February 13, 2006
Monday

Ketchikan, Alaska - A few days ago I came across a booklet that I had acquired six years previously. It is my Member's U.S. Healthcare Medication Formulary Guide, dated January, 1999. This is a list of all the medications that my insurance provider would provide. I thumbed through the pages just to see what I had been missing. Please bear with me as I itemize what I found.

Cancer Medications & Immunosuppressants - 24 items. Thank God I had not needed any from these pages.

Next, Ear, Eye, Nose & Throat - 106 items. A veritable smorgasbord of medication, but it seems that I had not needed any of these items either, I'm guessing because my immune system has been functioning OK on its own.

The next category was the Endocrine System, including concerns of the thyroid, diabetes, etc. - 95 items. Thankfully, none of these items have made it into my medicine cabinet or me.

The next category was for Urinary - 28 items, Heart Meds - 93 items, Infections & Infestations - 88 items, Muscle & Skeleton - 42 items, Nervous System - 115 items, Respiratory - 59 items, Skin Disorders - 79 items, Stomach & Intestine - 42 items.

None of the items listed thus far had I used in the past six years or the past 56 years for that matter that I can recall. Finally the last category was Vitamins & Minerals - 29 items. Although I do supplement my diet with vitamins and minerals, none of these names were familiar to me. I prefer to get my vitamins and minerals from my diet and to supplement with vitamins and minerals derived from whole food sources rather than those that are synthetically produced in a laboratory.

As I reviewed the list, I counted 800 items. All but 29, the vitamins & minerals could all be categorized as "drugs". I categorize all man made, i.e. "synthetic" vitamins & minerals as drugs also, but that may be debated. As I look at the state of my community's health and the health concerns of the nation and world, it becomes apparent to me that the U.S.A. is not unhealthy because of a lack of drugs! Drugs are abundant. I can only guess that the problems now are the same as when the ancient peoples trod the earth. Hygiene, diet and exercise were then and are now the three basic components to living a long and healthy life. Hygiene is avoiding disease states by not subjecting your body to contaminated environments. The great plagues of the past centuries have been ended with modern science identifying the root cause of the disease and the method of its spreading. Modern science has been able to eradicate or greatly reduce many of the disease states that ravaged the world a few generations ago. But with the world's population increase and continent-to-continent same day travel common, the potential to spread new diseases has become an ominous threat. Aids and avian flue are present day examples concerning us now. This is not as simple as perhaps it once was but clean air, clean water and healthy foods are all available if we make the right choices. The right choices will lead to a God given immune system that is not compromised by your neglecting proper hygiene, clean water and a nutritious diet. Here is a water challenge for you. How much clean water should you drink in a single day? Coffee and soft drinks don't count when you follow this simple formula, which is part of the equation to a life of good health and longevity. BODY WEIGHT/2 = # OF OUNCE OF WATER. If you drink this much water daily, dehydration will no longer plague you like it does most Americans and when asked by a friend "How you doing?" you certainly won't tell them you're thirsty.

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