In today’s cultural (some might even say political) soup in which we find ourselves swimming today, it seems no matter where one might turn – sports, health and wellness, finance, the food industry, education, and more (the list is potentially endless) – there’s vehement discussion about real and perceived inequalities, systematic failings, prejudice, and pain.
In the context of the work we’re doing here at Older Bolder Fitness and my prior career as a physician, I’m particularly fascinated by the discussions coursing through the medical and health and wellness arena addressing many of these issues. It goes without saying that some deeply rooted, critical issues are finally being pushed to see the light of day, and as well some of the chatter out there is simply outrageously misinformed, misdirected, and most critically – badly misses the mark of truly improving health and wellness (and perhaps even societal integrity) for all in society.
Those genuinely interested in improving health and wellness for all will be hearing much more about today’s hot topics, including health disparities for people of color, social determinants of health, the purported linkage of health and social justice, medical comorbidities and differential outcomes by race, and of late, differential COVID-19 mortality rates by race.
IMHO much of today’s discussion is long on vivid and moving recitations of problems and pathology and damned short on genuine, boots on the ground, practically implementable solutions.
In particular, today’s stodgy, monolithic medical establishment, increasingly corporate owned and managed, has become much more of a “repair shop”, utilizing often amazing technology to address the inevitable consequence of lifestyle diseases, worsened by abysmal nutrition and a dearth of physical activity. This same medical establishment has presided over the greatest decline in health and wellness of the American population in the nation’s history over the past 30-40 years, at the same time watching the cost of care explode at an alarming rate, sadly yet to be addressed by “organized medicine” or politicians of any stripe.
On one hand, you could argue the situation looks grim; on another hand, what if there were solutions at hand that could tangibly produce results within a few short years?
What If We Taught People (All People) How to Eat for Health?
If one were to believe and implement the principle that the simplest solution is most likely the right one (a permutation of Occam’s Razor, and yes I understand that his original constructs were much more complex), what if we taught all people how to nourish their bodies for health and wellness?
[An aside – if you really want to talk about social equity and justice, you’re by definition talking about everyone in said society. I get the current environment that we’re operating in these days, and that the emotional currency of the day is about people of color. That said, societal health and wellness is an all color, all race, all people issue, plain and simple. Arguments to the contrary (when it comes to societal health and wellness) are based on other agendas, agendas that won’t lead to productive solutions.]
The shockingly simple act of reducing/ceasing the consumption of refined carbohydrates, shifting to whole food carbohydrate sources in thoughtful moderation, eating moderate amounts of nourishing proteins, and eliminating the consumption of toxic, refined seed oils and replacing them with easily-proven healthier fats would improve the health (addressing many of the problematic co-morbidities you’re hearing so much about these days) of millions of people.
Add in simple exercise, walking being perhaps the simplest form of exercise available to almost everyone on the planet today, and the improvements would be even more impressive.
The savings in health care dollars expended would in all probability count in the billions in a matter of a few short years (ie, cut the number under treatment for T2DM in half in two years), and the improvement in quality of life would be immeasurable.
Empowering individuals to take charge of their own health and wellness is an incredibly powerful concept, and there’s plenty of room for adjusting best practices to address unique cultural influences. Is it truly possible? Hell yes it is. Is it likely to happen? We’ll see….
