Every time the weather changes, I am acutely reminded of the fact that ignored my grandmother’s warnings about climbing chairs. Nearly 10 years ago, I climbed on an office chair in my house to reach a shelf, then found myself on the floor (luckily carpeted) with a broken wrist. The wrist healed but there is residual movement limitation, and, as I said earlier, I always know when the weather is about to change, especially when the winter rolls in.
Heeding my grandmother’s warning would have prevented the fall (probably). But what about preventing illness? Preventing illness seems so much easier and less costly that it seems to be a no-brainer, right? The problem is that there is no real magic bullet when it comes to prevention. Healthier eating habits, maintaining a positive attitude, and regular checkups to make sure your cholesterol is balanced and your blood pressure is normal are all good ideas. But sometimes things like the environment (see my previous post), genetics, and other factors can be detrimental to our health. Which is why a blog post from “Designs for Health Research & Education” on the benefits of potassium on health intrigued me.
“If we had to pick one single, easy fix for the impending 47,000,000,000,000 US dollar global health care crisis it would be INCREASE FOOD SOURCE POTASSIUM. That’s it. We’d shave 20-30% right off the top of that debt. Done. And there would be a trickle-down effect of a healthy diet beyond that immediate savings, too.”
Well, if you are intrigued by this, read the rest of this very interesting and easy to follow article here: Potassium: The Little Element that Could (significantly reduce the cost of the global medical crisis). (The post also links to a 2012 study from the Harvard School of Public Health “The Global Economic Burden of Noncommunicable Diseases” so I’m putting that link here as well.)
So, are you going to change your eating habits and add more potassium? I think I’ll go buy some bananas…