Wellness vs. Healthcare


Before I get into the many parts that come together to give you a healthy lifestyle, I first want to let you know where I stand and how I think everyone should view their own health.

Wellness is a new term that is used to describe an ever growing industry in America today. It means being proactive with your health. It means taking care of your body before you ever have any symptoms of being sick. It means exercising to make you feel better and stronger.

For so many years the term healthcare has been synonymous with prescribed medications to treat acute illness. When you come up with an illness, a drug is handed to you to treat your current symptoms. You see commercials on television for everything from impotence to asthma because so many people have symptoms telling them they need this new, great drug. Healthcare should be called the sickness industry because it is only helping those who have been diagnosed and are already sick.

Wellness is taking the steps to prevent symptoms from illness in the first place.

Why do I believe in wellness? I personally completely disagree with the healthcare industry and feel it is based on money rather than truly helping people. This past week I actually heard that “road rage” may be a symptom caused by imbalances in the brain that can be treated by drugs. When I heard this, all I could think of was a meeting room full of board members from a drug company thinking of what they could market to the most amounts of people. When they saw that over 16 million Americans “suffer” from road rage, it must have been easy to decide what the research and development team would be working on next.

It is things like that that make me distrust healthcare in our country and make me as proactive as possible about my own health every day.

Wellness is about not only adding years to your life, but life to your years.

Wellness and overall health and fitness are what I hope I can help educate you about. I would also hope that I can assist you in becoming so proactive toward your health, that you are able to break free from the seemingly addictive nature of the healthcare industry.



For more on wellness, I strongly recommend Paul Zane Pilzer's book, "The Wellness Revolution".

Beginning a healthy lifestyle is probably the biggest hurdle to overcome. Why? Well for many, health was never a thought when you were young because your metabolism was fast. Even if you weren’t blessed with a high metabolism, you burned tons of calories playing at recess, in gym class or after school. Even throughout high school it’s hard for many to put on weight because of the numerous activities and even more so, lack of nutrition. I shudder to think at what my body was doing to itself while I ate horrible lunches to prepare me for after school sports practices. And I even used to wonder why I looked like a bean pole.

Then comes college and buffet style dining halls (and beer). The “freshmen 15” is something every student heard about, but many couldn’t prevent. Schools try to offer good nutritional choices but without being educated in nutrition, many students opt for the traditional high calorie foods not realizing the detrimental effects it has on ones body.

With formal education behind, the real world looms along with the typical American diet: cereal, sandwich, dinner (a number of choices we will get to eventually). These three meals, combined with numerous snacks in between.

It takes a while, but even if only 2lbs a year is gained, when you go to your 20 year reunion, that 40lbs is a far cry from what you looked like in college.

I would like to help you go back to your college reunion looking the same, if not better and starting to live a healthy life early is the best thing you can do for yourself.

You may be asking yourself, “What makes you the expert?”

Well, I will be getting my personal trainer certification in August through a highly accredited organization. I have spent three years at the Division 1 level playing a sport and have worked very closely with my strength and conditioning coach to put on 45lbs of muscle in 4 years while only adding 2-3% of body fat (although it fluctuates like crazy).
I have a vested interest in learning all I can about health and wellness due to the fact that my father owns a fitness center where I am currently employed.

I am not a doctor or certified nutritionist but I am in close contact with both. The advice I get from them will be documented as well as the rest of my information.

This blog will touch on exercise, nutrition through food and supplementation, weight loss, muscle gain, general fitness, and athletic fitness, all in an effort to promote a healthy lifestyle. I hope I can be of service and if I cannot, I would be happy to try and direct you to the right place.