The Walk to Prevent Walking is based on the simple premise that Preventative holistic healthcare, not the walkathon, is the best response to chronic disease in our culture.
On Sunday, September 14th in Tompkins Square Park join us for a day of meditation, healthy food, music, and dancing. Join us as we show the way to help prevent disease in America. Join us as we do what all good doctors say is the best way to promote good health: join us as we rest, relax, exercise and eat well. Join us on this “walk” to prevent the need for more walkathons.
According to the Center for American Progress, in its 2006 Report: "The U.S. is plagued by preventable diseases that have a devastating impact on health and contribute to the nation’s soaring health care costs. Proven preventive services remain largely unused, and the promotion of healthy communities and lifestyles is undervalued… About 70 percent of deaths and costs in the U.S. are attributable to chronic diseases like cardiovascular disease, diabetes and cancer – diseases that can be prevented…"
But what is the cultural response we have to these chronic diseases? Rather than take the necessary steps to actually prevent them, we continue creating walkathons around them. But, walkathons to benefit chronic diseases completely miss the point.1 They do not help to prevent the disease. In fact, they institutionalize the very disease they claim to want to prevent. They form around the chronic disease a corporate organization complete with board of directors, paid staff, and income statement.
We are fast becoming a walkathon culture. The word 'walkathon' even has its own dictionary entry. But that means we are also tacitly accepting the necessary reality of chronic disease.
We believe there is a better way. Chronic diseases do not have to be an inevitable part of our culture. We don’t accept that. Nor do we accept that the best response we can collectively generate to these diseases is the walkathon. The best response is to actually help prevent the disease from occurring in the first place. We can do that with preventative health care education as well as services like nutritional counseling, colon cleansing, meditation, yoga, and exercise.
We can help prevent disease. Join us for just one day to celebrate our good health. Join us as we actually do something pro-active to prevent dis-ease.
1 We philosophically disagree with walkathons for preventable, chronic diseases, not walkathons for diseases that have no known prevention or cure.
