Are you sabotaging your own health?

In this podcast, Dr. Rodney and Karen discuss the status of the United States of America's health as a nation and where it lands in the list of healthiest nations.

You will love this story of their switch to healthy eating and the pursuit of longevity that has resulted in increased health-span vs life-span.

Our goal is to help you gain clarity, confidence and control over the aspects of your health that you can control so you can increase your health span in order to do what only you can do.

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Transcript

[00:07] Dr. Rodney: Welcome to Stance for Health podcast with Dr. Rodney and Karen Wirth, where becoming healthy is not complicated. Control your health by focusing on six areas of life that we teach you so you finally have the energy you want, have to do what you want instead of being a victim of your age. I have over 20 years experience working as a chiropractor and Karen is an author, speaker, and longevity coach. We've seen how a tiny change in your habits today can open up your life to a powerful future. Start today and take your stance for health.

[00:48] Karen: Welcome to Stance for Health. We're so excited to talk about a subject that's very close and dear to our hearts. You will be able to see the passion with which we are approaching the fact of. Are you self-sabotaging your own health?

[01:09] Dr. Rodney: It's a great place to start because asking the question presupposes that the people around us that are dying early have a misconception about what it is. Right. Which is what. Which is really what bringing us here and what drives us.

[01:24] Karen: Yes, we are looking at longevity and the reasons why this is such a passion for us. And I think it comes down to the fact that many people are already making an assumption or many assumptions about their health and their longevity. So let's back up a little bit from when we first started our journey with Stance Chiropractic. As we studied where we rank with other nations in health, it was startling.

[01:59] Dr. Rodney: Even then, because wouldn't you, if you're listening to this right now, in 2020. Well, we're recording this in October of 2024, and it was probably July or October somewhere in that time frame of 2018. We were at 22. We were in the 20s. We weren't even in the top 20 back then.

[02:25] Karen: And the research that we had found before that, we were alarmed that we were at Number 17. Every year, we seem to be dropping, as in the. On the list of the healthiest countries in the world.

[02:41] Dr. Rodney: And yet at the same time, no one comes close to spending more on what we consider the answer to this big question, healthcare. No one spends more than the United States.

[02:54] Karen: Per capita.

[02:55] Dr. Rodney: Per capita.

[02:56] Karen: Okay, you're telling me that we're not even in the top 20 of the healthiest countries in the world?

[03:05] Dr. Rodney: Right. And I think, you know. Yeah. And you know the answer to where we fall. As of 2024, according to Bloomberg, we.

[03:13] Karen: Are now not at 17, not at 24. Ready for it. Drumroll. We are at 35, not even in...

[03:24] Dr. Rodney: ...the top 30 healthiest nations in the world. So what's the disconnect between spending lots of money on what we, what we in the United States call healthcare and all the other nations that are healthier than we are? What do they know that we don't in the top 20 or top 10? We used to think we knew in that when we were in the top 20. We don't. We definitely don't know that now that we're less than the top 30.

[03:52] Karen: Wow, this is really alarming because I'm talking about me, I'm talking about my kids, I'm talking about my grandkids, that if we're slipping despite spending more than anyone else, that it's time to make some changes about what you feel you can control with your healthcare because it's not happening without your participation. Here's a thought for you. Considering those alarming statistics, would you be willing to consider that it is up to you to make some changes because the current system is not going to make them? Would you be willing to consider that you have a part in determining your own health?

[04:45] Dr. Rodney: So then the number one attitude or belief or question that we think we know the answer to. What if we ask that question again another way?

[04:58] Karen: Okay.

[05:00] Dr. Rodney: Let's assume that you have no control over whether or not you're healthy, within reason. In other words, we hear all the things that people around us are saying that make us healthy. And there's so many things to listen to.

[05:17] Karen: I'm going into this health journey, this life, thinking as I get older, there's really nothing I can do about it. And why is that?

[05:30] Dr. Rodney: Because as we get older, I believe that if we survive past the life expectancy in this country, that somehow you were lucky. Right. It was my genetics that got me there. I didn't die. And if I didn't die of a heart attack or I didn't die because grandpa did. Right. Didn't I have some unnatural cause?

[05:56] Karen: Oh, like a car accident or crashing in a plane.

[06:00] Dr. Rodney: Right. Then it must be the cards that I was dealt. I'm playing the hand pretty well, if you want to use a card analogy.

