What else can we do?

By leslie ⋅ July 2, 2009 ⋅

As everyone wrangles with health reform legislation, let’s also talk about ways we can reduce our own risk of getting sick.

Apparently some of us need some real motivation to live healthier lives. Here at the Asheville Citizen-Times, people who smoke cigarettes are charged more for health insurance than people who don’t. I’m just waiting for them to start charging people whose body-mass index is above a certain point.

A study earlier this week found more Americans than ever are overweight or obese, even knowing the risks it poses to health.

I’m overweight and I know it increases my risk for diabetes and certain types of cancer and causes extra wear on my joints. I am active — I ride my bike a couple times a week, walk, hike, take the stairs most of the time, work in the yard, go to the YWCA once in awhile.

But I’m still overweight.

I don’t want to be forced by the government to give up chocolate, but our society doesn’t make it very easy to get exercise. I work for one of the few newspapers that’s still downtown. Most of the other papers I’ve worked for have been on four-lane highways where it’s not even safe to drive, nevermind walk.

Suburban sprawl makes it nearly impossible to walk to the market for a lot of Americans.

Most employers don’t help workers pay for gym membership or install workout equipment in a room set aside for employees.

One of the most successful programs I’ve ever been involved in was a competition between employers where we registered and then kept track of how many minutes we exercised. It was more about moving than it was about weight, but I lost 20 pounds.

Here in Asheville we have Lighten up 4 Life, a competition that begins in January and winds up with a 5K in June. People lose weight and become more fit.

The big health care corporations aren’t the only reason we’re one of the sickest industrialized nations in the world.

We can, as individuals, stop eating fast food so often, stop using tobacco, stop drinking so much soda, walk more and take the stairs whenever it’s appropriate.

This is not the ultimate solution; it will not make access to care when we need it any easier, but it may help reduce the need for care.

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