Pg. 8 2025-26 Health & Wellness Magazine Lincoln Daily News yourself. Read for yourself. Ask questions. If a doctor won’t answer questions, you may need to find a new doctor, even if the doctor is nice. You may need leading in a new direction. I am grateful for all the medical people who tried to help and who used their tools, but I needed to move on to others with other tools. The Midwest is hard because things start on the coast or in big cities and then trickle down. New and updated information does not get to smaller communities as fast. It happens with a lot of things, not just health care. There is nothing wrong with being traditional, but it only takes us so far. We need to ask what else is there. It does not have to be “odd,” or something may be odd simply because it’s new. Many things have been researched and are continually being researched, but it can take 20 years for that information to become public knowledge. If a doctor trained 20 or 30 years ago, new research is available. It often happens that doctors’ continuing education is by pharmaceutical companies, not about lifestyle and prevention. What else do you want people to know? It’s never too late to start. One step is better than no steps. Health is a journey. There are so many things we can do for our health. Approximately 80% of Americans have some kind of chronic disease which is lifestyle-related, not just genetic. It used to be infectious diseases that hurt us. Lifestyle can trip genetics. If we can change how we are living, then we can change how our genes are expressed. We have control. We don’t have to develop diabetes just because our parents did, but we will if we live in a manner that promotes inflammation and chronic disease. Food, sleep, stress management, movement, mindset (optimistic vs. pessimistic, spiritual vs. not) …These habits get passed down from family, so similar situations get passed down. Your genes are not your destiny but can be triggered by environment. We have control. We can shift our environment. Smoking, vaping, alcohol, and recreational drug use are risk factors for chronic health issues in addition to lifestyle choices. Medications by prescription may tax the liver and so the body cannot detoxify itself effectively. We know all these things are risk factors. When working with a certified health coach, we can make adjustments to help the body help itself. It takes time, education, patience, and willingness. Humans are valuable and worthy of taking care of ourselves that way. You are valuable enough to take care of yourself. It can be confusing with all the voices and with social media. It is hard because the doctor may not have mentioned many of these things. The system is not set up to have the time to talk about these things. We are great at emergency care, but the traditional model of health care is not working anymore. It starts with our children even before pregnancy in the health of both men and women. We cannot go back, but we can start today to improve our health. [Stephanie Hall]
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