Your Health Care Plan

[OCNaturalDoc]

Did you know you have near-total control over your own health? It's true.

Why wait for the government to mandate a new system of forced care coverage at rip off prices?

Create your own health care plan today by upgrading your diet, boosting your exercise and making high quality lifestyle choices.

[OCNaturalDoc]

well, aren't YOU a superstar, gary! that's great news!

yes, i've seen those studies. i always look to see who funds the studies.

coffee contains a hormone called 'cortisol'. we produce cortisol naturally---it gives us our 'fight or flight' response. cortisol has a cumulative effect when consumed in coffee. as you know, people can consume many cups of coffee a day, and just don't 'come down'. they feel nervous, jittery...even cranky. you've seen them road rage behind the wheel at 4pm, screaming at traffic with the wheel in one hand and their 8th vente for the day in the other. although some find it to work as a laxative, it can dehydrate (if not consumed with enough pure water to compensate) and therefore, constipate. and it makes the breath smell.

there are also a lot of chemicals used to process coffee.....especially decaf.

i can tell you that when i stopped drinking coffee (and i only drank maybe one cup with no sugar or substitutes (ever!), and not even every day) the dark circles under my eyes went away and the skin under my eyes became smoother -- i haven't worn concealer in years!. my sclera (whites of eyes) became more clear, my iris's became more blue and i just felt better in general. hey, getting rid of the dark circles was enough benefit to keep me away from it! and i don't miss it like i thought i would.

teas have varying caffeine levels. if it's caffeine you want, go for green or black tea. you get the 'lift' without the cortisol. i'm a big fan of hot water with lemon....it's detoxifying and hydrating. no jitters and you just feel good.

[Gary Freedman]

"ps---do you know what your hdl and ldl numbers are?" I think my last ldl reading was about 107 and my hdl was 64. Generally, you can only get you're hdl that high if you exercise vigorously, which I do.

By the way, you say you don't drink coffee. Have you read the studies that say that caffeine may be associated with a decreased risk of Parkinon's and also Alzheimer's? Coffee may be good for you.

[OCNaturalDoc]

i don't drink coffee....too many chemicals. and it can make a lot of people cranky.

the fda is not the most reliable source of health information, but i know you like it. here's their deal:

The FDA regulates more than $1 trillion worth of consumer goods, about 25% of consumer expenditures in the United States. This includes $466 billion in food sales, $275 billion in drugs, $60 billion in cosmetics and $18 billion in vitamin supplements. Much of the expenditures is for goods imported into the United States; the FDA is responsible for monitoring a third of all imports.
The FDA's federal budget request for fiscal year (FY) 2008 (October 2007 through September 2008) totaled $2.1 billion, a $105.8 million increase from what it received for fiscal year 2007.[5] In February 2008, the FDA announced that the Bush Administration's FY 2009 budget request for the agency was just under $2.4 billion: $1.77 billion in budget authority (federal funding) and $628 million in user fees. The requested budget authority was an increase of $50.7 million more than the FY 2008 funding - about a three percent increase. In June 2008, Congress gave the agency an emergency appropriation of $150 million for FY 2008 and another $150 million for FY 2009.[4]

source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Food_and_Drug_Administration_(United_S...

not that wikipedia is the end all of high quality information, but it'll do, in this case.

in any event, the fda is one of the agencies that is sucking this country dry. it needs a serious overhaul. i was hoping that dr hamburg would get in and start to change it up. so far, not so much. but i'm optimistic.

and ps....the fda isn't crazy about ozone, either, but it saves lives:
“Ozone therapy was used medically by Nikola Tesla in 1900. It has been in continual use for over 50 years in Europe and the USA, but due to our legal pressures, ozone is presently only widely used (as an orthodox treatment in Germany, Russia and Cuba--Ed. note).

When the proper protocols are followed, ozone has been proven effective in the treatment and possibly the elimination of over 40 common diseases.

