By HERBERT VEGO
“AN ounce of prevention,” even doctors admit, “is worth a pound of cure.”
The quotation is especially applicable to indigent Filipinos who can’t even buy government health insurance. The Philippine Health Insurance Corp., better known as PhilHealth, has doubled the price of its monthly premium – from P100 to P200 per month. Ouch!
Worse, even if one has been on PhilHealth for many months without availing himself of hospitalization or any other medical benefits and pays his next payment belatedly or beyond the “grace period,” he loses his privilege and starts all over again. This misfortune often befalls self-paying members.
While it is true that the poor may avail themselves of free coverage with a little help from the mayor, the congressman or the governor, it has made them vassals of traditional politicians.
But it does not mean that those who can afford the price are freed of both financial burden and political patronage. PhilHealth shoulders only partial payment of the covered patient’s medicine, hospital room rate and doctor’s fees.
Therefore, there’s no substitute for staying healthy and keeping the doctor away.
The World Health Organization (WHO) recently declassified a study postulating that 90 percnt of diseases around the world come from toxins. In other words, if we succeed in warding these toxins off, we succeed in preserving our health.
The human body, the study shows, is susceptible to diseases that develop from our day-to-day encounter with food, water, air, stress and drugs. These are the five factors that produce toxins and free radicals. Briefly, let us see why:
Food. When laced with preservatives, additives, pesticides and insecticides, any kind of food weakens and ultimately causes fatal diseases.
Water does more harm than good in the presence of too much chlorine and incidental mix-up with animal or human waste.
Air bombarded with pollution from garbage, factory smokestack and vehicle exhausts brings respiratory diseases.
Stress weakens body resistance to infections. It comes from insufficient sleep, fatigue and unhealthy lifestyle.
Drugs, especially synthetic ones, have side effects that could cure a disease but aggravates another.
No matter how we try, it’s impossible to totally get rid of poisonous substances that damage cells, tissues, organs and the whole system. And so we have to brace ourselves.
Our body accumulates toxins everyday. Hence, detoxification or inner body cleansing is as important as taking a bath or brushing teeth.
Our alimentary canal, starting from the gullet to the stomach, small intestines, colon and rectum is about six times our height. Our colon, made up of many creases called villi, is about 1.6 meters long. This is where most solid toxic waste accumulates.
Most illnesses originate from our colon. Toxins usually develop from an unbalanced mix of foods (probably too much meat or “grease”) that we eat. The waste that accumulates is much more than what passes out, causing colon constriction and diminishes the nutrient absorption capabilities of the digestive tract. It is acidic and toxic, leading to illness./PN
