Change Is Coming (part 2)

Sometime back, I was talking with a person about their diet particularly the benefits of going gluten free. Details aren't important but in broad terms, this person was about 80 and had several surgeries including intestinal. Some of these surgeries were no doubt related to gluten sensitivity. Her husband had shown reactions to wheat in the past that included skin eruptions. He was also having neurological problems both peripheral and central.

I Didn't Bring Up the Topic of Diet

I didn't bring up the topic and wasn't looking for confrontation but when pressed about things I know something about, I will certainly chime in with my research and clinical experience-based opinions. I was advised in no uncertain terms, that they would not be making any changes at this point in their lives.

I didn't really know what to say to that. After all, I had never tried to make a dietary change in my 80's although I certainly do modify my diet continuously for health reasons.

Intestinal Malfunction and a Stroke

About a year after this conversation the wife had another intestinal incident that landed her in the hospital an hour from home and the husband began having TIA's or mini strokes that eventually led to a moderate stroke. I say moderate because lived for about 5+ years and was mostly ambulatory but running on about 10% of his normal brain power. You might understand when I say that a severe stroke leading to a relatively quick death is much easier.

If You Are Alive, Changes Are Coming

After giving this some thought, I decided that I needed a better response for people unwilling to make lifestyle changes for their health. The fact is that changes ARE coming. In the example above, a stroke was coming and was the result of decades of improper diet. I didn't say bad diet because most observers would think that his diet wasn't that bad compared to many Americans. It was just an improper diet to support his particular physiological needs.

Are We Going to Proactive or Reactive?

So changes are coming to all of us. The question is whether we are going to make an effort to be proactive and have the changes be to our lifestyle choices or are we going to wait until life deals the consequences of our less than ideal choices. Those life consequences can be pretty harsh like heart attacks, strokes and cancer.

So if I could dial back the space time continuum to that conversation, I would have pointed out that they still had time to be proactive and those changes would be WAY less painful than the unmerciful changes coming to those who refuse to work on prevention.

The time and energy you spend to improve your health can have great benefits, not just to your future comfort but for the benefit of those around you. If you do down, somebody will have to step in and help you with your trips to the doctor, post-surgical recovery, meal preparation, adult diaper changes and more fun.

Become a Student of Health

Nobody said change was easy. It will take time and effort to get results. Which changes to make will also take some time and persistence as no two people have exactly the same needs. Read up. Talk to students of health. No, I didn't say doctors because some are students of health and some are not. Don't get discouraged when some measures don't work. It is a puzzle and the answers are where they are, not where you think they should be.

To end this on a high note, I figure that about 90% of bad things that can happen are preventable. 10% of problems might show up anyway but it is best to focus on the 90%.

Had to get that off my chest. Thanks for listening.