If you’re old enough, the words cola wars surely ring a bell. For those that don’t know what that is, Coke and Pepsi battled it out to be the number-one cola. From what I understand, 7-Up never stood a chance to even be in the fight. Instead of being at the bottom of that pack, 7-Up did something extraordinary. Instead of trying to climb the “cola” ladder, knowing it could never be at the top, it created a different ladder… the “un-cola” ladder.
Instead of trying to be something it wasn’t, creating a new category of soft drink allowed it to position itself as the best un-cola. Brilliant!
The modern medical field is very, very good. At making people well, creating health, and preventing illness? No. They are very good at emergency procedures, diagnosing conditions, and prescribing drugs and surgeries. They are the best at this, at the top of the ladder.
Because we have been led to believe that sickness is normal, conditions are common, and treating symptoms is the goal, lots and lots of other health specialties work hard to climb that ladder. They all want a piece of sick-care.
As a chiropractor, I see many of my colleagues eager to move up that ladder. They want to be the leaders in healthcare, the primary place people go for doctoring, and the ones providing care. That ladder, though, is based on a system of diagnosing conditions and alleviating symptoms. If you have pain, let’s reduce the pain… if you have high blood pressure, take a pill to bring it down… if you feel depressed, take medication to alter your body chemistry. This approach is the norm. It is accepted as proper medical care. And treating conditions and alleviating symptoms is the primary goal.
There is one big problem with this ladder. While it does work to alter symptoms and manage conditions, it has not led to the optimal health, vitality, and prevention we so desperately need. No matter how high a healthcare specialty climbs on that ladder, the end result is more tests, more treatment, more drugs, and more surgery.
I don’t climb on that ladder. I practice on a different ladder. Our goal is simple… help the body function better. I don’t try to diagnose and treat conditions. I work to give the body what it needs and remove what is toxic to it, and let it do what it was designed to do.
The human body heals, adapts, and grows. It has an innate intelligence within it that is working all day, every day, to be well. I don’t try to outsmart the body; I work with it. I don’t look at illness or disease as something to treat, I see it as the body’s way of telling us that something is wrong.
7-Up didn’t try to eliminate the cola ladder, as many people enjoy Coke and Pepsi. The great thing is that there is room for more ladders. I don’t proclaim that we don’t need the medical ladder, as it is very necessary. I just don’t compete with it. If you have a broken bone, need stitches, or have a bad infection, that ladder is the ladder to use. But just know that there is another ladder. And you don’t have to choose just one.
I believe that the wellness ladder is the one most people are needing the most right now. More drugs, more surgery, more hospitals, and more doctoring has led us to a very bad place in terms of chronic illness. The diagnosis and treatment approach is good for managing conditions, but the wellness approach is best for maximizing health, boosting performance, and preventing disease.
If you love that medical ladder, are comfortable with taking more pills and never really correcting your conditions, stay on it. But if you want something safer, truly health-centered, and something that works with your body’s inborn wisdom, make sure you explore the wellness ladder. This ladder provides sufficiency where there is deficiency, purity where there is toxicity, has only positive side-effects, and helps you become the best version of yourself possible.
Imagine climbing fast and hard up a ladder, only to find it was placed against the wrong wall. Don’t expect the medical ladder to get you the health you need and want. The wellness ladder is a different ladder, and wellness is the un-cola of healthcare.
