The other day, I was reading through a magazine and came across a somewhat startling statistic- “95% of US healthcare funds go towards treating illness with only 5% going towards disease prevention”. Practicing in a hospital setting, this news is not exactly shocking to me because the majority of my patients have acute illnesses. On the rare occasion, I may receive an outpatient weight loss referral for a patient that that has not yet developed co-morbidities such as high blood pressure, heart disease, or diabetes. This infrequent occurrence usually requires a prevention-minded doctor and an extremely motivated patient.
It’s obvious that American medicine is not doing such a great job of promoting health and wellness nor is it preventing chronic diseases. Taking responsibility and ownership of our own health is important.
How do you define health? I believe being healthy is much more that being free of illness/sickness and that one’s health is defined by one’s behaviors. Many of today’s illnesses are a result of people’s behaviors such as smoking, inactivity, and poor nutrition.
What have you done for your health today? So far today, I am close to reaching my fruit and veggie goals (should reach after dinner) and I plan on exercising as soon as I press “Publish”!
Hope everyone is having a wonderful week 
Kasey
Let’s face it, our society is NOT focused on prevention, it’s focused on curing an already present disease. I hate it. Yes, this statistic is very startling, but at the same time it’s not at all surprising. We also have a billion dollar industry (known as the SUPPLEMENT industry), which pretends to be all about “prevention”, but in reality it’s causing more harm than good (in many cases). Ugh, RDs have a tough job ahead!
My pet peeve is when friends and strangers alike think that they are doing something for their health by eating lo cal, no fat foods. I laugh at that is their gauge of “being healthy.”
I have taken a long walk, laughed, eaten my veggies, and will have a glass of red wine in a couple of hours, so that’s what I’ve done for my health today.
Went to boot camp this morning, drank 16oz of water already, and rocked a protein shake! Hope you are well!
Boot camp?! That’s impressive!
The statistic is indeed very sad…
I try to do lots of things for my health every day: eating lots of veggies and some fruits, eating mostly unprocessed foods, cooking most of our meals at home, exercising in one form or another every day, taking some “me time”…
Have a great weekend!
I am always surprised that they don’t offer more coverage for disease prevention. I mean, it just seems to make more sense.
I have been sick all week so I haven’t been doing a great job health wise but I am trying to get rest and drink fluids in order to get better!
I want to increase my workouts once I get feeling better.
Yeah girl! In good ol’ Audubon
http://www.nolabootcamp.com/bootcamp-details.html
Prevention healthcare is a dietitian’s dream!! I hope we can change the world.. one french fry at a time
It surprises me that most Americans don’t even get the bare minimum fitness in– of 40 min a day, 5 days a week. I ran 10 miles this morning. It’s my favorite time of day.. but after this marathon next month I’ll be perfectly happy going back to 6 mile runs! Have a great weekend..
Yikes! Those numbers are awful! I was just telling one of my patient’s the other day about how good nutrition is such a great form of preventative medicine!
I worked out today! I work out 5 days a week. I do mostly cardio, a little bit of weights.
Such a scary stat! It really should be the other way around. Shocking.