There are a lot of choices in life and in the US, we have a bizarre number of them. Let’s say you want a soda and go to the grocery store with the idea that you can just go pick one up and drink it. Well, you are then confronted with an entire aisle, both sides, of options. Lord help me! I remember when my son was young, elementary school aged, and we would be at a restaurant and ask what he would like after he had been staring at the menu for some time. He would look up with huge, saucer sized eyes that were blank, and he couldn’t respond. Some call this “the deer in the headlights” stare. I think the cause of this was just being overwhelmed with choice. Some call this choice paralysis. Other options are to become frustrated, confused, or to feel dissatisfied and have regret. To be honest, we have a rare number of choices: when looking back through human history, our time is unique in that we have options and free time. Our economy has grown with our cultural bent towards “more is better”. So when it comes to our health, I think we can face the same paralysis. The problem is that when we do not act and choose a direction for our health, the very act of not choosing may be the most detrimental health choice of all.

The World Health Organization has defined a well researched list of determinents of health. These include many different areas of life that you wouldn’t expect in a health focused list. These are the same arenas that come up over and over again in the primary care setting. What I would like to do is focus on the ones that we can impact with our choices and then take some logical steps to move in a healthy direction. Here is my list with some questions based on these:

• Money: how are we managing our resources?
• Education: are we learning and challenging ourselves with new things?
• Physical environment: are we aware of safety in our homes, workplaces, travel?
• Social support: do we actively seek excellent relationships?
• Our body: do we treat it right? What we do affects the end result.
• Health services: do we access professionals to help us along the way?

Let’s break down this list to areas that we can address: We can then make some headway:

Primary care: a lot of scientific work has been done that heavily correlates having a primary care provider with improvements in health, longer lives, and greater equity in care. Get yourself a primary care specialist.

Education: choose to learn about health. Don’t just base your lifestyle on random stuff you happen to read or hear. We have a brain that is huge compared to any other animal on the planet. We can use it wisely to improve our lot. You are here on this website so have taken a great step!

Environment: choose a safe environment, and surround yourself with input that will be helpful. Wear the chemical mask when using toxic chemicals. Wear gloves when using bleach products in the home and eye protection with heavy machinery.

Social support: choose healthy relationships. Toxic friends are not that different then toxic chemicals – put them away! Hang around people whose actions are consistent with their talk, and who show empathy and support.

Our body: choose healthy activities and input for your body. Think about your car: do you treat it poorly? No way! Way too much money to lose if you mistreat that essential mechanical device. Now think about your body: it is so much more important and harder to fix!

Money: choose to invest in healthy activity. Review where your money goes: there are obvious sink-holes that provide no benefit like gambling, daily lattes, and buying another new video game.

I hope you can see how we can translate the known science into choices that we can individualize to your everyday routine.

OK: so why is there a picture of a beer bottle? This is a great item to bring up because it’s everywhere. Advertisements can drown you on many different mediums. The cultural leaning is that if you drink, you are cool. Just remember high school parties: they didn’t get that way in a vacuum. Our cultural norm informs children of what we value. Despite the fact that we know better, I hear people discussing how they need wine at the book club, the work party, and the beer for the sports event. All evidence, that is not funded by the respective industry, points to there being no benefit and only harm from drinking alcohol. Remember that idea that wine is heart healthy? Not true! This was funded by companies making money off of this slanted research. I bring it up because it is a simple choice for most people. If I choose this habit, then I am not choosing another, healthier option. This is a great example of choice, and how we can use our ability to move one direction or another to navigate healthy lifestyle.

Healthy choices: As you can see, healthy choices not only involve pills and surgery, but almost every area of our lives. There are plenty of topics to cover. In the blog, I will spend time going over many of the topics that I have counseled patients on over the years, speak to the evidence around them, and then share my own thinking and struggle.