I’ll never forget, three years ago, being at a worksite wellness program at University of Michigan, hosted by the health risk guru Dee Edington. At one of the breaks, we were allowed to browse the “vendors” that were displaying in the hallway. The vendors were “not-for-profit” vendors.
As I came closer to one of the vendors, I asked, “What are you here to do?”. The attendent replied, “I’m with the American Kidney Foundation. Would you like to learn how to prevent kidney disease?”
The question struck me funny. I thought, “Great! I can go home tonight and start preventing kidney disease.” Then I thought, “Maybe I should also look for a heart disease brochure, so I can work on preventing heart disease, too. Then maybe, there’ll be something from a diabetes association, so I can learn to prevent diabetes, too.”
Three years ago it hit me, the best defense for most of our “acquired” illnesses and chronic diseases is NOT to spend the time preventing them (there are way too many diseases to prevent) which is a defensive strategy, and has been proven to be unsustainable as a long-term motivational strategy. You simply can’t spend your life trying to dodge or avoid a negative. It’s like trying to run a marathon while watching your feet. You need to keep your head up and push forward.
What is sustainable? Pursuing something heart-felt and positive is more of a long-term motivator. It’s time to embrace a vision of good health and what good health would mean in the lives of so many. We spend far too much time and money defending against illness and attempting to prevent illness – and far too little time and money in helping us desire and pursue good health. We don’t need any more science of what is healthy or unhealthy. We need motivation and desire….to make good health “cool”!!! Our good health is the best offense in preventing or beating most chronic diseases.
If I’m wrong, just go home tonight, pick an illness, and try to prevent it.
