Why is Mississippi always last in national health statistics despite millions of dollars spent on healthcare in the state?
Getty Israel, a Jackson State University alum who holds a master’s degree in Public Health, seeks to answer this with a new book titled When Poor Was Healthy: How a Healthy Lifestyle Can Prevent and Reverse Chronic Diseases (PathwaytoWellness, LLC, 2015).
“If you believe that Mississippians are unhealthy purely because of poverty; you are wrong,” she says. “Excluding the era of slavery, Mississippi has been a perpetually poor state, but its residents have not always experienced such extremely high rates of obesity-induced chronic diseases.”
Israel acknowledges the role of poverty, but she moves beyond it to examine modifiable risk factors that are the leading cause of chronic conditions and racial health disparities in Mississippi and across the nation.
In doing so, she offers a sound argument that most chronic diseases are the result of modern unhealthy lifestyles, e.g. tobacco and obesity, but not necessarily poverty. Once risk factors are reduced or eliminated, she says, the individual can restore personal health without medications and invasive therapies.
She contends that individuals of all socioeconomic levels can make modest behavioral changes to improve their health and guides the reader through the process.
The book includes examples of a diverse group of Mississippians who have prevented and reversed chronic diseases, such as type 2 diabetes and heart disease, by merely adopting healthy behaviors, e.g. diet, tobacco cessation, and physical activity. It provides the reader with significant health information and a wellness plan that can be adopted to reduce the risk of developing chronic diseases.
“The most powerful therapy on the face of the Earth is not drug medications, dietary supplements or invasive medical procedures; rather, it is a healthy lifestyle,” Israel says.
For more information, see: www.gettyisrael.com or contact Linda Davis at pathway2wellness@yahoo.com.