A previous post included the video “Hidden Triggers and Surprising Solutions for Irritable Bowel Syndrome.” In the video, Women’s Gut Health Coach Susan Slowes  shared the promise of managing IBS naturally through food and eating adjustments.

While very helpful, Susan’s ideas raised the practical problem of 1) getting a wholesome meal on the table to begin with so that 2) it can be eaten in a relaxed, health-supporting manner! As much as we might like to experiment with Susan’s natural approach, we can’t help but wonder how to make it happen in our crazy busy lives.

This dilemma begs a fundamental question: “Do we see health-supportive meal making and eating as such worthwhile uses of our time that they rank higher on our priority lists than the many other exciting options modern life offers?”

In addition to the thoughts in the video, there’s one more factor I failed to mention in the post on The Downside of Natural Remedies, i.e., The Cost-Benefit Ratio. Do we calculate it fully and accurately–or even at all–in answering the worthiness question?

There’s no problem tallying the costs of making health-giving meals, i.e., all the time and energy spent grocery shopping, vegetable chopping, mixing and stirring and so on. But in our medically-oriented culture, it’s easy to overlook or ignore the costs of illness, i.e., all the time and energy spent on:

• going to the doctor and making phone calls,
• waiting in pharmacy lines,
• taking medications,
• dealing with side effects,
• getting X-rays and other tests,
• undergoing surgery,
• hospital stays,
• feeling awful and low-energy, and of course,
• being in pain and discomfort

Together, all these “costs” add up to a lot of lost time for work, keeping up around the house, spending time with family and friends and doing “the many other exciting options modern life offers.”

It’s understandable that these costs get overlooked. When dealing with an illness, the focus is entirely on just getting well. Afterwards, the focus is on forgetting about it, catching up on life and getting back to normal.

But to give natural remedies a fair shot, they deserve an accurate comparative cost assessment, which means taking an honest look at the time and energy required for conventional remedies. And that honest cost assessment might well reveal that spending 30 to 60 minutes to make a tasty meals each day isn’t a bad investment, especially because it’s a lot more fun, tasty and less expensive than the medical route!

ICYMI: WATCH THE VIDEO HERE