[06:10] Karen: I like that. In other words, what we hear from many people is that there's nothing I can do because my genetics, or I'm. I'm lucky. So if I might be able to live a long time. If I'm lucky.

[06:28] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. So luck.

[06:30] Karen: Yeah, Luck.

[06:31] Dr. Rodney: It's. And that to me almost sounds like a roulette wheel or.

[06:35] Karen: It does.

[06:35] Dr. Rodney: Or Russian roulette.

[06:37] Karen: Yeah. With. With the gun.

[06:39] Dr. Rodney: Right. And, wow, what if I thought that. But I don't want to.

[06:46] Karen: Oh, now you're getting to a place of hope.

[06:49] Dr. Rodney: Just turned 60 in July and there are a lot of people out there that are listening to this that, hey, maybe you're 40, maybe you're 30, maybe you're older than me, maybe you're in your late 60s, maybe you're in their 70s or even your 80s. And your thought is, well, that's all well and good, but all this information out there, what do I believe?

[07:14] Karen: In other words, what I think I hear you saying is, is it in my control to live longer? Can I make changes that will impact my longevity?

[07:29] Dr. Rodney: Sure.

[07:30] Karen: There's something I can start right now. One of the things that I've observed as we've launched Stance for Health is that people are limiting their own health by what they say. Let me give you an example. How are you doing today? Oh, not too bad for fill in the blank for the age. Well, I'm getting up there. Or, you know, we've talked about this before, being over the hill. All of these things that we view towards aging, could those be self sabotaging?

[08:03] Dr. Rodney: Your own health Gave an example on a reel that we were talking about this episode and I gave an example of a woman that had come to the office for low back pain, which is really common when you think about it, neck pain, shoulder pain, in other words, an alarm that's going off that makes us want to talk about this subject more. And that leads to the thought, hey, maybe, maybe I should get to the cause and not just. And as a chiropractor, of course I treat the body that I want to respond, I want it to respond properly. And so this, this woman, I asked her, assuming that she wanted to live as old as it says to live in the Bible, that we think 120, that we think, we think we know that that's the answer. And yet some people interpret it as between 70 and you know, if you're really lucky, you're 80, 90. So we assume that there are people in the, in the world living to more than 100 now. And I, so I'm, I'm already on that plane heading in that direction to a hundred or more. And I'm assuming the wrong thing when I ask her the question, so when you live to be 100, what's your life going to look like? How healthy are you going to be? And she got really sad. And I think that's endemic and telling of why we're, we're slipping in this country is that parents don't want to outlive their kids to start with. And kids, young, younger folks, the younger generation is. Were maybe. Is it possible that they're thinking even less, that they're in control of their health?

[09:56] Karen: Right. They're saying, when you say, how do you want to be? And I say, I want to live to 120. Oh, no. You should have seen my grandma at 80. I don't want to. If that's what life is, I don't want to live like that. So they don't see the examples of the vibrancy like we've talked about before, the blue zones. And I think that's our passion is to ignite in you or give you a spark of hope that you can.

[10:27] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, yeah. And so we see the statistics of. No, hardly anybody minds the idea of their. The first 20% of their life. Everybody, you know, oh, that's pretty good. Everybody's got a. Even if you were, you know, delta and you had a rough start, you got going, once you get going, you're relatively healthy. That first 20%, okay, that was pretty good. Middle 20%, not too bad. Three quarters. 20%. Ah. Now you're, you know, you're starting to look at maybe some meds and some interventions, things like that. Right.

[11:02] Karen: But that you don't attribute to something you could do, but just. Well, that's inevitable.

[11:07] Dr. Rodney: But how steep is the slide in the last 20% here in this country?

[11:14] Karen: Pretty, pretty steep. And that's where, for example, with Alzheimer's, the percentage of the cost for maintaining that.

[11:23] Dr. Rodney: So right now, we build a system around that last 20%, as though that's going to be inevitable. The most expensive part of living. And so. So we plan on spending a huge amount of money on our health care when we get older. For really, if you're, if we're, if we're being honest, we're really not talking about health care. We're talking about sick care.

[11:48] Karen: Yes. And decline and slow death.

[11:53] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[11:55] Karen: Because it's agonizing for the family and for everyone. So what can I do differently? I'm listening to this podcast. You've got me stirred up.

