As a culture, we are drowning in calories of mostly very dubious quality, and drowning in an excess of labor-saving technology. I have compared obesity to drowning before, but want to dive more deeply today into the implications for fixing what ails us.

The world is ever smaller. Flu strains incubating in China can be in New York or LA or DC in the span of a day. This is a world in which an incurable bacterial disease, spread by a tiny insect native to Asia, decimates the citrus crop in Florida.

Though the concepts of how to stay healthy haven't changed much, there are a few universal truths that bubble to the top of the list: Eat an organic, mostly plant-based diet. Cook from scratch if you can, and remember that food is information for our bodies.

Starting in the 1990s, governments started taking tobacco prevention seriously. They removed vending machines, taxed cigarettes, banned smoking in bars and prevented marketing anywhere kids might see it. I think in the next 10 years you'll see the same thing with soda.

Getting to health doesn't need to be all that complicated. And it also doesn't need to be about "should." Don't pursue health because it's an obligation, or because someone says you should. Pursue health because health is a currency you can spend on living better.

For too long, our system has been set up to focus on "sick care," instead of helping us all stay healthier in the first place. This needs to change and, thankfully, it has begun to.

Last month, the Presidential Commission for the Study of Bioethical Issues released a thoughtful report recommending against studying the anthrax vaccine in children. I might have agreed, had I not spent a year co-chairing an IOM report on protecting the public from a deadly anthrax attack.

Efforts to improve the health of the general population are typically addressed to diseases and behaviors that increase the risk of identifiable preventable disease and disability. In sharp contrast, medical care is a service delivered to a patient.