Thursday, October 3, 2013

Failure is the new norm

"Failure is the new norm."

This was a quote from an annonymous blogger in regards to describing allopathic medicine and health care in this country. At the time he wrote the article he was in his 3rd year of medical school. He described how when entering into the primary care phase of training he almost failed. The reason for almost failing wasn't because he lacked skills or medical knowledge. It was because he was spending too much time connecting with patients, discussing their eating habits, their stress buffers, how much they exercised, why they were eating gluten, and the like. When seeking an answer why these were considered negative and deserved an almost failing grade, his teacher simply said spending that much time and educating patients to that degree isn't worth it. They [patients] will not follow through and it is not financially feasible.

This is exactly what is wrong with healthcare. Profits, prescription drugs, surgery (many times unnecessary), anything and everything to avoid actual healthcare. Actual healthcare being lifestyle care.

'Lifestyle care? What is that? No doctor has ever talked to me about lifestyle care before. What does my lifestyle have to do with my diabetes? Thyroid problem? Exhaustion? Pain?'

Lifestyle care can be termed lifestyle management. It means a doctor must address the underlying cause of the issue. I know lots of doctors and nutrition experts talk about THE CAUSE of the problem or disease. That is because searching for the cause is what 'new' doctors look for. It is what true health professionals look for. Functional nutrition, functional medicine, lifestyle medicine are all new areas of healthcare that search out the cause and look to modify and change those 'cause' behaviors. The cause almost always comes back to lifestyle.

What is one thing that every person does, every single day?

Everyone eats. So step one in addressing the cause of any condition is looking closely at what you put in your mouth everyday. Are you eating something you are allergic to? Gluten? Dairy? GMOs? And if you are how often are you eating it? Every single meal is the usual answer.

Think about this. You have hypothyroid and are taking Synthroid. You also have a gluten allergy. It isn't an anaphylactic allergy. It is an allergy that causes immune reaction and inflammation every time you are exposed to gluten. Now, your breakfast consists of bread and cereal. Lunch is a sandwich. Your snack is cracker and cheese. Supper consists of pasta and bread with some chicken. This is a pretty common daily food intake for many Americans. That is exposure to gluten at every single meal. You can say gluten seems to be the staple of your diet. So wouldn't it make sense to modify lifestyle to eliminate gluten, which has autoimmune thyroid implications, as a starting point?

Failure should not be accepted. It definitely should not be the new norm.

Demand success. Demand lifestyle care from your doctor. If they refuse or simply don't know anything about it, find a new doctor. Surround yourself with a team of lifestyle managers. Creating a better you starts today when you make the decision to seek success and leave failure behind.

Dr K