Best Defense Is A Good Offense

We have all heard this many times. The phrase was probably coined by some military leader, a long time ago and later repeated by football coaches, chess players and lawyers. The principal is a good one and can be applied to many situations in life. To me it means, take the fight to the enemy. Be proactive. It is much better to act than be forced to react.

This is a principle that should definitely be applied to how we approach our personal health.

Most people take a passive approach to their health. They wish and hope not to get sick, but do little if anything truly proactive.

In the Bahamas where I have practiced for the past 12 years, the incidence of diabetes is some of the highest per capita in the world. It is so prevalent that when I consult with a new patient, I always ask, “Are you diabetic?” The answer I frequently get is, “Not yet,” meaning that they are expecting to get it because most of their family members are diabetic. They just passively wait for it to happen.

When I ask, “What are you doing to prevent it?” I am always amazed when they say that they are doing nothing. They just accept it as inevitable. Even more amazing is their reaction when Kiana and I tell them that there are nutritional supplements and dietary changes that are proven to be effective in preventing and even reversing diabetes. More often than not they are disinterested, especially because it means changing their deadly cultural Bahamian diet. They would actually rather get sick than change their habits, even if it meant getting healthier and living longer.

The truth is that many people, not just Bahamians, have that kind of attitude about their health. Again, diabetes is a prime example. It is epidemic in America as well, not only in adults but in children as well. So many children now have “adult onset diabetes” the health authorities are having to re-think the name. Yet despite the tremendous amount of information that is readily available to help people prevent or reverse diabetes naturally, most people are simply not willing to put in the effort. I cannot relate to such a defeatist attitude.

And diabetes is not the only disease that can be prevented, improved or even reversed through dietary and lifestyle changes with the addition of some targeted nutritional supplements. There is a wealth of readily available information that can help people prevent most common infectious and degenerative diseases and conditions such as obesity, arthritis, heart disease and cancer.

Yet it seems most people are either ignorant of this health advice, or just don’t want to be bothered.

It only takes one walk through the average Wal-Mart to see that there is a huge population of Americans who are sick and will die young and in pain because they refuse to adopt a healthy lifestyle. One look in their shopping cart confirms that they ignore the healthy advice that is almost inescapable to anyone who watches TV, listens to the radio or reads popular magazines.

Making healthy choices and being proactive about one’s heath is not that hard. But It does require becoming an informed consumer and exercising self discipline to break unhealthy habits like smoking, guzzling sodas, eating junk food and spending endless hours as a couch potato in front of the TV.

If you are reading this blog, chances are pretty good that you are a person who cares about health and wants to be proactive to get healthier and stay that way. As I said, the best defense is a good offense.

It is time to make a game plan for a healthier you. And then to execute it.

I would like to help you do that.

In my future blogs, articles, reports and books I will be discussing a wide variety of pro-active health strategies that you can employ to help yourself stay youthful, energetic, strong and vital.

The best strategy in today’s complex, confusing and expensive “healthcare system” is to stay healthy in the first place. I would like to help you do that.

Dr. Bill

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