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.