Saturday, May 30, 2009

Chocolate Biscotti Rx Heals... the Painful Health Insurance Earthquake



It's Saturday. It's a day for fun, rest, and relaxation... But today, May 30, 2009, it is not an amusing day for me. I am hardly alone. I was welcomed with a big health insurance package in my mailbox. As I opened the all too familiar cold and sterile envelope (being a health author-intuitive I sensed a price hike would greet me) I read the formal letter again and again. Yes, I was hit like a major earthquake hits our state without mercy. Monthly premiums are raised. It's true. And I am feeling blue.

I don't get it. We are in a deep recession. NorCal, my Golden State, is hurting--like an illness, a flu epidemic. People are struggling. Businesses are closing. Locals are still getting laid off from their jobs. Our state parks are being closed. Construction projects are on hold. And yet, health insurance prices, for people like me--healthy "Tier 1" boomers--who live life like healthy nuns--are paying the big price big-time. So, what to do?

Chocolate. It's a Chocolate Rx day. I am too upset to bake a homemade batch of chocolate biscotti. But I do have some in the freezer (made with healthy extra virgin olive oil discussed in my book The Healing Powers of Olive Oil) and crunchy walnuts. And yes, fresh, low-fat organic milk will also soothe my soul and pocketbook wounds, too. And I will munch on a few of these chocolate stress-busters tonight as I snuggle up with my three male fur kids and get a double dose of chilling out while fantasizing about moving to Canada like in the film Sicko--where all is good. (Or a tropical place where cocoa trees grow may suffice.)

Will this mini chocolatefest make me feel better as I try and absorb the sobering fact that I'll be paying more each month for health insurance that I haven't put to the test? (Maybe it's the chocolate fixes, olive oil, nuts, and milk that help keep me healthy--mind, body, and spirit.) As Scarlett said in Gone with the Wind: "I'll think about that tomorrow." I will swim and savor the bubbly hot tub and ambiance of towering pine trees, clean air, and snow-capped mountain tops of Lake Tahoe. I will survive. Thank God for the healing powers of chocolate.
P.S. Self-reliance paired with a prestige truffle a day may be the real insurance to health, happiness, and longevity.

3 comments:

  1. Chocolate bars and free healthcare for everyone. Works for me.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Where are chocolate trees? Inquiring minds want to know.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Africa, Asia, South America, etc.
    http://www.cocoatree.org/thecocoatree/growingcocoa.asp

    ReplyDelete