Ozone therapies are among the safest therapies ever used. One European study of over 5.5 million treatments showed a side effect rate of .0007%, probably among the lowest of any therapy known. Side effects (like fever and weakness) are minor and temporary.”
Source: “OZONE” by K.W. Donsbach, D.C., N.D., Ph.D.

and:

target="_blank">http://www.cancertutor.com/Cancer/Ozone.html

the topic is Your Health Care Plan, not 'disease management and treatment plan'. that's already a mess, and i will leave that to others to work that out. my interest is specifically in health care. and you can have it anyway you want it. it's up to you how healthfully you will choose to live your life. if you buy into a belief system that you can't because someone told you 'now that you have _____, you can't/shouldn't/will never again/etc., then that's your choice. i had a doctor at mass general tell me that i'd never walk again. that didn't resonate with me and i stayed with the belief in the power of healing, rather than the words of a man who doesn't know me and obviously didn't understand my injury. after some time, i started running and worked up to a distance of 10 miles a day.

look, i'm just like everyone else. maybe the difference is i will not allow anyone to control my life, or tell me what to do, or have power over me. how much control do you let others have over you?

[OCNaturalDoc]

do you really need a community to tell you about good things to eat? sleep? exercise?

the point of the post was to suggest we take responsibility for ourselves and make our own high quality health decisions.

if you need help with that, ask someone specifically trained in those areas.

in any event, it shouldn't take an act of congress to get us to move our butts and make educated choices for ourselves! jeeze...just how lazy have we become?

[ZenDog]

I agree healthy choices are a part of the solution.

My major points were two - not all of those choices are ours to make alone, some of them need to be made at a community or even at a national level, and to those there may be a variable degree of institutionalized resistance.

My second point was that the apparent suggestion or inducement to do nothing around the current stalemate in Congress regarding the health care issue really isn't an option - at least, not one that is rational.

[OCNaturalDoc]

yes, zendog, it IS true. the "environmental factors", as you say would be your "high quality lifestyle choices". c'mon....you've read (and picked apart) enough of my postings to know that.

this posting isn't about the current nightmare of a disease care system. rather, it's an empowering suggestion for us all to take responsibility for ourselves - and doing it the way that makes sense for the individual, rather than waiting around for someone else (government, for example) to fix us THEIR way - and make it 'one size fits all'....cuz one size DOESN'T fit all--especially when it comes to health.

[OCNaturalDoc]

Way to go, Gary!
Now THAT'S what I'm talkin' about!

ps---do you know what your hdl and ldl numbers are?

[Gary Freedman]

Absolutely. I used to smoke. I quit in 1993. I now work out an hour a day doing high energy aerobics. My blood pressure is excellent at 100 over 70. My cholesterol is low (with meds) and my good cholesterol is very good (because of the exercise). People need to take control of their health.

Oh, and I'm an old man of 55.

[ZenDog]

Did you know you have near-total control over your own health? It's true.

Umm, actually, that's not true. There are a wide variety of environmental factors that may negatively impact your health, and many of them are one form or another of toxic exposures to chemicals produced as a part of our manufacturing or transportation sectors.

Then there is the issue of behavioral advertising and what that all means and how that may negatively affect your health to the profit of the pharmeceutical industry, but never mind . . .

Failure to acknowledge that the current health care system is broken is to insist in a most obstinate form of denial. I don't know why anyone would do that today. For a profit maybe?

The insurance industry operates the same pretty much, whether it's insurance for property in a hurricane zone or health care. We've all seen how it works. Provide insurance for water damage but not wind, or vice versa, and when the hurricane comes you get nothing. And not only you, but all of your neighbors who signed up with the same policy.

And that happens despite the assurances that sure, we'll cover you for hurricanes . . .

Insurance companies are geared for profit. Every claim they pay out affects their bottom line. Every claim they deny is money they save.

They don't care if you die waiting for them to decide if they will pay out on your claim or not, because for them it is profitable . . .