One of the strangest things about humanity is that we judge our time based on how often our rock rotates a molten ball of magma. Any physicist will tell you this is pointless, time after all is relative, an invention of man so to speak. And yet, we feel a victim of our own creation each and every day.

You might be asking yourself, how does this relate to healthcare or nutrition?

Good question my friend. It relates because time, or a lack of time, dictates so much of how we conduct ourselves.

I’ve become painfully aware of this the more I work around overworked professionals. When a really serious problem presents itself, a range of fixes stands before us.

Bandaids, Bolts, or Brilliance.

Consistently, what kind of fix do you think is chosen?

The brilliance that takes out of the box thinking and advanced problem solving? The bolts that take money and man power? Or the stupidly simple bandaid?

So often, people choose the bandaids to stop the leaking pipe.

These aren’t solutions, in fact, the closest thing I can compare it to is Western Medicine. Where diseases are treated by their side effects rather than the underlying causes.

Maybe I’m partial to a wholistic approach because of my background in Nutrition, but it seems crazy that these massive organizations would rather kick some dirt over issues than spend the time to fix them once and for all.

I guess what I’m suggesting, in a roundabout way, is to AVOID at all costs, the bandaids for your health.

Bandaids like lipitor for cholesterol or toprol and lisinopril for blood pressure aren’t really treating anything but the numbers healthcare uses to simplify a problem. So often patients think that lipitor-lowered cholesterol will make them as healthy as someone naturally healthy, something heart attack studies just don’t show.

So please, don’t use a bandaid for a pipe leak, the only benefit that provides goes straight to your healthcare provider.

Be good to yourself, and others.

– Joshua Iufer, RD