Courtland Milloy: For Some of Us, Health-Care Reform Begins at Home

During a recent visit to my cardiologist, I was asked, "Do you eat red meat?" An occasional burger, I lied. But a high cholesterol count had already tipped my hand. The doctor prescribed medication and recommended that I switch from burgers to broiled chicken and fish.

I protested. Cholesterol medication can cause impotence, among other ailments, according to those TV ads. To which the doctor replied that high cholesterol causes strokes and heart attacks and that, just in case I hadn't noticed, dead men don't have sex.

So it's off to the pharmacy instead of the rib shack.

When President Obama talks about health-care reform before a joint session of Congress on Wednesday night, I hope he succeeds in making the case for those 46 million Americans who are uninsured. But I'd also like for him to talk about the importance of making healthy life choices. I could sure use the encouragement.

"You drink sodas?" the cardiologist asked.

"Maybe with a hot dog," I said.

"You're a grown man, and you're still doing that?" she asked.

But everybody else does it, right? According to the National Hot Dog and Sausage Council, Americans ate more than a billion wieners during the summer. I swear I did not eat them all.

"I exercise," I told the doctor.

She was not impressed. "Haven't you read about people who play tennis and run marathons and drop dead because their arteries were clogged?" She went on to say the food industry did not care about my health and warned, "Any processed food that you see advertised, stay away from it."

The recommended food plan was not inspiring: oatmeal without sweeteners but with soy milk and cinnamon; four to six glasses of water a day to flush out some of the fat; scrambled tofu. ("It's better than it sounds. Just try it," she said.) Also allowed: egg white omelets with hummus and a choice of veggie soy patties or sardines.

I'm supposed to avoid salt and carbohydrates. No white rice, pasta or potatoes. And no daily bread, just daily vegetables, steamed, sautéed, grilled and raw.