Your answer to this question can increase or decrease the quality and length of your life, so consider carefully: Who is responsible for your health?

Your instinctive response may be that you are, with the help of a few experts. But put even a little thought behind it and you realize it‘s a loaded question. Because it depends on what is meant by "responsible." Does that mean who is to blame or praise for your current state of health? Does that mean who should be watching out for your health? And for that matter, what is meant by "health" itself?

By answering that last inquiry first, you understand why the question of who is responsible for your health is so important. Because being healthy, in its ultimate sense, means having the ability to focus on all the other things that matter in life without being dragged down by, worrying about, or having life stopped too soon due to, an ill state. In more direct terms, if you are battling the flu or cancer, if you are struggling to lose or gain weight, that requires energy that therefore cannot be devoted to all the other worthwhile pursuits this life affords.

Perpetual and perfect health is, of course, unattainable. We are human. Genetics happen, accidents happen, grief for loss happens, and eventually for every one of us, death happens. But just because we don‘t have complete control doesn‘t mean we have no say in the matter. Health involves a whole person, and a whole person is the body, mind and -- most believe -- spirit, and we have an immense say in what we do to nurture our bodies, minds and spirits. We can and do have a tremendous effect on our health. Yes, "We‘re all going to die anyway," as the excuse for doing something that is probably really stupid goes, but barring acts of God and madmen, we can have a profound influence on whether we die anyway at the age of 32, 52, 72 or 102.

Which brings us right back to the beginning. Because who exactly is "we"? Who -- besides God or whatever you term the power beyond our power -- is responsible for your health?

A Matter of Trust

Everyone is responsible for your health. But only you are. Let me explain.

Whatever your current state of health is, and whatever it will be, absolutely depends on others: people you know, people you will never know, people living on the other side of the world, people long dead. That is, of course, because everything you do and everything you need affects your health, and everything you do and need involves other people.

You breathe. The air sucked into your lungs has been affected by generations of strangers. You sleep. Your rest requires the civility of your neighbors. You drive. Your stress points are tested by the volume and courtesy of those driving when you are. You eat. You rely on others who have picked, handled, examined, considered, and even first created or discovered the food to assure that, at the least, it won‘t poison you on the spot.

It‘s easy to become somber about humanity with the media‘s (and therefore our own?) obsession with only bad news. But when you step back and realize how much we rely on one another for our own health and well-being, and how well this actually works -- our quality and length of life have increased dramatically throughout our history, and the chances that anyone reading this article today will be gone tomorrow or even next month are incredibly small -- it affords a brighter view of humanity. That is, the most important news is not that malicious people exist, but that despite the heavy coverage they receive, they are a very small minority.

Your health will improve if you strive to remain aware of the good news like that above -- the positives in the world, and your life. You can read uplifting books, take long walks, play with children, dance with your spouse, pray, meditate, chat with an elder, go jogging, quilt, build a model railroad, shoot some hoops, unicycle, or play the cello, but you should do whatever it is that refreshes your spirit, that revitalizes your perception, and do it often. Others may contribute to your efforts on this front, but only you can decide to do it.

Which brings us halfway to an answer.

While it is crucial to focus on the positives, and that is your job, the positives should never be an excuse to ignore what needs fixing. Not growing complacent is your job, too.

And so it‘s also necessary to remember this: while everyone does in one way or another contribute to your health, some are considerably more responsible for doing so than others. The more responsible they are, the more you need to be aware of what they‘re doing and why, because the more it affects your duration and happiness on this planet.

If you had to make a list right now of those others most affecting your health, then, who would be in, say, the top ten? And how much could you say you really know about these top ten?

That is, who are you really most trusting with your life, and have you done your homework on them? It‘s a tough question, because we all like to believe we‘re in control, but who are you trusting blindly?

Do Your Homework

It‘s comforting to know that most people in this world mean no harm to others, and in general they may even wish us well. On the other hand, it‘s also true that as the circle expands outward from your family, friends, co-workers and neighbors, the less people have your particular health and well-being -- versus other goals -- in mind. And the cool reality is that the majority of those to whom you most trust your health are well outside the center of your circle. Often, therefore, they‘re well outside the center of your awareness.

How often, for example, do you think about the agriculture industry? How much do you know about it? Unless you‘re in agribusiness, chances are it rarely warrants a passing consideration much less a heated discussion over the water cooler. And yet agribusiness‘ impact on quality and length of life should put it at or near number one on everyone‘s top-ten list of those others responsible for our health.

You eat multiple times a day, every day. Despite the conventional notion that healthcare means doctors, pills, and hospitals, your health -- your energy levels, ability to fight and prevent disease, and how long you live -- depends far more on that which goes into your body so frequently: food. Food is the primary method of healthcare, and agriculture is still, as it has been for 10,000 years, the source of our food.

So what do you know about those administering your healthcare in the form of food? Put another way, why do you eat what you do? Perhaps you‘ll answer it‘s because you make the choice to do so. Okay then, what has influenced your choosing, and for that matter, who has decided what your choices will be?

Consider corn. It is by a wide margin the United States‘ largest crop, consuming a quarter of all our farmland. And in one form or another -- corn syrup, cornstarch, corn oil, corn meal, corn gluten, animal feed, etc. -- it is part of a majority of the foods, from cereals to sodas to dairy to meat, that you‘ll find on a typical supermarket‘s shelves. Is this because corn is so good for us, or even because we all just adore the taste and demand a bit o‘ corn in and on absolutely everything that enters our mouths?

No.

