Emergency Paradigm Needed

Emergency Paradigm Shift Needed

    Presented with the term “healthcare,” most of us cringe.  In such instances as illness or injury, the question is, are we dealing with healthcare or sickness care?  I believe our current system should be labeled Sickness care since we are not going to the doctor to stay healthy. We go when we are not feeling well.  One such case would be my own story.  I was diagnosed in 1993 with multiple sclerosis.  My sister, being an RN, insisted that I start taking one of the recommended treatments designed to slow progression.  There is currently no known cure.  I refused the available drug treatments, telling the doctor that my body is already compromised so, why would an unknown substance cause my body to work correctly?  God did not make me with a deficiency of any medication.  Why would I make my body overcome the side effects of the meds while it is trying to correct whatever causes this challenging illness?  Several major thought processes and standard procedures need to be altered in order to implement a paradigm shift surrounding the Healthcare issue.
Being healthy means we don’t need a doctor at the moment.  Modern day doctors are trained in drugs and surgery, not in how to stay healthy. Personally, I try to avoid going to the doctor even though I have this disease and am covered by “healthcare insurance.”  Trust me, I will be the first to run to a doctor if I have broken a bone or suffer some other catastrophic incident.  We need to stop treating symptoms and look for the cause of the problem such as is provided through alternative medicine therapies.  Another element needed for a paradigm shift.
    If you’re like most people, you are concerned about the high costs of “healthcare.”  Some reasons for that are that a large percentage of health issues are the result of iatrogenic (meaning doctor induced) causes.  There are some reports that iatrogenic causes are the number one cause of death in America.  Too many mistakes are made by doctors interfering with the natural course of healing, misdiagnosing common problems and prescribing too many or incorrect medications.  Our bodies are designed for survival and can heal themselves if given the correct environment.  For instance, we have built-in mechanisms of self-preservation as is the case when trying to lose weight.  Some people will starve themselves to reduce which often backfires because our natural mechanisms will retain fat in a self-preservation mode if you don’t provide the nutrients it needs. Controlling over-medicating and refraining from idolizing our doctors are significant elements of this factor of needed changes.
    In addition, each of us makes choices every day concerning the types of foods we choose to eat and drink.  Our lifestyles have become so busy that we are looking for anything quick and easy thus creating the multimillion or multibillion dollar “convenience foods” market.  These types of foods contain many artificial, man-made preservatives and chemicals which our bodies don’t know how to process and utilize so they’re stored in our fat cells.  There are now relatively few cases of obesity being caused by genetic inheritance. Things that are called genetic are more often simply lifestyle choices.  If we are raised eating donuts for breakfast then we tend to follow that habit as adults and blame it on genetics.  We can choose to change our dietary habits such as avoiding the plethora of toxins and additives in our food supply by choosing 70 to 90% raw, whole foods, “the original fast foods.  Dietary preferences must change. 
    There are many things that we can do in a proactive manner to take charge of our own health rather than relying on the medical profession to prescribe a quick fix through drugs or surgery.  We can choose not to listen to the pharmaceutical ads that have bombarded the air waves of late. We can choose to be more physically active rather than sitting in front of our computers and televisions.  We mistakenly tend to believe what we hear in the media.  We hear all the time, “Milk, it does a body good,” or “Meat, it’s what’s for dinner,” to name a couple; who’s paying for those factoids?  For starters, I happened across a website, www.notmilk.com which will convince you of the ill effects of drinking milk.  There are billions of dollars being made from pharmaceutical drugs, energy beverages, promotion of fat free, sugar-free, low fat, zero trans-fats, low or no calorie fad diets, all while America is becoming one of the sickest nations in the world.  This is a very sad form of brainwashing if you ask me.  It disturbs and saddens me to see the apathetic attitude of our citizens.  Choose to change.
    Whose side is the FDA on anyway?  Many still believe the old adage that “Doctor knows best,” while we trust everything the FDA, the media and our doctors tell us. There is extreme controversy surrounding the validity of the FDA’s approval of many medications and products on the market today.  Do the research and find out who paid for the studies to get something approved for use.  We have been trained that they are here to protect us but, when you do your own research you may be shocked and dismayed at your findings.  We are told that aspartame is safe but all I have to do is chew one piece of gum containing aspartame and I can barely walk.  I am aware of independent studies contrary to what the FDA claims about the ingredient. Just type aspartame into your browser and read some of the reports from individuals and see if you should have concerns about using the ingredient.  Pay attention, you’ll be amazed at how many foods have that additive!  Choose for yourself and choose to be informed.
    Consider the fund-raising activities conducted by related organizations such as the MS Society.  I had a friend once that maintained the computers for organizations like these, he informed me that only 10% of the billions raised goes towards research and the other 90% goes towards the administrative costs in running the fund-raising activities.  I don’t think they really want to find cures because there is more money to be made in this manner and a lot of people would have to find other jobs.  Creating new man-made products or drugs is more lucrative than using natural cures that they can’t tax.  Be actively involved in the choices for your own “Healthcare,” I recommend that you do not take a passive roll.
    There seems to be a lot of questions and very few answers when we insist on following the current plan. What, when and how we decide to change our actions and attitudes will be the deciding factors toward true healthcare reform. If we keep doing what we’ve been doing, we’ll keep getting what we’ve always gotten.  What would happen if we could set up a plan to pay our doctors as long as we are healthy and stopped paying them when we get sick?  Our economy is set up in such a way that is very dependent upon the big food producers, the pharmaceutical industry, and the medical professions.  These changes would mean a major overhaul of our current economic systems.  Obviously I do not have the answers, rather just posing the questions.  I consider it an emergency similar to the oil crisis because if it doesn’t change soon then it will be much more difficult to change the system in the future.  Our lives and lifestyles may depend on these types of changes.