Overindulgence is expensive.
Alcohol costs the NHS at least £3.5 billion per year
Indulgent food costs the NHS at least £6 billion per year
Smoking costs the NHS at least £2.6 billion per year
As a society, if we continue to drink, eat and smoke our way to ill health we will break the NHS. Overindulgence is the main factor that is driving up the cost of health care not just in the UK but across the globe.
If, as a society, we continue to overindulge in ever increasing quantities then it will be the end of medical care as we know it – we won’t be able to afford a health service. Healthcare will become the preserve of the rich. It will be the end of doctors.
But it doesn’t have to be this way, another path is open to us.
We could push overindulgence out of our lives, and with it we could push out many of the things that land us in the healthcare system. The depressing news is that the vast majority of cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer is caused by drinking, smoking and eating a poor diet. Yet on the bright side, the vast majority of those conditions can be prevented or reversed by stopping drinking, smoking and eating junk food.
If, as a society, we were able to remove drinking, smoking and poor diet from our lifestyle we would be removing the majority of the demands people make on the healthcare system. We would be removing the risk factors that kill the majority of people.
We could usher in a new dawn of health and vitality. A new society where everyone could live to their full potential, where people could take full advantage of their retirement because they were in fantastic health. We could drastically reduce our dependence on the healthcare system.
We could put an end to doctors.