceives it as such. And this would require too much of an assessment about the status quo. It would require examining many elements of modern American life, and referring to an entirely different paradigm when defining a ‘good life’. And I don’t believe the nation is ready to do that.

Here are a few errant thoughts regarding what this new ‘paradigm’ might make use of:

-Everyone should be able to run for their lives for a whole minute.
-You want to know what each person’s ‘ideal’ shape is? Put them on an island where they live an active life, where they’re engaged in physical pursuits, both in a practical and leisure sense, where they’re fed good food, where they’re given a chance to reconnect with their physical selves. Keep them there, within this vibrant lifestyle for at least three months, preferably six. The end result is how they ‘should’ look. (An arbitrary opinion? Absolutely. But if this was war we were talking about, there’d be no discussion.)
-As a guideline for how much ‘athletic activity’ each person should strive for in their day-to-day lives, I recommend looking at burning 3,500 calories, a pound of fat, per week from these activities.
-Michael Pollan recently published an article in which he quoted a fellow food expert (I’m sorry, I can’t find the link) who said: “You can eat anything you want, you’ll be fine, you won’t go wrong…as long as you COOK it yourself.”
-The most important element of the ‘cure’ for the national obesity pandemic is activity. It’s actually more important than a ‘better diet’ because it generates progress to a greater degree than changing your eating habits. Why? Think of it in comparison to the downward spiral of a crap lifestyle that includes inactivity, smoking, a crap diet: you increase your activity, you increase your physical awareness, your connection with your body, you eat better, you sleep better, (you stop smoking), you feel better and therefore you increase your activity levels,  which in turn makes you want to eat better, take better care of yourself, you want to be more active, you FEEL better, yadda, yadda, yadda.
-For the most part…and I’m sorry if I seem to be an ungrateful guest here, but I’m speaking in general terms…nothing that’s required for the average person to turn their life around needs to be purchased. In fact, even knowing that in this consumer society of ours that is predicated on buying something to give it (and the associated activity) a value, my advice has always been: “If someone is trying to sell you something to solve your health and fitness problems…RUN AWAY!”

Keep up the good work, my friend.

Posted by Alan  on  08/20  at  09:27 PM

Hi Shin,

I stopped eating simple carbs 4 months ago. I now eat my main cooked meal for breakfast, Lean red meat, Broccoli, mushroom, tomatoes & free range eggs. For lunch its a tuna or chicken salad & for Dinner I now only need a bowl of soup or 1/2 the sized meal I used to have.  This way I am eating when I need my energy and not before I go to bed.  I can now put on all my old clothes and haven’t felt hungry for over a month.  Look after your health and you will be fine for the future.

Cheers

Alan

Posted by Russell Damm  on  08/20  at  10:20 PM

I agree with diet.  I am doing almost that exact diet.  The Doctor states that my chems are perfect.  I am lacking in the exersize now, but I was very loyal to the complete program.  I did feel great, my memory was better and sleep requirement was up to two less.  I am a firm believer in proper diet and exersize.  I am Vegan Vegitarian, but have reciently been eating off the diet and no exersize and I have gained weight, require more sleep and mentally less sharp.  I am returning to my exersize and proper diet.  I firmly believe in prayer and that is what is is going to take to get me back on track.  Be blessed and keep up the good work.

Posted by BruceKendrick  on  08/22  at  05:30 PM

start with the schools early education is the key.

Posted by schmadrian  on  08/23  at  11:55 AM

For anyone interested in the Harry Balzer quote I referred to regarding cooking and its importance in turning things around, here it is:

“Easy. You want Americans to eat less? I have the diet for you. It’s short, and it’s simple. Here’s my diet plan: Cook it yourself. That’s it. Eat anything you want — just as long as you’re willing to cook it yourself.”

And here’s the Michael Pollan article it’s featured in: http://www.nytimes.com/2009/08/02/magazine/02cooking-t.html?_r=1&emc=eta1

Posted by jnaour  on  08/23  at  05:28 PM

Interesting article.  In my view as a primary care physician medicine has COMPLETELY transitioned to prevention v. intervention.  The problem is not the health care system, it is the patient.  If people would take more responsibility for their health and well being we might be able to handle most of the load.  However, we face a huge crisis in the morbid obesity and the diseases associated with said disease (i.e. CAD, diabetes, hypertension, high cholesterol, sleep apnea, arthritis, you name it) is going to cost our health care system BILLIONS in the coming century.  I have many patients who are obese, diabetic, etc who simply don’t want to take any responsibility for their care.  They just want the “magic pills” and everything will go away.  That’s not how it works.  In the real world, a physician is about 25% of a patient’s care.  The other 75% is up to the patient.  If they chose not to follow the path then it’s their failure and not the healthcare system.

Posted by schmadrian  on  08/23  at  06:05 PM

jnaour: Exactly. That’s why, in my initial comment, I stressed the points I did. Health Care reform is vital…but it’s not going to do anything about the background issues.

And legislation is never going to be the answer. It’s like trying to legislate morality or kindness. You can encourage it, but you cannot ‘force’ people to change their ways. However…

-You *can* mandate five-day-a-week PE in all elementary schools.
-You *can* initiate efforts to keep crap (including bottled water) out of schools.
-You *can* bring back initiatives like John F. Kennedy’s ‘President’s Council on Youth Fitness’.
-You *can* ensure that there is a broad-based availability of community athletic resources, achieved through various partnerships, including athletic companies, regular business concerns, professional leagues, governments and volunteers.
-You *can* begin to not only encourage people to switch to a more active lifestyle, but actually reward them for doing so.

People who are on the other side of the fence are going to need some enticing. But if they’re not brought over to the active side, the leaner side, the side where vitality and health lives, then we’re *all* going to suffer the consequences.

Back in the day, there was a tv commercial about car engine maintenance. At the end of the spot, the mechanic, wiping his hands on a rag, would say to the camera:

“You can pay me now…”
Here, a tow-truck would be delivering another major catastrophe, a car requiring major attention.
“...or pay me later.”

Posted by brave  on  09/20  at  04:14 AM

Timothy Cox,

Always great to hear from a police officer.  Thanks for your post and keeping our streets safe!

Posted by Anonymous  on  12/25  at  07:46 AM

there is such a fuss around those health reforms…no offence, but you shouldn’t forget that those are just bare words. whether they will be implemented in life or not- that’s another question.