​We can all agree that healthcare is expensive. What we can’t agree on is how to solve the problem. Yet, there is something you can do to be part of the solution—and that is—your self-care. Here are the five things you can do to improve your health and contribute to the American culture of health evolution, and reduce yours and our health care costs.
 

1. Eat more fruits and vegetables
2. Eat less processed foods
3. Go for daily exercise
4. Surround yourself with supportive and upbeat people
5. Get your screenings and know your numbers

 

1. Clinical evidence suggests that a diet rich in plant foods prevents disease and helps you maintain a healthy weight. People who follow a Mediterranean style diet or who are vegetarians (i.e., more plant foods (fruits and veggies, whole grains, nuts beans, some poultry and fish (unless you are a vegetarian), olive oil, friends/family, regular exercise and red wine is optional in moderation) have less incidence of cancer, cardiovascular disease, death by cardiovascular disease, Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disease.
2. Processed foods are exactly that. Loaded with chemicals in the worst case, and not in its original form—as the best case. Our American diet MUST shift. If you are driving through drive throughs or eating prepackaged anything, decide and commit to a shift. Grab an apple before you leave the house, and pack hummus and carrots, or rethink your snack. How about mango salsa instead of prepackaged foods? If you are consuming preservatives and additives—you are increasing your risk of disease (PERIOD).
3. Exercise is magical. Go for a walk if it has been a while since you have exercised. In a National Runners’ Health Study, that included over 33,000 runners and 15, 000 walkers, showed that walking had the same benefits as running. Both were less likely to be diagnosed with diabetes, reduce d the risk of heart disease, reduced blood pressure and cholesterol levels.1 Add in a positive mood boost, reduced blood pressure, less depression., less stress and better sleep and what’s not to like?! The guidelines for Americans are to get at least 150 minutes of moderate aerobic activity each week and strength train twice a week. It doesn’t matter what you do. But choose something you enjoy and can stick with. That is the first criteria. Just do it. You are going to feel so amazing!
4. Nothing like feeling rejuvenated by hanging out with joyful people. Who wants to be around negative people? Not me! How about people that blame others for problems? Not me! How about those that smile when you look at them and that offer friendly and uplifting conversations and support? Count me in! It makes me feel good.
5. If there is anything you can do for yourself – that is to know your numbers and go for your preventive screenings. Know your body and know yourself and take care of it. With the recent increased incidence of colorectal cancer in the younger population, at the very least you should be going for your screening at the recommended age of 50. Ladies— get your mammograms and men—get those prostates checked. Have regular labs (at least once a year) for your cholesterol panel and HgA1C and have your BP checked. You can change your numbers if they are not where you want them to be. That is the beauty of knowing. You can change.

 
Health care is expensive. But the true expense is not feeling as good as you can feel and our self-imposed health decay. My wish for all of us is to be healthier and to prioritize our health (as in first). When you feel strong you act strong. And that health and strength mixed with love and kindness for yourself and others, is the recipe for well-being. This includes good health, modeled behavior for your children, positive mood, purpose, life satisfaction, and the icing on the cake (because you can have your favorites sometimes) is your health care cost savings.
 

1. Williams, Paul T and Thompson, Paul D., Arteriosclerosis, Thrombosis and Vascular Biology. Walking versus Running for Hypertension, Cholesterol, and Diabetes Mellitus Risk Reduction. April 4, 2013. http://atvb.ahajournals.org/content/early/2013/04/04/ATVBAHA.112.300878 Retrieved Oct. 5, 2017.

​Kathryn Scoblick is a certified health and wellness coach with Health Inspires (www.healthinspires.com) and the author of Health Inspires™: Your Way to Sustainable Weight Loss. She uses a holistic approach to inspire each person to reach their full potential and master their wellbeing. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Austin Metropolitan YMCA as well as on the Board of Directors for the Austin Mayor’s Health and Fitness Council, working on community and organizational health and wellness initiatives, from obesity prevention to mindfulness and stress reduction techniques. Kathryn is also Director of Employer Health and Wellness for a large healthcare conglomerate based in Austin, Texas, working with employers on wellness strategies and employee engagement. 
 
 
©Kathryn Scoblick
www.healthinspires.com
 

"Consider the last time you lost weight. Once the number on the scale started to decline, you felt good and were motivated by your achievement; then those feelings inspired more weight loss. When you feel strong, you act strong. That is how humans are wired. 
 
In the world of psychology, this power of belief is called “self-efficacy.” Albert Bandura coined Self-efficacy Theory in a 1977 Psychological Review article, “Self Efficacy: Toward a Unifying Theory of Behavior Change.” Bandura developed his theory within the framework of Social Cognitive Theory, originally a clinical treatment for anxiety. What clinicians found, however, is that Bandura’s theory applied to just about anything requiring psychosocial functioning, including health and exercise behavior.   
 
Self-efficacy, as Bandura explained, means that “people’s beliefs in their capabilities produce desired effects by their own actions.”12 These beliefs are about what individuals think and know they can do, regardless of their skills. 
 
To apply self-efficacy theory in your weight loss context, your ability to lose weight and keep it off may be limited only by your thought processes and your view of yourself. 
 
Your beliefs have been reinforced by past performance, experiences, verbal persuasion and physiological states, which all fuel your emotions and the meanings and associations that drive those emotions. Believing in yourself gives you the power to take action in the direction of your desires and to overcome the things that are holding you back. 
 
Decide
If you want to accomplish something, then you must first expect it of yourself.
 
Essentially, it is all in your head. The stories you replay over and over again make them real, whether they are or not. We want to be right. We distort our truth with generalizations, we label ourselves and take an all or nothing approach.13 We fabricate some really good stories that we tell ourselves and believe, and this is called rationalization.  
 
Instead, believe that you can have good health, be your ideal and happy weight, and feel and look amazing. If you are reading this book, then you most likely have struggled with your weight in the past. You are reading this book because you want to lose weight and keep it off. You want to match the picture you have of yourself in your mind. You want to learn to enjoy healthy foods, stop your unhealthy food cravings and enjoy your life.
 
You can. You can start now. 
 
Presuming that one of your obstacles is that you are waiting for the perfect time to “start a diet,” then I say the perfect time is now. “Starting a diet” is not what you think it is, and it certainly is not what it has been in your past. This is not a “diet.” This is making healthy choices in all things, and treating yourself with the great respect that you deserve. This is wellbeing." p.8-9 
 
©Health Inspires™: Your Way to Sustainable Weight Loss
Kathryn Scoblick
available on Amazon http://amzn.to/2x9ZqUW
www.healthinspires.com
 
Kathryn Scoblick is a certified health and wellness coach with Health Inspires, LLC  (www.healthinspires.com) and the author of Health Inspires™: Your Way to Sustainable Weight Loss (Health Inspires, June 2017). She uses a holistic approach to inspire each person to reach their full potential and master their wellbeing. She serves on the Board of Directors for the Austin Mayor’s Health and Fitness Council, working on community and organizational health and wellness initiatives, from obesity prevention to mindfulness and stress reduction techniques. Kathryn is VP of Business Development for AblePay Health-helping people with their put of pocket medical expenses, and previously served as Director of Employer Health and Wellness for a large healthcare conglomerate, working with employers on wellness strategies and employee engagement. She is a health education expert on Sharecare (owned in part by Oprah Winfrey and Dr. Oz), and has co-created nutrition education tools for Baylor College of Medicine.