When I talk to Europeans about our respective health care systems, we always reach the same conclusion. If a person has a traumatic, life-threatening illness, s(he) wants to be treated in America — assuming access to insurance or personal financial resources.

If we’re talking the general level of healthy wellbeing of a people and the treatment of non-catastophic illness — the kind the majority of people experience —  you’re better off in Europe. Well-documented studies reinforce these conclusions.

Dr. Frank Lipman, founder and director of the Eleven Eleven Wellness Center in New York lays out the issues, from his point of view in a Huff Po piece: True Health Care Reform - 10 Missing Pieces.

Dr. Lipman then outlines 10 lifestyle steps to a solution.

Yes, the recommendations tend to be lifestyle driven. But aren’t most of America’s health problems driven by lifestyle decisions around diet and exercise?

Just yesterday, researchers printed a mind-jolting piece of health research about brains shrinking in overweight and obese Americans.

The parts of the brain shrinking are those systems governing rational thinking faculties, balance and other wellness must-haves for an effective daily existence. Indeed, fast food can make us stupid!

Before trivializing steps to launch a national wellness campaign focused on eating healthy fruits and veggies — because it won’t keep anyone alive who’s already full of lung cancer from smoking — health care reformers must acknowledge that America is headed in a ruinous direction, driven by lifestyle decisions and poor eating habits.