Would you ever say that? Maybe. But your actions betray you. Every day, as a doctor, I meet people who would like to go back 5, 10 or 20 years to make different choices.
Struggling with widespread lung cancer or paralyzed following a stroke, they no longer have the option of erasing everything and starting from scratch. We only have one life to live, it’s true. But we also have one body.
This body is not a car that can be replaced after a few years or when failures start to accumulate. In addition, repair options are limited and there are no replacement parts. Contrary to popular belief, doctors cannot cure many chronic diseases. Diabetes, kidney failure, osteoporosis, heart disease… When they make the diagnosis, most of the time, there is no going back. The disease is there for good, as are the treatments and drugs prescribed to treat it – which only slow its progression. The only way not to be sick is to not become one.
The means to stay healthy are not complicated, otherwise our species could never have survived on Earth.
There is no need to drink green smoothies and run half marathons. The body requires little care. He simply asks to be fed with healthy food in reasonable quantities, to move (regardless of how), to sleep and to avoid being exposed to substances that are harmful to him.
The scourge of sedentarization
However, half of the calories we ingest come from factory-processed products that are systematically too high in sugar, fat and salt. Our average annual sugar consumption has jumped from 5 to 40 kg per capita in a century. We now sit not only to rest and eat, but also to work, play and even move around.
The consequences are inevitable. This is the first time in 200 years that children are at risk of living less old than their parents.
And it’s not for nothing. We have never been in such poor physical condition. Chronic diseases are on the rise and are appearing in younger and younger people.
However, the majority of chronic diseases from which we suffer can be largely prevented by a healthy lifestyle. This is the case, among others, for 80% of heart disease, strokes and cases of diabetes, as well as 40% of cancers. We tend to trivialize these pathologies, while two out of three premature deaths are due to cancer or cardiovascular disease.
Adopting a healthy lifestyle compatible with the body’s needs is the only realistic and lasting way to maintain health. At a time when our health network is struggling to meet the ever-increasing demand, awareness and actions must be both individual and collective. We must stop acting only downstream of the disease and direct more efforts upstream. The Ministry of Health must be a real promoter of physical and mental well-being, and not simply a “health insurance”.
Let’s take care of ourselves, for real.
* Sébastien Perron is the author of the book Your doctor won’t cure you: how to live a long life, without chronic illness, without medication and feeling good about yourself (Saint Jean)