We used to think that the “good news” was that our generation was living longer, well into our eighties, far exceeding the median longevity of our predecessors. But, doesn’t it always seem that good news comes with a codicil containing “bad news”? In this case, the wording of the bad news is exactly like the languaging of the good, with one exception. It goes on to ask the question: Who will care for a generation of mostly ailing bodies that have many more years to live?

By the time all baby boomers are 65, the senior population will have grown from 40 million now to about 72 million. Who will pay their medical bills? It would appear the answer is “no one.” As a society we have been complacent, like grasshoppers fiddling away, our attention focused on our next bigger, better, and more exclusive purchase or extreme experience, and giving no thought to our ailing health care industry. Now that winter is setting in, the forecast is bleak with the number of retirees about to zoom upwards just the way the number of teenagers did in the ’50s, ’60s and ’70s.  Remember the good ole days when everything we touched turned to gold and every time we marched, we made a difference? Who was interested in taking care of our body, or to rally for a health care system that could one day. Instead, we just held onto our cherished belief that the future would inevitably continue to go our way because, what the heck, that’s the way things had always gone for our generation in the past.

What’s the answer? The sated folks on Capital Hill, with their good salaries and excellent health insurance, don’t seem to be able to pull their hyper-focus away from their personal ideologies in order to reach a compromise on healthcare reform, be they ideologically right or left. Affordable health insurance may never material. And, as the fight goes on, fixing the economy and getting people back to work (whatever their age) sits on the back burner.

As they say, the best defense is a good offense. Perhaps the best we can do for ourselves is to get healthy, boomers, and then stay that way. So, if you’ve been waiting for the right moment to begin that healthy lifestyle you’ve been considering for years, that time is now. Because if things keep going in the direction they seem to be headed, no one is going to be able to take care of your medical bills…including you!

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But, a new study by researchers at New York University and Yale University that analyzed fast-food purchases by 1,156 adults at Burger King, Kentucky Fried Chicken, McDonald’s and Wendy’s immediately before and after the rule went into effect has shown that perhaps simply shedding light on the high calorie content of fast food may not be enough to dissuade the majority of fast food consumers, especially in low-income neighborhoods.  The percentage of people aware of the calorie information increased from 16 percent to 54 percent, but the number of calories purchased was slightly higher than before the rule was implemented, researchers found.

New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the study may have been done too soon after the rule went into effect and before all fast food restaurants were in compliance. But, I think that much more education is necessary to let people know exactly how those particular calories will affect their health and longevity. And, there needs to be more healthy options for lower income families,

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It certainly seems to me that recently the media has bombarded us with exorbitant numbers of featured articles praising research on the heart benefits of red wine (resveratrol), the memory loss benefits of coffee (caffeine), and the amazing benefits of a monumental amount of exotic supplements that remarkably promise to reduce or prevent every known cause of mortality. In deed, if the reports and tabloid ads are a meter of human interests, our search for longevity has taken a back seat to a craving for immortality.

Let me clarify, first of all, that I believe in taking supplements and take them, myself. Secondly, I would like to be candid and say that I am one who enjoys a glass of red wine. So, the suggestion that it might genuinely be good for my health, especially my heart, simply adds to my enjoyment. And, if something as simple as drinking coffee could actually eliminate the symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease, then I’d be tempted to close up my practice and open a Starbucks.

But, let’s stop and ponder the prudence of aimlessly adding an extra cuppa to your breakfast routine, drinking another glass of red wine with dinner, or plunking down a pile of money on high-priced minerals and herbs that guarantee near-immortality.

For instance, let us think about the fact that we, humans, are dynamic, biological beings, free to enthusiastically interact with life. We have not been detained in a cage, and none of us has been “propagated” to artificially develop the age-related debilitation and disease that lab animals are bred to do, conditions that are then “reversed” by resveratrol, caffeine, or some exotic herb.

Moreover, our being dynamic and biological is another way of saying that we, humans, are not ” mechanistic automatons.” In other words, we aren’t all precisely alike. Due to the fact that our central integrative states are not exactly the same, internal provocation factors and external irritation influences affect us in different ways. For example, though smoking cigarettes is commonly harmful to most people, there are a few individuals who can smoke cigarettes and still achieve longevity without any related ill effects.

Scientific studies isolate certain variables in order to achieve particular outcomes. That’s scientific inquiry! But, because the results occur through such isolation, and due to the fact that they are generally done on animals, when it comes to translating such results to humans, it can be said that what may work for some of the people all of the time, won’t work for all of the people all of the time, and sometimes won’t work at all (to paraphrase Abraham Lincoln!).

Everyday you make considerable choices that affect both your health and longevity. Decisions such as what you’ll eat and how much exercise and rest you’ll get will either be good for you, or not so good. Obviously, your unhealthy choices are not beneficial for your long-term health. And, even though you know, by the way your individual body responds to certain things, you may often ignore these important health messages.

Then you, like many others, may enthusiastically jump on the bandwagon of the latest report that announces that researchers have uncovered THE VERY THING that has the potency to reverse all of the excessive and unhealthy things you have been doing to your body on a routine basis! Talk about wishful thinking!

The elegantly balanced system of your body (homeostasis) is highly responsive and intricate. This delicate system becomes “off balance” when you live an unhealthy lifestyle. Eventually, the imbalances nurtured through poor health choices, result in diseases.

As a chiropractor, I advise that you supplement if you need it. Pour that added cup of coffee if it feels right. And, have a little more red wine if it genuinely feels beneficial for your individual system. But all the while remember, the only truly reliable way that we, humans, can avoid or reverse age-related health issues is by changing our unhealthy lifestyle. Good health has nothing do with luck. And, there is no “magic potion” when it comes to health and longevity.

Jamie Phillips, DC, a Santa Barbara Chiropractor, has been a practicing chiropractor for 24 years. She is also a consultant for Bloczone Marketing, a chiropractic internet marketing company specializing in chiropractic websites that attract new patients. She can be reached at (805) 882-1956.

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