Proactive vs Reactive Health

Hey there, this is Dr. Jason Shumard with the Integrative Wellness Center of San Diego, and the author of How To Reverse Your Diabetes. And today I want to discuss a really important topic. And I think it’s something that we all need to be aware of and to look within ourselves to see where we rate on this type of analysis. And that is, do you look at your health proactively? Or are you looking at your health reactively? And the first step we need to understand is, you know, how do we define proactive versus reactive? Because I think many people would say, Well, I’m proactive with my health, I’m conscious about what I do and those sorts of things. But are you conscious about what you’re doing? Or are you just semi-conscious?

So I guess the first thing we would ask ourselves is: how often are you evaluating your health than the first one that wants you’re doing, and What are the metrics that you are going to evaluate your health? Most people would say, well, I feel good, if I feel good, and I’m able to do what I’m supposed to be doing, I must be healthy. Well, that must mean that when you don’t feel good, then that must mean you’re unhealthy. So what if that’s what your judgment is, then how do you know what’s going on in between? The example I would give you is this. Let’s say that somebody had a heart attack today. Now, did the heart attack happen today? Or was it already occurring? Days or months or potentially years before? Many people would say, well, the heart attack happened today?

Well, the reality is, the heart just doesn’t fail for no reason whatsoever, something is going to cause it, something is going on under the surface. And that can typically take years or even decades to develop. The same thing can be said, with disease processes like cancer, diabetes, autoimmune diseases, you know, all these types of diseases that are out there may have specific symptoms associated with them. But are you just waiting for the symptoms to occur? Or are you addressing them before they occur? So let’s go through a couple of things concerning reactive versus proactive. So with reactive, it’s essentially what it says you are waiting for symptoms or disease. So this is the individual and this may be you that essentially live your life every single day, thinking that everything is fine.

Then when a disaster occurs, a heart attack, a stroke, maybe neuropathy, they start having digestive issues, extreme headaches, pains, whatever it might be, this is the individual that is waiting for these symptoms and then does something about that. So you may be doing things right now, maybe you’re a little more conscious about the way you eat. Maybe you’re doing some exercise. But are you truly evaluating yourself regularly to see if the overall health of your functioning properly or not, and that’s a key component there, which is called a function? So symptoms are nothing more than the problem, extreme state, meaning your body can no longer handle what’s ever going on. And it’s now saying, Okay, well, now it’s your turn to handle it, and you’re going to deal with it, and that symptom arises. But symptoms are usually a late stage of a problem.

So you could have an underlying issue going on for months or even years. And then eventually a symptom occurs, and it’s anything in the body. This is not just specific to certain things, it is anything. Osteoarthritis happens over years. People say it’s something as I get older. Well, if that was the case, then how come not every single joint isn’t hurting your body. Because you’re saying that the agent of your joints is going to be different and unique to each specific joint. Of course not. The reason why one hurts over another is that something is going on there and the specific joint is now at a point where your body can no longer handle it. And now you’ve got to deal with the pain. So if we’re only looking at things as reactive, then whatever happens, which is usually going to be unexpected.

It’s nothing more than your fault because you haven’t taken advantage of what’s going on. Most people will say, Oh yeah, I’m taking control of my health. I’m eating appropriately. I’m exercising to keep my weight down. But that’s a starting point. There is much more to that. So we want to look proactive and proactive in taking care of problems for this called symptoms. So taking care of problems before you have symptoms, of course, things like a good diet is helpful. Exercise is helpful, decreasing weights or keeping a good weight. Call it a BMI, whatever you want to call it is important. But there are other things you can look at as well. How are you evaluating your physiology? When was the last time you had a full comprehensive workup? For no reason whatsoever?

I’m not referring to the workups you get at your traditional doctor’s offices, because remember, that is not a full comprehensive workup. Those are usually minimal tests that are being run to see if medication is needed to address problems that are going on here. I’m referring to imagining you’re going to your mechanic and they do a full diagnostic checkup on your car. That’s what I’m referring to looking at every single organ, every single tissue, although all your hormonal function, immunological function, digestive problems, are their infection toxicities, like is there a genetic issue one as the last time you evaluated your body to make sure it is functioning optimally? Like they’re like NASCAR drivers do with their cars. Do they want to make sure the car is functioning at its highest level?

Because there’s nothing different from one car to the next. Except for the cars functioning and the driver. Those are the two different things that are happening on the track. So are you looking at your body, like a NASCAR or a car, and making sure that everything is working appropriately? So, what type of testing? Are you running? What’s the evaluation now? And when you’re evaluating? Are you looking at just things that are high and low on the test? Are you looking at a true function? See, when things are going high and low on a test is called a blood test? Well, that problem is already bad. It’s already back here. And the reactive approach. So this is where symptoms are already usually arising by that time.

So for example, if the person already has elevated cholesterol, well, they’re already now at risk for the cardiovascular problem, they’re already at risk of inflammation, it’s already an occurrence of the body. But what if we were to find on someone’s test elevated liver enzymes not elevated, but a point where they’re not at an optimal level, but the cholesterol was normal? Does that mean the person is fine? No, that means it’s developing. And over time, as the liver becomes sicker and sicker and sicker, a symptom of that liver is going to be elevated cholesterol, just like a sore throat from an infection type of thing. So it’s again, looking at more of a reactive compared to a proactive, and which one do you want to be in.

So again, you may be thinking, you’re proactive with your health, because you’re doing certain things, which is phenomenal, it’s a phenomenal step better than most people are doing, don’t get me wrong. But taking it one step further, to truly evaluate the physiological function of your body you have to look at things much more in-depth, you have to comprehensively test and when was the last time you had a comprehensive test? For many of you, probably never. And you’re thinking, I get blood tests, yearly checkups, and physicals. That’s not what I’m referring to, that is just scratching the surface, that is more of a reactive approach. And the reality is reactive approaches are very comparable to what’s happening in the traditional medical model. Whereas a proactive approach is looking for more of a functional state.

So what I mean is, how is the body functioning? Not is it already sick, but is it losing its ability to be optimally functioning. And so when you look at it from that perspective, you’re going to catch the problems before they ever become a symptom, which, in my opinion, is true, optimal physiological health. So hopefully, this starts to give you some guidance, understanding of like, you know and don’t take it the negative way of thinking that you’re doing something wrong. You’re not if you’re doing some of the things we talked about. If you’re paying attention to your diet, and you’re exercising and keeping in a good way, you’re doing a phenomenal job. But to truly understand the physiology in your body, that has to be looked at a little bit more specifically to your condition. Now, are you looking to become optimal health and reduce your risk for future problems?

Or are you just going to wait to become an issue for yourself and how that time has to be something you ask yourself? Answer for yourself. Now, if you’re looking for more of the first one which wants to find problems before they become an issue, that’s what we specifically do in this office. It’s how we help individuals with type two diabetes, reverse their diabetes, how we help individuals with autoimmune conditions to get their body more stabilized, so they’re reducing or stopping the attacks on the body so they feel better So we help individuals with thyroid conditions, cognitive problems, digestive issues, hormonal problems, we see comprehensive individuals in our office, but we’re looking for their inability to for their body to function appropriately and restore that function, restoring the body to an optimally functioning state that it can heal on its own like we all have the ability to do.