How many times have you taken medication? It is so interesting, the fine print says all the side effects right there, and many overlook the potential risks. Yet, many will trust these products’ immediate relief and benefit at the expense of side effects. How many people do you know who are currently addicted to prescription meds in the name of pain relief, sleep benefits and antidepressants that “help “regulate brain and body function?
We are constantly craving quick fixes to deal with layers of unresolved issues physically, medically, psychologically and spiritually. Quick fixes buy us time, but it’s like a rocking chair. It comforts us in the moment but takes us nowhere in the long run. How many times have we heard smoking is harmful and causes cancer? There is big print and fine print and warning everywhere, and yet we continue to do what is more comforting and what brings immediate relief. Everything we do and choose sends subliminal messages to our brains and presents false messages that appear genuine, reasonable, and correct, but the long-lasting effects are damaging. We ignore messaging for immediate benefits. We keep going in numbed-out cycles and habits that help us survive trapped in behaviour that does not produce health and wholeness. The perpetual cycle of survival keeps us on a mechanical treadmill, but again, we are not living our most whole and best life. We seek curative measures that cost us much money and overlook entirely preventative measures that have more potential to keep us healthy, safe, and secure for more extended periods and give us a better quality of life.
Are the side effects of the lack of prevention causing more significant societal impact? Are cures creating side effects that can be prevented with more holistic approaches to our health? We have such hectic and fast-paced lives that quick fixes, instant remedies, and overnight cures are usually the go-to recommendations, that bring immediate temporary relief but no long-term solutions. We have an easy out. Fast food is on every corner with flashing lights. In these modern times, we run from everything that makes us uncomfortable, has pain attached to it, or requires unusual effort. Convenience is the order of the day. Sometimes we are so desperate we forfeit good reason, discipline, and self-control to indulge in immediate gratification only to pay a price later. How often have you indulged in that chocolate or doughnut before or after dinner? We all crave our favourite guilty pleasures, but that is not what I am talking about here. It trains our bodies, mind, and spirit to reach for the right things. They say if we never tasted junk food, we would never crave it. If you are not inclined to have sugar in high daily doses, you will not crave it. What we feed ourselves with will ultimately want more. We are creatures of habit. Both good and evil. We also want what we don’t have, don’t appreciate what we do have, and are confused by what we want. This instant gratification culture is causing a dysregulation and a disconnect in us, and with all our getting, we remain discontent and in some cases indifferent. Benjamin Franklin: “An ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure”
Thomas A. Edison: The renowned inventor of the light bulb believed in being proactive and said, ‘ The doctor of the future will give no medicine but will instruct his patient in the care of the human frame, in diet and the cause and prevention of disease.”
Albert Einstein highlighted the foresight of preventing issues stating:
“Intellectuals solve problems and geniuses prevent them”
So, where am I going with this? Will medication cause side effects, heal one matter and create other issues? Does money solve some problems and create other problems? Do relationships heal us and hurt us? Do bad things happen to good people? Do good things happen to bad people? Life is simple and complex, but the bottom line is that our choices, the things that happen to us, unfair, unjust circumstances, and setbacks create side effects. On one hand, we are helped and temporarily “healed,” and on the other hand, we are hurting and broken. The side effects of our choices send us spiralling out of control if we are not careful, and we gravitate to band-aid fixes, trying to hold things together that should fall apart, and pulling apart things that belong together. It becomes a crazy mess, and we throw our hands up, overwhelmed, tired, confused. We can blame the doctor for giving us the prescription or the therapist for recommending the wrong treatment. Still, ultimately, we are kings and queens of our castles and choose what we allow in our bodies, minds, and spirit; what we permit will inform us or misinform us. We research, engage our cognitive and spiritual intuition, and decide.
Perhaps we are tired and worn out, and it is easier for others to do the work for us. Here is some curious investigation into the mindset and trends to see where we put our money and value in these various instances.
For example, the weight loss industry is currently worth $33 billion and is projected to grow to $71 billion by 2030. What could doctors, naturopaths, and farmers do with $71 billion?
Food for thought. “If you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” – Wayne Dyer
Sometimes I think about these out of the box ideas to re-envision the world around me.
Redirecting $71 billion from the weight loss supplement market toward comprehensive health initiatives could profoundly impact public health. Here’s how doctors, naturopaths, and policymakers might allocate these funds:
A fascinating, curious investigation of possibility thinking.
1. Preventive Healthcare and Education
• Community Health Programs: Investing in local initiatives that promote healthy lifestyles can reduce the incidence of obesity and related diseases.
• Nutritional Education: Funding educational campaigns to inform the public about balanced diets and the risks of quick-fix weight loss solutions
2. Healthcare System Improvements
• Administrative Efficiency: Streamlining healthcare administration could save significant costs. For instance, simplifying processes in the U.S. healthcare system might save up to $250 billion annually. 
