Healthcare 65 Plus

 I am a Integrative Nutrition Couch with some of the world’s best training, I graduated from INN , after my Stroke. because I wanted to know why it happened and how, but more importantly, what I could do to make my recovery better. I am also a retired Nurse and healthcare administrator, as well as an Elder Abuse Investigator . I do not coach anyone. I chose instead to write and give speaking engagements about my own experiences and solutions, of which there are many. I worked hard, diligently, relentlessly, with a purpose to recover from my stroke, diabetes, and A-fib diagnosis. I did it. You can too.

Before I begin I want to explain to anyone reading my Blog that, I tell it like I see it. I am not a Bakery I will never sugar coat anything! These are ,my own personal experiences and viewpoints. Today I am healthier than I have ever been since my twenties. The viewpoints I point out are mostly my observations as both a patient and a retired investigator. I critic everything in healthcare out of habit. But, it has saved my Bacon thus far! That and my education and work experience has helped me to surpass all the setbacks of a stroke and given me the perseverance to stick with my diet and healthcare lifestyles that benefit my body, With all that being said, let’s continue with my Journey.

I will not lie it was difficult and at times I wanted to just give up. However, I was doing all this alone. I only had ME and Me alone to rely on! But, I knew I had to do this. I did not yet have a provider. My insurance company at that time denied rehabilitation to a lacunar stroke patient! The hospital discharged me with no instructions I was aware of , I had to prove it can be done! I had to find real support and I did!

That is why I am here today. To share with everyone, I can, we can recover , our bodies are built to do just that. I did it at age 76! One of the most disturbing things I discovered was, a lot of what the medical professionals tells us just does not have an iota of truth in it! Mostly because they drink the kool aid from Big Pharma, Many, not all but, many of medical professionals, honestly believe in Big Pharma and only Big Pharma. Honestly that is more than I am comfortable with. There should not be any that lie to a patient, but greed, Insurance companies and Big Pharma  have changed the medical world from what we once knew. Along with the fact that, we the patients have come to rely on Doctors like they are the grand Wizard of healing. They really don’t have any magic potients you know!

Plus the fact that seven years of training for doctors and two years for nurse practitioners  or more for physician’s assistants is a long time to have the Big Pharma influence hanging over you. Medication often times becomes a shortcut. Then when you finish school and all your training, you are then burdened with student loans and the pressure of getting a new practice started while being so understaffed . Shall we say really overwhelming? Providers are a victim as much as the patients, and in some cases more so.

But we can change that! My father once told me that knowledge is a wonderful thing. Only, it is worthless if it is not shared. We have the knowledge of responsibility for our own actions. We do not get life threatening diseases by being active , staying cool headed, eating sensible and sleeping well. Now, I am going to tell the absolute truth here. Many of us have gotten out of shape and into diseases unnecessarily. Remember I said I do not sugar coat anything! I am not a bakery.

So here goes.

We Americans have gotten lazy, and indulgent, and just expecting medical professionals to fix what we broke! Yes, we broke ourselves. We choose to drink alcohol, or coffee lattes, or brown soda. We choose to eat steak, and greasy hamburgers and chips and ice cream and pastries and boy do we love those salty greasy fries! Then lie on the couch and watch movies. Because after all, that is really living, right?? That is when we have arrived! Oh and those football games or baseball games with those famous hot dogs full of nitrates, then we go home and eat a Sub sandwich and wash it down with some beer and cheese doodles. Sometimes we just order in a pizza!

It is not just the garbage food we eat, we buy it in our grocery stores too because the food industry has found amazing chemicals to add to our food to give it longer shelf life! Now isn’t that beneficial? But to whom? Certainly not us the consumers. I find it ironic that Europe does not allow those practices. Obviosly they know something no one is telling us.

Our bodies give us warning signals, like headaches heartburn achy joints, but we just swallow some Tylenol or Advil or whatever and keep on ticking.

Face it we are not that active anymore. We don’t have time! We cram working, chauffeuring our kids, throwing together whatever for dinner, doing late night chores and dropping into bed just in time for 6 to 7 hours of shuteye. Weekends are even more hectic. It is not all our fault, but society has sure made it easy for us to fall into the traps of co-morbidities. We have swapped healthy exercise for high levels of stress!

Meanwhile, Medicine today has become all about money in many many cases., the knowledge is not there in so many other cases. You see big equity firms have come in and they cut the fat to the bone in hospitals and clinics, etcetera. There are some good providers out there. There really are, and they want to help patients. However their hands do get tied in so many ways a patient would struggle to understand. We need to help them to do the right things and recognize them when they do. Remember, many of our providers are just as much a victim as we are.

So how do we help them? We become accountable for our on healthcare status. When a Provider says we need to lose weight, it does not mean we can go to McDonalds for lunch when we leave their office. We need to make an honest effort to try and lose weight. We need to ask our providers what they recommend for getting on the right tract. We need to take responsibility for our own lives. We need to start working with them. If you have a provider who really cares , then work with them! If you don’t know how to change you numbers on blood tests ask them for guidance. If you they can’t help, find a coach! Check the internet. Knowledge is out there, look for it. This blog is all about sharing that knowledge. Keep reading, I will share with you what I have learned.

We have gotten so lazy about our own health!

There are NO magic pills, folks.

All pills have some kind of side effects.

No pills are meant to be forever.

Medication is meant to be tool, a vehicle to help us gain our health back. Not a cure all. However we are the ones who decided to be dependent on them after all a little blue pill is so much faster and easier than slowing down and eating healthy and saying no to things that don’t benefit our health. We have fallen into the traps that commercials and advertisements have used to sucked us in. But, hey, we are so cool and living the good life, right! Ummmm, has anyone noticed the age for heart attacks has slipped from mid 50’s to late 40’s? Don’t we just want to be cool and go pick out our casket? Yea, that is brutal, I know. That is truthful. Th worst part is we are raising obese kids who never see sunshine and fresh air anymore but, they sure have developed those thumbs on their phones and games. what do you think their life expectancy looks like? I know, I have some nerve. But, if it shocks one family into doing something about it all, it will be well worth the hatred I will get.

We are the only human being who can make our bodies heal! No Doctor, no magician no one, Can make us heal but ourselves.

It is not impossible. It is hard to get started, but, Totally doable.

I did it at the age of 76, anyone can do it if they truly want to be healthy.

Continue with me on my journey and learn some of the things you can do better.