03 Mar What if Doctors Handed Out Vegetables, Not Prescriptions?

As a student in herb school, I remember learning about a system of medicine where families would pay the village doctor to keep them healthy, but once a family member became ill, the service was free. What a brilliant twist on today’s approach to medicine – provide incentive to keep you from becoming a patient.

I’m not suggesting you pay me in chickens to keep you well all year. But if you could correct unhealthy patterns before they become disease, would you? If you could switch the focus to staying well instead of insuring expensive fixes to preventable problems, wouldn’t that make good sense?

Today, I saw a client who totally gets this approach. She isn’t suffering from any serious problems, eats a healthy diet, does work she loves, and is in a fulfilling relationship.

She’s a model client, and frankly, seeing her was a no-brainer. Until I understood what she was asking from me.

She wanted a different kind of client-provider relationship than I’m used to having. Instead of struggling to correct problems, she wanted my support and guidance to stay well.

She saw me as someone who could step back, look at her whole life, her daily practices, her dreams for the future, and offer some advice on how to stay in the good health place she’s in.

In the end, what she wanted was help managing her enthusiasm for the projects ahead of her, without getting overwhelmed and disorganized.

Health care isn’t about insuring against what might go wrong. It’s what you do to prevent that: exercise, schedule down-time, stay in community, laugh, work, eat a variety of foods, and check in with someone who asks what you’re doing right, not what’s going wrong.

Who’s keeping you accountable for your own good health? Is there someone you can call to ask about minor concerns before they become major problems?

For years of vitality, not a future of prescriptions and surgeries, start now with a baseline herbal assessment,  then follow up regularly to stay on the health track.

You can expect to feel healthy and vital as you age, and if that’s not the message you’re getting, then it’s time to see someone who practices health, not medicine.

What are your practices for staying healthy? Do you follow a special diet, workout plan or spiritual practice that keeps you well? Share your comments here and let us know what’s been working for you.