• Healthcare Initiatives: Allocating funds to support global healthcare could lead to substantial savings and improved health outcomes. A collaboration might save over $450 billion annually. 
3. Addressing Social Determinants of Health
• Community Investments: Allocating funds to improve housing, education, and access to healthy foods can address root causes of health disparities.
• Health Equity Programs: Supporting initiatives that reduce health disparities among different populations.
4. Research and Development
• Innovative Treatments: Investing in developing safe and effective weight management solutions.
• Holistic Health Approaches: Funding research into integrative health practices that combine conventional and alternative medicine. Now there is an untapped genius thought. Are medical side effects funding and lining the pockets of only a few elites among us at the expense of the ignorant masses that are using medication as crutches to survive another day?
Healthcare professionals and policymakers can foster a more holistic and practical approach to public health by reallocating resources from the weight loss supplement industry to these areas. Imagine the significant side effects if we took time to deal with the root causes of our mental, social, emotional, physical and spiritual health?
Redirecting Funds, I have some curious thoughts as we continue to see the side effects of a lack of proper stewardship in leadership, community support, and care systems.
For example, Redirecting a portion of Canada’s annual healthcare expenditure—approximately $372 billion in 2024—towards preventive health measures could yield substantial savings and economic benefits. Here’s how such an investment could positively impact Canada: Food for thought.
1. Cost Savings from Preventive Measures
• Chronic Disease Prevention: The Public Health Agency of Canada estimates that chronic diseases cost Canadians $190 billion annually. Investing in preventive measures could significantly reduce these costs. 
• Physical Inactivity: In 1999, approximately $2.1 billion (2.5% of total direct healthcare costs) were attributable to physical inactivity. A 10% reduction in inactivity could save about $150 million annually. 
• Preventable Injuries: In 2018, preventable injuries cost the Canadian economy $29.4 billion, including $20.4 billion in direct healthcare costs. Reducing these injuries through preventive measures could lead to significant savings. (these stats are freely available online)
2. Economic Impact of Preventive Care
• Return on Investment: Increased spending on preventive and social care can improve health and well-being at a lower cost, providing excellent value for taxpayers.
• Cost-Effectiveness: Many public health interventions are cost-effective, offering more health benefits per dollar spent compared to clinical treatments. Sometimes, prevention might be “cost-saving,” avoiding more expensive treatments later.
3. Healthcare System Sustainability
• Reduced Healthcare Utilization: Preventive care can reduce unnecessary emergency department visits and hospitalizations, leading to cost savings. For instance, a quality improvement initiative at North York General Hospital resulted in a 41% decline in the number of laboratory tests ordered in the Emergency Department, with annual departmental savings of approximately $215,000 while maintaining the same quality of care.
By reallocating some healthcare funds toward preventive health initiatives, Canada could achieve a healthier population, reduced healthcare costs, and a more sustainable healthcare system.
Mindsets move us in one direction or another, or do not move us at all. Mindsets are sometimes concrete, and they become strongholds, where outside of how you were raised, trained, indoctrinated, and traditionally persuaded, you subconsciously conform to a system, a way, a default, mechanical way to exist. Survival is instinctual but thriving is intuitive. We become bogged down with the overwhelm we created because we did not pause long enough beforehand to gain insight so that we can have foresight. We do what is easy and prescribed, not necessarily what works. We rarely have time for a walk out in nature, let alone evaluate that all our choices, good and bad, will create side effects, the question is what side effects are you willing to live with? And what quality of life will you have? What would we choose, if we knew our choices create potentially harmful side effects? It is a sobering thought. Your mindset affects both your body and spirit. Choices that are externally driven will have superficial impact but choices that are internally driven based on core values and beliefs will inevitably have more lasting, fruitful impact.
The state of the world did not just happen, the state of our world is the side effects or the choices, decisions and conclusions we have come to, good or bad.
“The state of the world is nothing more than a reflection of the collective state of our minds.” – Eckhart Tolle An interesting observation.
We will stop growing if we stop learning, and our openness to doing things differently and trying new ways of breaking through old issues and problems will serve us well. We all must be reminded, encouraged, and perhaps coached into new ways of looking at things to grow beyond where we were last stuck. We can take time to evaluate our progress, take stock, crunch the numbers and project a different outcome or we can deal with the vicious cycle of side effects. We were not designed to deal with side effects continually, we are designed for more creative, innovative ways to advance the quality of life and create waves that uplift yourself and the world around you. You can and you will and you must try. And so will I.
This is also true: “What we do today, right now, will have an accumulated effect on all our tomorrows.” Alexandra Stoddard.