For many Americans, Thanksgiving is a time when we get together with our families, break bread, reflect on the year behind us and, the years in front of us. We laugh a lot, watch football, carve turkeys, hams and gorge on sweet potato or pumpkin pies. In my family, we pray and then eat and then eat some more.
This year, as many American families reflect and pray, there will be those thankful for Health Insurance. Through Obamacare, families across the country will be grateful for the ability to see a doctor or receive a test that previously was outside of the spending limits set by their insurance company. There is something profanely wrong with that, both morally and economically.
Our culture has consistently moved in the wrong direction where the care of our citizens is concerned. The ER is no replacement for preventative care and, the economics of emergency room treatment is staggering. However, the biggest cost isn’t the ER bill. It’s the overall lack of productivity and diminished capacity linked to poor health. When we are a healthy nation medically we are a sound nation economically.
I asked our guest blogger, Dr. Pamela Ross, a distinguished faculty member at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Founding CEO of Holistic Medical Consultants to weigh in on the matter. My hope is that when the holiday is over, and we resume our day to day lives, we invest in caring for ourselves so that next year, we can be thankful for our health, not just the health insurance.
The Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”) has become reality but asserts perspective that people need health insurance when what they actually need is healthcare. A prevalent mismatch may surface as a result of this law. Increases in the number of patients with health insurance compared to shortages in the number of primary care doctors available to care for them. You may not get the healthcare you had in mind in spite of being insured. Monumental collaboration will be required to fine tune glitches in the healthcare law.
Time to come to terms with a simple truth about healthcare. Primary care begins with YOU – not a doctor. Prevention is more optimal than the misery of struggling for cure. As The Socially Conscious Doctor, I’ll start with Thanksgiving - the holiday season for giving thanks and, unfortunately, for gluttony.
Let us give thanks for healthcare law that works to empower patients, end insurance company abuses, and create opportunities for better health outcomes for all citizens. And let us give thanks for the food we are about to receive… Savory mouthfuls of juicy turkey and herbed dressing smothered with richly seasoned gravy… Candied yams, bacon wrapped green beans, corn and hot buttered rolls that melt in your mouth… Hearty servings of aromatic cakes, pies and cobblers… [If your mouth watered while reading, note the mind-body connection.]
Now, take your dominant hand and cup it as if you’re going to hold something - like a bunch of peanuts. Three or four of these “hand cups” is an excellent approximation for how much it actually takes to fill your stomach. Even after your stomach is full you can keep going because it stretches like a balloon. It can stretch up to 50 times its normal size. If you constantly overeat, your stomach stretches to a new normal. You will still feel hungry when your stomach should actually be full. A constantly overstretched stomach leads to a lot of health problems – reflux, gastroparesis, constipation, esophageal ulcers, and obesity - just to name a few.
Avoid the misery of struggling for cures and try these 5 tips to prevent gluttony and “GI drama”:
1. Turn eating into an exercise in mindfulness. Before you eat, visualize a process for how your food got from where it started to your plate. Visualize a barnyard, field, garden or factory where it was grown, harvested or manufactured. Visualize workers who may have been a part of processing your food. In some instances you might loose interest in eating certain foods if you understood where it came from.
2. Before eating – inhale the aroma of your food. This sends olfactory signals to your brain, stimulating a cascade of biochemical processes that prepare your GI track for digestion. Your watering mouth and stomach secrete enzymes that break down food so it can be turned into basic chemicals your body will use or store.
3. Chew your food thoroughly. Chew your food until it is like liquid. This helps further activate digestive processes in your stomach/colon for proper transport of nutrients. It also gives time for your brain to send a biochemical signal that you are full.
4. Smaller portions. Three or four “hand cups” of highly nutritional food every three or four hours can bring better results than eating one or two very large meals a day. Grab a smaller plate (without going for seconds) to help keep portions smaller.
5. Take a walk. No jogging necessary – just walk. This promotes movement of food through your digestive tract. It can decrease reflux that occurs when you lie down with a full stomach. It also helps burn calories and promote weight loss.
Although you have health insurance, your body has a tremendous capacity for innate healing without requiring a bankroll of pharmaceutical drugs or expensive medical technology. If you have made a habit of transforming from thankful to Thanksgiving Glutton or if you ever had to see a doctor for GI problems related to your eating habits, you can improve your health by activating the first step in primary care. Care for yourself. Take mindful steps toward eating more thoughtfully, slowly, and purposefully.
If you can change your mind you can change your life. Thoughts become words become actions become habits become character becomes destiny. You can think improved health into existence. Remember, primary care begins with YOU.
Be well!
Dr. Pamela Ross The Socially (and Spiritually) Conscious Doctor
Dr. Pamela Ross received her MD degree from Emory University in Atlanta, GA and is a board certified Emergency Physician who completed fellowships in Pediatrics and Integrative Medicine. She is a distinguished faculty member at the University of Virginia School of Medicine and Founding CEO of Holistic Medical Consultants. Contact: www.drpamelaross.com | @DrPamelaRoss | facebook.com/DrPamelaRoss
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