At some point last week, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. released a video of himself and some friends hiking in the woods somewhere. The point was to pitch getting outside, getting some sun and the vitamin D that comes with it, breathing fresh air, and talking with friends. He said being outside improves thinking, too. New ideas come to you, and you are inspired to express yourself in new ways.
At first, the video seemed rather pointless. Sure, we know all this. What’s new?
And yet, as I thought about it, it occurred to me that I don’t do enough of this.
I have this friend I like to meet just to talk about things going on in public life. We usually go to a Mexican or Asian restaurant and eat tacos or a big bowl of soup. I usually drink a beer. Then the bill comes in and is much higher than I anticipated. This happens every time.
In light of Kennedy’s little suggestion, we decided to mix it up a bit. About a mile from where I live, there is a reservoir with a two-mile walking trail. There is a bridge and pretty scenery and beautiful trees and so on. It’s easy to get to. Going there and taking that trail allows for talking and walking and drinking up the sun, plus getting air and sweating a bit, which is great.
There we have it: Instead of chowing down and drinking beer, we now have the perfect solution. Friendship, conversation, and health, minus the food and drink we don’t need. Skip a meal, save the money, get some healthy sun, and see life in a new way.
Think of it: This is a fabulous alternative to the usual routine, one we all follow all the time but which has added to the waistline and subtracted from the bank account. The fix is right in front of our eyes. It’s the outdoors. It’s our own bodies. All it takes is a decision to disrupt the usual lazy ways and feel good about getting a bit of exercise.
Kennedy has undertaken many reforms in his tenure. He has inveighed against chemical dyes in food. He has warned against over-medicalization and insisted on better testing of pharmaceutical products. He has opened up data resources and urged us to pay greater attention to issues such as proper dieting.
All of this is wonderful. But somehow I suspect that the biggest difference he will make is not even in the realm of policy. It is going to come from the inspiration he provides to everyone to take charge of their own health and to do so the old-fashioned way. Just us, our bodies, exercise, and nature. This is the right way.
For generations, we’ve been acculturated to believe that health comes from potions, pills, subscriptions, and expensive access to experts. In fact, the means to real health might be just outside your front door.
There are simple changes that everyone can make in the way we live our lives. These require no legislation or policy changes or commissions. They just require that we change our ways and simply stop doing things that are unhealthy and start doing things that are healthy.
This may not require some gigantic shift in our habits. It could just require small changes on the margin, something undertaken perhaps weekly and eventually daily. It might not mean some dramatic decision, a new trainer and gym membership, waking up at 5 a.m., or a new diet.
As great as that sounds, such resolutions are usually not lasting. They are adopted in a fit of unsustainable enthusiasm. Trying to do it all at once can lead to demoralization.
A friend of mine had a lifetime weight problem that was getting worse as he got older. He reported that he had tried everything. He would go to weeks-long fat camps. He would hire trainers. He tried drugs. Finally, I told him what made the biggest difference in my life. I made the decision to do 10 push-ups when I first rolled out of bed.
He tried that and, to his shock, he could not do it. He did three and gave up. But then the game started. A week later, he was able to do four. Then five. Then 10. Feeling the pride that comes with improvement, he started making other changes. He would skip the nightly cocktails. Then the desserts went away. Then he cut back on the pasta and started walking in the early evening.
Next thing you know, he was on the path to health. He joined a gym, he read books on health and diet, and his entire life turned around. Now he is svelte and happy and healthy with many great years ahead of him. He did this with a small start: one doable and sustainable change in a daily habit. That’s what began his wonderful journey.
A major part of President Donald Trump’s agenda is to make America healthy again. In a strict sense, government cannot do that. New dietary recommendations can help. Cleaning up the childhood vaccine schedule is essential. Having higher standards for chemicals released through our food and air is important, too. So is changing standards for school lunches and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
But there is a genuine temptation here to look to government for changes that must actually come from within. We must take charge of our own health. We can be better shoppers at the grocery store. If the bad products lose market share, enterprise will respond. If we insist on organic products and non-genetically modified organisms, companies will make more of them and less frankenfood.
Plus, the biggest changes we can all make come down to better decision-making and do not necessarily include diet. Just getting out and about might be what makes the biggest difference. It’s true that it means getting away from the laptop and leaving the streaming and gaming services in favor of trees, grass, and flowers. But that, too, is healthy.
Maybe consider leaving your cellphone at home! Imagine that! Try it once and you might discover a new sense of freedom. We all underestimate how much phone addiction has wrecked our lives and created the conditions for the surveillance state to thrive. Sticking it in a drawer and going on a walk might be the key to getting your life back.
As we think about 2020 and the years following, the health advice we received was to stay alone, keep away from friends and family, hunker down in our dark homes, and have groceries delivered. This was all insane and led to a dramatic collapse of Americans’ well-being, including new levels of substance addiction and suffering.
This entire era turned out to be traumatic for everyone. It will not be easy to reverse the damage but if there is hope of doing this, it must begin in our own lives.
We are headed toward fall, when we should all be spending time outdoors and building up a vitamin D surplus to get us through the winter months when we will be necessarily stuck indoors. Now is the time to prepare. Get as much sun as we can. Get healthy in mind and spirit. Regain the pride that comes from taking charge of your own life.
I’m inspired by the example that Kennedy gives us daily. This and not policy changes might end up being his grandest legacy. We have a head of the Health and Human Services Department who actually cares about health and human services! Imagine that!
This is the right path forward and the only real way to make America healthy again.
