I recently hosted a lunch and learn event at my workplace.  The guest speaker was a local chiropractor, Dr. Victor Sage.  He spoke about conquering stress.  Amongst the take aways I gained from his talk, the most memorable was that the worst word in health care is ‘should.’ Not ‘death,’and not ‘cancer’ as many of us guessed when he posed the question.

Unfortunately, many people do not take action to improve their health until something is seriously wrong.  I addressed this issue in an earlier post titled You may not be what you eat (now) but you will be.

We can relate to this in other aspects of our lives.  The saying goes.’procrastination is the thief of time.’  It’s also the thief of health.  Another, perhaps forgotten, cliche is: An ounce of prevention is worth more than a pound of cure.’ We take preventive measures when it comes to automobile maintenance, home security and countless other things.  When it comes to healthcare, there is this over dependence on cures, aka surgery and pills.  The 6 billion people in the U.S. are about 5% of the world’s population and we use 50% of the world’s medicine and we are the sickest country in the world.  That’s a hard pill to swallow, pun intended.   Newsflash, medicine does not cure illness.  It relieves symptoms such as pain but does not correct the source of the problem.  There is surely a place for medicine in the modern world but when someone knowingly choses it over making a permanent improvement in their life to cease an ailment, then there is a fundamental problem is how we define health.  I decided I wanted to crate my own definition of health.  here is it: Health is purposely living a lifestyle that enables you to thrive physically, mentally and spiritually.  It is enjoying foods and activities that proactively nourish the body and support vitality, longevity and resiliency.  When I began focusing on my health at a higher level by drastically cleaning up my diet, I was not sick or overweight etc.  What I found was that my ‘normal’ way of feeling as pretty crappy compared to how I feel now.  I didn’t know I could have this much energy, have better skin and a leaner physique.  Many people who feel less than optimal have accepted that as their ‘normal.’  It does not have to be that way and it’s easier to make the changes than you think.  Of course, easy is a relative term but it’s surely not complicated and requires patience and discipline just like anything else that’s worth while.  Once you get used to it, then you no longer have to try so hard.  It will be second nature and you will create amazingly healthy habits that will serve you well.  Aren’t you worth it?

What are you should-ing yourself about?  Make the changes now and be the best version of yourself.  You don’t have to wait until Monday or January 1st.