2008 July 18 | Healthy Living

Better Diet and Lifestyle May Aid the Economy

Here is another wake up call to all you couch potatoes out there! The headline above is mine and the article I read that leads me to that conclusion does not mention the idea, but reading of the report published by The Trust for America’s Health, leads to that inescapable conclusion. We have all heard that improving the diet and lifestyle of people will lead to reduced health care costs, but now there is a well researched dollar figure put the idea. According to the report:

“an investment of $10 per person per year in proven community-based programs to increase physical activity, improve nutrition, and prevent smoking and other tobacco use could save the country more than $16 billion annually within five years. This is a return of $5.60 for every $1″.

The report restates the well known problem that health care costs are a huge drain on the U.S. economy, but claims that this problem is “overlooked”. I don’t know about that conclusion. Is it possible that there is a living, breathing soul in the modernized world that does not know that improving their diet and lifestyle will have positive personal and economic results? Maybe, but I hardly think you can sweepingly call the problem overlooked. Maybe the report’s authors mean overlooked by our elected officials and policy makers. Now that I might agree with.

Fortunately the report offers many new ideas and recommendations that, if implemented, may really lead to significant cost savings and overall improvement in health. The bottom line of the report is that before the bottom line of our health care costs can be improved, our diet and lifestyle habits need to be fixed. This is the crux of the well publicized recommendations we have been reading and hearing for years. It is also still the major stumbling block. We all know we should improve our diet and lifestyle, but it is not the easiest thing to do. This report offers some new ideas and suggestions. Let’s hope we can all take them to heart.