Health in the U.S.

msnbc.com reports that "U.S. ranks just 42nd in life expectancy."  I don't know about you, but to me, that's shocking!  As wealthy as we are, for all our technological advancement, and after years of hearing the hype that we have "the best health care system in the world," that's stunning.  Even in better times two decades ago, we were 11th in the world. 

Countries which rank ahead of us include most of Europe, Japan, Jordan, Guam and the Cayman Islands, according to the same article.  Yikes! 

And worse than that, within the United States, Illinois ranks 29th among 50 states in overall health.   Pretty close to the lowest third of the country! 

Here is my belief about what brings us to such a low point, based on my intuition and personal experience -- and on the reading I have done:  I believe that our low ranking is heavily influenced by our frenetic lifestyle often lacking in purpose other than personal gain, extremely high sugar consumption (158 lbs./person in 1999, which translates to 50 tsp. per day per person) and processed foods.

I would like to come back to each of these issues in future blogs, but for now, I want to mention three specific steps toward health I have tried to take in my own life.  I'm not a purist, and I sometimes slip -- but I try to be aware of these disciplines and return to them: 1) stop for a gratitude moment each day, or take a moment to think of something I can do for someone else; 2) exclude sugar from my day, in part by excluding processed foods with various corn sweeteners; and 3) avoid commercially processed foods of any kind.