Is it possible to avoid disease? A Time Magazine special health report published in June 2009 contained this startling and scary statistic: 75 percent of our health care costs are due to chronic, preventable diseases. What’s more, according to the report, 40 percent of premature deaths in the U. S. are caused by lifestyle choices—smoking, poor eating habits and inactivity.

How can we change these numbers? Certainly not with more pills and procedures designed to fix what’s wrong. Cleveland Clinic’s CEO, Dr Delos Cosgrove, says he never saw a well patient in his years as a heart surgeon. His solution? Rather than being in the business of sickness, we should be in the business of wellness. Increasingly, that fundamental shift in thinking is being embraced by both the medical and business communities.

One doctor believes that lifestyle changes might not only prevent disease but also eliminate some of them entirely. Dr. Michael Roizen, an anesthesiologist by training and Cleveland Clinic’s chief wellness officer, created a program to monitor the success of patients who embrace positive lifestyle changes.

Dr. Dean Ornish, founder of the California-based Preventative Medicine Research Institute, thinks the elimination of disease is definitely possible. He’s proven that changes in diet, regular exercise and stress control can reverse the progress of cancer.

Now, it’s up to us to decide if we want to be healthier.

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 14th, 2010 at 7:40 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

On a scale of one to 10, how much does your doctor annoy you? Are you forced to wait more than 30-minutes past your scheduled appointment? That would be a 10, in my book. Or, have you ever felt that he or she isn’t really concentrating on your problem? That would be another 10.

The truth about those waits is that when doctors are paid by the number of patients they see, they may double-book patients for 10 to 15-minute (more)

The headline of a recent New York Times article (July 11), “Turn 70. Act Your Grandchild’s Age. Grandma sky-dives. Ringo Starr plays at Radio City. Is this what’s expected in life’s eighth decade?” caught my attention. Not only was it my 76th birthday, but also because I’m committed to a healthy, happy and long life. Now I couldn’t play Radio City on a bet, and I have no intention of jumping out of a perfectly good airplane. Nor am I (more)

I don’t feel like I’m 76 years old and people tell me that I don’t look that old either. But here’s the best part: I’m happy, fulfilled and passionate about my newly created life as a writer. After only six years, I’ve produced six books.

What’s the point of this bragging bonanza? If we are going to live longer as predicted by the longevity gurus, we also want to live well! What’s the point of being 95 and unable to (more)