We can all keep moaning about how bad the NHS has become, how overstretched they are, and how outrageous it is that they have proposed to cut doctors salaries most recently to help try keep it afloat, but none of this moaning will solve its problems. So instead, I propose we start looking at how we the people can help save the NHS and begin to reduce the burden by tackling the £13 billion the NHS spends every year on treating illnesses caused by a nutritional deficiency. Something we have a large amount of control over and don’t need to step foot in a doctors office to get sorted. All you need is to buy healthy food (and drinks) most of the time, and a kitchen.
Be Responsible For Your Own Nutritional Deficiencies
Whilst some people won’t be able to completely help their own nutritional deficiencies in full, i.e. an undiagnosed person with celiac disease is more prone to having iron and calcium deficiencies due to absorption problems in the gut, and taking certain medications will stop you absorbing nutrients properly, this doesn’t stop there being a large amount of people out there that could become part of the united front when it comes to proactively saving the NHS. And this front starts with taking better care of themselves and replenishing the nutrients our bodies crave by eating and drinking better day in, and day out.
This £13 billion spenditure figure came from a report by the nutrition charity BAPEN, who reported in 2007 that the public expenditure on disease-related malnutrition in the UK was then in excess of an estimated £13 billion. Today this figure could well be much higher. This all means there is a lot we the people can do to start taking responsibility for reducing the burden we place collectively on the NHS. As there is not one single group of people we can blame. And doctors do not emphasise enough just how much you can go on to help yourself prevent many life-threating illnesses by just eating good quality food, and creating luxury levels of nutrients to help keep your body strong.
You only have to look at all the research that has been uncovered in recent years about how ill you can become if you are deficient in Vitamin D3, to understand the major role vitamins and minerals play in keeping us healthy. And no drug that is ever prescribed can override this. The body simply needs what it needs, and if it doesn’t get it – it will become ill. Fact. Plus, I have never heard of a drug deficiency related illness, but have heard all too often of nutrient deficient illnesses stopping a person living the life they deserve – a healthy, happy and long one. And I don’t want this to be you!
Over Fed But Under Nourished
I find it shocking to be honest that we have so many people that are undernourished, given the vast amount of food on offer to us in the West, the UK specifically, especially since many people in Africa are sat starving. Perhaps it would change our perspectives of what to eat if all we had on offer was the crops we grew with our bear hands, and the animals we reared. Maybe then we would appreciate all the healthy food available to us that many are clearly side-lining for nutrient lacking processed meals and snacks. And maybe then would we start waking up to the fact that all this sugary, salty and trans fat laden convenience food is highly addictive and is the biggest price we pay for trying to keep up with fast paced lives.
It is clear that we are in fact suffering from being over-fed and under nourished, and this new report by BAPEN stands as testament to that. And it is time to change our mentality from ‘not having enough time to cook healthy meals’, to ‘I do have the time to cook healthy foods if I don’t watch TV tonight’ (catch up is a great thing!).
As worryingly many of us are too concerned with who is dating who in soapy land, than to allow ourselves an extra 30 minutes every night to be used to prepare a healthy home cooked meal. Have little ones to watch? No problem. Rope them in too. They will also be more inclined to eat healthier food if they helped make the dish.
Study Proves Nutritional Supplementation Slashes Health Care Costs
One very important review also recently found hard evidence from 19 studies to support the argument for supplementing patients to help reduce the amount of people that need to be hospitalised, and therefore this approach if rolled out, would save the NHS part of the £13 billion too.
The review, published in The Journal of Clinical Nutrition, found that overall from the reviewed studies, looking at it from a ‘mostly based on retrospective cost analyses angle’, this has indicated that that oral nutritional supplements (ONS) used in the community, ‘produce an overall cost advantage or near neutral balance, often in association with clinically relevant outcomes, suggesting cost effectiveness’.
Focus Inwards And Ignite Change
So instead of looking outwards all the time, and pointing fingers on who is to blame for the NHS failings, I suggest we look inwards and take some responsibility for the things we can do to actively reduce the burden. Starting with making eating to nourish a top priority. Instead of, as many people I have worked with as a natural nutritionist tend to do, unknowingly eating to harm their bodies and ending up with a multitude of ills that at some point may have landed them in hospital, if they didn’t change their unhealthy ways and in some cases already has before visiting me.
As I do not want to see the NHS crumble. Sure, there are still many things I think it could do better, but that is for a separate discussion. But right now, I know we can save the NHS a lot of money (not just pocket change either), by taking the report from BAPEN seriously. And we can do this by all of the people in the UK coming together and starting to take responsibility for reducing their own personal nutritional deficiencies that cost the NHS £13 billion annually when long standing deficiencies turn into a serious illness, by eating well the majority of the time, and taking any appropriate vitamins.
If you are not sure where to get started with healthy eating and supplements, I strongly recommend you visit your local health store, as they have many qualified nutritionists in store always willing to help. A bonus here is that you can get in the same day, unlike many doctors surgeries! So, make use of your local health store and go tap into their free expert knowledge!
