The most important gift
If you were to ask someone what they value most in life, they would say family, church, pets, maybe their job, and their health. Some forget about the latter until you ask, "what about your health?" Then it's an emphatic "oh yes!" Yet when it comes to paying to stay well, many don't prioritize the cost, or pay the minimum possible. When they are stressed, the time they need support the most, that's when they stop eating well, exercising, getting their supplements or seeking health-supportive therapies. I saw a sign in a doctor's office one time that said, "You will either pay to be well, or pay when you are ill, but either way, you pay." If either way you have to pay, why not invest in the healthier option?
I was looking at a website that was evaluating which was cheaper - conventional medicine or alternative medicine. They used statistics from reports such as the Drug Trend Report regarding costs of prescriptions, factored in average health insurance coverage reports from the insurance industry, including average number of visits to a doctor (alternative or conventional), insurance deductibles, co-pays, and out of pocket expenses. The only over-the-counter meds they factored in was NSAIDS - not the hundreds or thousands of other "low dose" medications, but they did factor in herbs and supplements and also lab work, maintenance treatments as well as the repeated visits typically required of alternative/complementary care physicians.
Still, the results were that over the course of a year, it was $1,200-$3,000 cheaper for natural health care! Cheaper, not more expensive. In another study done in the 1990s, they also factored in time loss from work. They too found it was not only cheaper to get well naturally - and especially in the long range, to stay well - than to pay to be sick, but those using alternative/complementary therapies were significantly healthier.
According to the World Health Organization's "Healthy Life Expectancy: How Many Years of Healthy Life we can Expect to Live," they say that "the U.S. spends more than twice as much per person on health care as 21 other industrialized countries. But our health ranks dead last."
So what can we do about it? Make health a priority. Choose to resolve health issues, and not just manage the symptoms. Invest in your health. Doing so can increase productivity, reduce errors at work, and help prevent accidents; and when you feel better, you are calmer and nicer to be around! Investing in your health is the most important gift you can give yourself. As we enter the gift-giving season, consider giving the gift of health to someone you care about. It's the best gift you could ever give!
From now until Dec. 31, purchase a $300 gift certificate at Vital Health and receive a bonus $50 certificate absolutely free. That's $350 worth of services for just $300. That is my gift of health to you!
Holly Carling is a Doctor of Oriental Medicine, Licensed Acupuncturist, Doctor of Naturopathy, Clinical Nutritionist and Master Herbologist with more than 35 years of experience. She is currently accepting new patients and offers natural health-care services and whole food nutritional supplements in her Coeur d'Alene clinic.
Visit Carling's website at www.vitalhealthandfitness.com to learn more about Carling, view a list of upcoming health classes and read other informative articles. She can be reached at (208) 765-1994 and would be happy to answer any questions regarding this topic.