Wednesday, February 1, 2012

Giving up Sodas

Photo by fimoculous 

The New York Times posted a couple of articles recently about doctors and under-the-table payments. One article is Who Else is Paying Your Doctor? and the other is Drug Firms to Report Money Paid to Doctors. I think that's a good start (at least for reporting), maybe actually enabling us to know who pays our doctors, assuming we can ever find the reports... but I think there's much more to health care than "the doctor".

It seems to me that prevention is the least expensive way to be healthy, and going to doctors for treatments once you become ill is the most expensive. Plus, when something goes wrong (as it eventually will with a poor diet) the doctors may not "cure" you. They may merely prescribe drugs, treatments, or maybe operations that permit you to live with your afflictions. 

It has been five years since I had surgery to remove my gallbladder, but in retrospect I think it could have been prevented if I had known as much about eating right, and real food, as I do now. If so, I wouldn't have had the surgical expense and aftercare, the trauma to my body being cut open, and I sure wouldn't have the resulting adhesions that now double me over occasionally.

Drugs and/or operations are for the most part just crutches after the injury. Eating right is far cheaper in the long run, and the resulting quality of life is far greater... and that's the advantage of prevention over treatment.

The problem is that we are complacent, even with less than optimal health, and no one wants to give up their sodas, diet sodas, artificially sweetened fake coffee creamers, donuts, chips, McD's and other junk food. We even fool ourselves into believing that sweetened fruity, non-fat yogurt is actually healthy! No one wants to increase their food budget with organic salad greens, fruits, vegetables and free-range eggs/meats in place of sodas, chips, donuts, burgers, fries and pizza, even though they would probably come out cheaper without the junk in the grocery line, not even even considering the additional cost of medical care later on.

2 comments:

  1. Indeed! Books have been written about the decline in human health since the development of agriculture. Sad, but true. And the decline grows worse every year with each new industrial based edible product, witness your list.

    But so many never learn to correctly pronounce donut (Don't) and don't seem to care about the High Fructose Corn Sweetener and hydrogenated soybean oil (among others) that are no less than toxic and huge contributors to both our waistline as well as decreasing health.

    There are some of us who favor the pastured chickens and can hardly wait to get fingers into the soil in the spring. I would like to think we are healthier for the efforts. But the eating is supremely better than arguing about it or proving it. (Can I smile now?)

    Winston

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes, you may smile now... along with me, as we ready our fingers for the spring dirt!

      Delete

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