[12:03] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[12:04] Karen: Dr. Rodney.

[12:05] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[12:06] Karen: I'm on board with you. You're preaching to the choir.

[12:10] Dr. Rodney: Kind of had me at hello. Sort of thing.

[12:12] Karen: Yes.

[12:12] Dr. Rodney: You know, using a Jerry Maguire.

[12:14] Karen: Yeah.

[12:15] Dr. Rodney: Terminology.

[12:15] Karen: That's just our age, too.

[12:17] Dr. Rodney: So that was last century. That was so last century.

[12:23] Karen: So I'm talking about. What are we going to talk about in this next series of podcasts? Just slightly not going into any depth of things that I can start to do right now.

[12:36] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. Have you ever gotten into a groove or you're. Maybe you're listening to this and you used to be a runner. Maybe you're listening to this and you used to play outside for hours and hours. Something that. Where you get into it and you barely realize that time has even gone by. Is it possible for you to consider that your health going out of your way at first could get to that way after you've gone out of your way?

[13:07] Karen: I've got an example.

[13:08] Dr. Rodney: Right.

[13:09] Karen: So we all remember the shutdown, and it came at the exact time that we changed our eating pattern. And I was cooking everything at home and I thought I didn't like to cook. And I love to cook. I love now to explore recipes because I thought in order to love cooking, I needed to be gourmet and follow these fancy recipes. Not so now it's okay. I have this set of ingredients that are on our yes list. And I am so challenged and loving finding different creative ways to do it. So it is possible because, see this poor health has become so normal that we don't see another way out.

[13:59] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, yeah. So what we're asking you to consider is what thrill and exhilaration of health that's in at the next level.

[14:09] Karen: And would you be willing to take small steps, not complicated ones, but take small steps through the holidays to not go back into the old patterns of thinking that have kept you in your eating, your intake, in your movement, your output, your sleep, your posture, and even the sense of believing my body can heal itself.

[14:36] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. So we're on that. Speaking of healing yourself, and without going into a ton of detail, because really what we're talking about is asking you to consider your attitudes and beliefs that are holding you back today. An attitude and belief I used to have.

[14:52] Karen: Yeah.

[14:53] Dr. Rodney: 11 days from now, as of the recording of this, you already know what the date is a celebration of trick or treat, in essence.

[15:05] Karen: Right. The beginning of the sugar rush.

[15:10] Dr. Rodney: Right. All the way through until, let's say, Valentine's Day. Valentine's Day or even Easter.

[15:18] Karen: Oh, yeah, Easter. So half the year you just go eat whatever you want because everybody's doing it. So here's what we want you to consider. Change, small changes and abounding health.

[15:35] Dr. Rodney: Yeah, yeah, I. I like the subject. I love all the statistics, but I love the results. And if you're here listening to us today and you want a different outcome, you want a different result, I know you've heard the term of some of our forefathers that have mentioned it. And even foremothers that somewhere in this you'll realize that the thinking that got us here is not going to be the thinking that it takes to get us out of here. So we do really want to empower you and equip you.

[16:17] Karen: Changing your attitude is going to make all the difference.

[16:21] Dr. Rodney: And so one of our tenants or.

[16:24] Karen: Our why we get up in the morning.

[16:27] Dr. Rodney: Yeah.

[16:27] Karen: Why do we. Why do we do this? Why are we so passionate about bugging people about their health?

[16:33] Dr. Rodney: Yeah. And it's. And we don't. We. We strive for beyond excellence. We really want to help those live a long, healthy life. But you know, if you're listening to this today, maybe you've already started and you stopped and now you want to start again. So we want to help you start again and gain clarity this time.

[16:55] Karen: Yes. And confidence that this will make a.

[16:58] Dr. Rodney: Difference even if you've already tried 50 times before.

[17:04] Karen: This time is different.

[17:07] Dr. Rodney: Confidence and control over preventable diseases in order to increase your health span and get what you want so that you can do the listener what only you can do.

[17:20] Karen: Thank you for joining us on this podcast. We are excited you're on board and look forward to helping you take your stance for health.

[17:29] Dr. Rodney: Thank you for joining us at Stance for Health podcast, where getting healthy and staying that way are not as complicated as you might think. Subscribe now and discover steps and small changes that can increase your energy and open the door to vibrant health and longevity. If this podcast has been helpful, please write a review. We'll see you next time.