The best health care plan.

When talking about our health, we usually name doctors, medicines, hospitals and tests, but we mention less often the most important factor: responsibility. The best health system is the one that considers the patient, not just as somebody with the right to receive quality attention, but, above all, as the main and foremost responsible for his health.

Developed countries have a health care model designed to cover the citizen’s medical needs. Surprisingly, with the exception of some northern Europe countries, almost nobody is totally happy with it. When healthcare is private, there is usually a big imbalance between the wealthy and the poor, so there are a large number of people without the necessary coverage. When healthcare is public, there is a universal coverage, but, often, there is a problem with over saturated providers. A large part of the solution to this conundrum does not lie in political discussions about one versus the other (although I believe health care is a right and coverage should be universal). The solution lies within every one of us, and it is called “responsibility”.

Society at large is quite sick, because we choose not to look after ourselves. We have adopted unhealthy lifestyles, and we don’t want to accept that this has consequences. Then we go to see the doctor, with the childish attitude of somebody that expects other people to solve our problems. Talking recently with a physician friend of mine, he told me that many patients will ask him for a pill prescription to control cholesterol, blood sugar or hypertension, in lieu of making dietary or lifestyle changes to help. Heart disease, obesity, hypertension, or diabetes, are some of the most usual causes of visits to the doctor, but also some that we could avoid often with quite simple lifestyle changes.

The first and most important relationship we develop is the one with our own body. We interact with our environment through it. It allows us to communicate, to perceive life as we know it. It is important to look after it. I am not one of those that thinks we should be the healthiest in the cemetery, but I believe we must enjoy all ages, including old age, and the best way of doing that is with a body that is as healthy as possible. Benefits are many, and we all know them, including the economic benefits for society. But, it is not the doctor’s job to keep us in good shape, it is our responsibility. Many times, even if we look after ourselves, we can suffer traumas or disease. Welcome doctors, healers and medicines then. But I am sure that it is possible to reduce by more than half the use of medical resources by following some simple guidelines: eat well, rest enough, exercise, watch less TV, and be happy. Let’s have a closer look at some of those factors.

1.- Eating well. We all know what it means to eat well, but lets remember it briefly. It does not mean to eat expensive or to eat excessively. It means to eat healthily eating moderate but sufficient amounts, fresh products and a variety of foods. All this based on age and lifestyle, as everybody has different nutritional needs at different stages in their lives. Eliminate or reduce to the minimum the consumption of unrefined sugar, saturated fat, canned items, precooked and processed food (along with their chemical constituents). Unfortunately, however, many of us have become accustomed to consumption of pre-prepared foods, this is our first step toward relinquishing our responsibility for ourselves. Some of us may even be horrified with the thought of cooking or preparing something as simple as a homemade lunch. We use the excuse of our busy lives to rationalize that cooking is too much time and effort each day, but there are solutions for the lack of time, and we must to explore them.

Fresh salads, sandwiches and soups are easy to make. For cooked food, we can cook once or twice a week, and freeze the extra portions. Finally, it is worth exploring the possibility of creating a new social activity: sharing the lunchbox. Among friends, family or coworkers, in a group, everybody cooks a different day and they all share. It is enjoyable practical, and it helps to create a bonding with the people around us. In any case, I am sure that everybody in their specific case, can be creative and find a good solution to the lack of time to prepare nutritious lunch and dinners.

My readers know by now that usually in all my writings I consider the energetic aspects of every subject. In this case, food has to be able to sustain life. The denser a product is, the more processed, modified, cooked or old, the less able it is to sustain life: it is less “nutritious” energetically speaking. Many times, the dissatisfaction we feel after lunch is due to the fact that even with a full tummy, we are not well nourished, so the body keeps sending hunger signals. Fresh produce, raw veggies, fruits, grains, even animals that are grown and killed in certain conditions (for non vegetarians) are also good energetically. These types of foods are able to nourish us and sustain life.

Animals that come from industrial farms often have large amounts of hormonal and antibiotic treatments. Those products end up in our bodies when we eat. Furthermore, energetically, the stress, fear and suffering that those animals endure, and the unhealthy conditions that they live in, have a very low vibration rate. This low vibration is not only unable to sustain life, but it is also a burden to our own vibratory level.

There is a simple math associated with this situation. We eat products with different vibratory rates. When we add up all that we eat, the higher the result, the easier is for us to keep a high vibration. This translates to a better body functioning.

2.- Physical exercise. I am not going to discuss here the generic benefits of exercise, because we all know that. Rather, I would like to focus upon just two facts that we often overlook. The first one is that the human body is designed to be physically superior to most animals, we must recall that we needed to hunt them to survive for thousands of years. The body is not designed to be sedentary for twelve hours. If our life forces us to be so sedentary, we have to find a way to compensate for this fact, and to find time and space to do exercise regularly. This should be seen as a priority of the same importance as eating, sleeping or washing. There are no excuses not do it, if we are to be responsible for our health.

The second fact is that exercising is also good, at an energetic level. Many energetic blocks, or stagnant energy that we sometimes experience in our chakras or other parts of our human energy field, could be improved simply by taking exercise. Some exercises are better than others from this point of view. However, in general, by moving and breathing better there is an expansion of our aura.

The most evident benefit comes from the intention that we put in taking care of ourselves, and from the pleasure of giving our bodies what they need. As usual, to be aware of what are we doing multiplies the benefit and the results of our actions. Watching less TV will help in this objective of moving our bodies more as it is a very passive and low energy activity, it will also help with reducing the amount of mental trash we expose our senses and our minds to.

3.- To be happy. As a healer, I see every day that most diseases and physical problems are a consequence of situations that are unresolved in the emotional or mental bodies. Worries, suffering, not loving enough, not being able to forgive, or not following our purpose in life are all reasons that often lead to disease.

These mental hang-ups are not always avoidable, but with good training and guidance, many of them can be avoided or fixed, before they became so strong as to create disease. It is our responsibility to accept this fact and to take the necessary measures to resolve them. Moreover, whenever we need a therapist, it is important to remember that our best option is to create a team with our primary care physician, the appropriate specialist and a healer that supports the process. This speeds and complements the physical healing process, by supporting the emotional, mental and energetic aspects of the condition.

In some European countries, In addition to using healers in the public health systems, they are also taking measures to make patient responsibility central to the process. For instance, smokers have to pay larger fees for their medical insurance or services. Some obese people have to reduce a certain amount of weight before they can have some non-urgent surgery. Do we need to arrive to that point?

Personally, I believe that if we start changing and we educate our children so they develop healthy habits from the start, we can have a healthier next generation, and we can make a better use of health resources.

To sum up, we need to accept that we are responsible for our own health, we need to focus our energy upon prevention and on having a healthy life style. Governments are there to facilitate the appropriate resources, and therapists are there to collaborate and guide us whenever necessary. But our health is mainly in our hands, not in theirs. To talk about responsibility does not mean to talk about guilt. To be responsible means to be aware of what we can do, and to do it. Not to focus on our prior unhealthy habits, but also not to allow ourselves to make excuses for not taking responsibility for ourselves.

Article by Helena Aramendia

Allowed the partial or total reproduction, as long as the author and source are credited.