The corn industry, like the agribusiness industry as a whole, is centered on revenue and profit, not your health. And the ten billion bushels of corn produced per year that bring in $20 billion are very cost-efficient and profit-producing, thank you.

The bottom line is that the corn kings -- the executives and their politicians at the head of operations -- do not plan their efforts around your health or the nation‘s. They produce mass quantities of corn because it is highly efficient and they push it up to the food manufacturers. The food manufacturers purchase these mass quantities of corn and utilize it in nearly every food because it is very cheap compared to other raw resources, and they in turn push these foods to the supermarkets and, through suppliers, to restaurants. The supermarkets and restaurants, through the aid of a little thing called marketing, then push it out to you, the consumer. And so you, lucky consumer, have thousands of corn-laced products to "choose" from. And most of us, standing before that magnificently colorful wall of sixty-nine different breakfast cereals, are duped into believing we‘re actually making a choice.

But there are ten thousand acres, and likely years of your life, between an uninformed and an intelligent choice. The relative health value of corn in its raw state is, depending on the expert asked, mediocre to low. In its processed state -- by far the predominant state the public consumes it in -- there is an even more uniform consensus among experts: it‘s crap. But except for sweet corn (a miniscule percentage of all corn consumed), most people grabbing a burger and fries, an all-American breakfast of bacon, eggs, and pancakes, or virtually any common meal, are not thinking, "I shall now choose to eat lots of corn." They certainly don‘t ponder why they are eating it.

Most consumers are, to be blunt, very good cattle, consuming whatever is dumped before them, both literally and figuratively. But this blind trust, which embeds itself so deeply that it becomes convention -- part of our habits, our assumptions, our perception of what is "normal" -- can be deadly. Because, while it would be ideal if those others who are among the most responsible for our health and well-being therefore had our health and well-being as their central goal, they almost never do.

Whether it‘s agribusiness, food manufacturers, chain restaurants, drug makers, the health insurance industry, or any of the others most responsible for your health, they do not plan their business around increasing your health, happiness and longevity. They plan their business around making money, and then more money, because that‘s why businesses are in business. This even (and especially) goes for the federal government that, despite being founded on a principle of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness" for its people, does not begin and end all discussions with what‘s best for the health of its citizens, as perhaps it should.

Sometimes the end result, the products or services provided by these others, are indeed good for you in addition to being good for them. But often -- judging from our overweight and chronic disease epidemics and other factors, far too often -- their goals are antithetical to our own, or what should be our own.

It‘s not that these institutions are all evil. Some may border on that label, as Dr. Mercola has effectively pointed out in this newsletter may be the case with the pharmaceutical industry whose goals have mutated into downright greed, but most are neither good nor bad. They are simply ... in business. We live in a free market society, and they have a right to exist within that framework. But because we live in a free market society, and a democracy to boot, you have every right to question them. To find out all you can about how they are contributing to your health, or lack of it, and to choose other options if you don‘t like what you find. You have every right not to trust them, and because you are placing part of your life in their hands but they are motivated by goals other than your life, you shouldn‘t trust them.

Instead, do your homework.

Others may be responsible for your health in the sense that they contribute to its success or demise, but your instincts are right: you are the one human responsible for your health in the sense of personally caring about it and controlling its fate. If you really care to optimize your weight, fight and prevent disease, have more energy, and live longer, this means far more than getting physician check-ups or reading nutrition labels. It means examining all the habits and perceptions that may be negatively affecting your health but that you take for granted, and then tracing these habits and perceptions back to their sources. It means delving into the motivations of those sources, and as necessary, abandoning their plan for you in favor of your own.

Moving in the Right Direction

Whether you are trying to optimize your weight, prevent disease, increase your energy or simply live longer, it is essential to understand and consider all sides of the healthcare story -- not just what the pharmaceutical companies or food manufacturers tell you is right.

That‘s why Dr. Mercola‘s free e-newsletter and website is and for years has been such an essential resource for people -- it presents important issues on a wide variety of health topics that you‘ll never find in the mainstream media and tells the unbiased truth about our corrupted health care system and how you can take charge of your own health.

That‘s also why, if taking charge of your own health makes sense to you, you should seriously consider reading "Dr. Mercola‘s Total Health Program," which I co-authored. This book is very exciting because we made it an all-inclusive tool for total health transformation based on Dr. Mercola’s highly successful program at the Optimal Wellness Center here in Schaumburg, IL.

Unlike so many dietary and health books out there, you will find "Dr. Mercola’s Total Health Program" simple, fast, and easy-to-follow. By the final chapter of Part One, you will have a complete understanding of the program that took Dr. Mercola over two decades to develop, and more important, you will be underway to implementing the program into your life with the straightforward, commonsense plan the book provides.

The same goes for the recipes in Part Two. Nancy Lee Bentley, the nutrition and holistic health expert and professional chef who led the creation of these recipes working extensively with Dr. Mercola and Dr. Pearsall here at The Optimal Wellness Center, has created a wide variety of recipes, from main dishes and soups to snacks and desserts, that are highly nutritious (and grain-free, and in most cases excellent for diabetics) but also extremely delicious. In reality, it‘s not often you find recipes that achieve both, but these definitely do... you‘ll see.

Which is all to say, I hope you‘ll consider reading "Dr. Mercola‘s Total Health Program," as it really is a complete manual for doing what only you can do: take charge of your health. And if you are not yet subscribed to Dr. Mercola‘s free e-newsletter, I hope you‘ll consider that as well, as it‘s an excellent way to keep abreast of the research and knowledge in the health field and to educate yourself on how to achieve optimal health.