You DO have some control! The Forgotten Path to Health

#BeavertonHealth&Happiness

Heart disease, cancer, and diabetes rates continue to increase. Obesity and chronic illnesses are at all-time highs.

What are we to do?

If you are looking for a simple 5-step answer to reversing all your health issues, this is not the article for you. However, if you are willing to spend some time making real changes in your lifestyle, you will reap the rewards for a lifetime!

To begin a discussion on health we must first define health. According to the World Health Organization:

“Health is complete physical, mental and social well-being and not just the absence of disease or infirmity [pain.]”

I like to simplify this to:

“The body’s ability to FUNCTION and REPAIR to the best of its God-given healing ability.”

It is important to know that it is the brain’s job to control the function and repair of every organ, tissue, and cell in the body. Having a properly functioning spine and nervous system allows one to experience better repair of the body. Chiropractors have been dealing with this aspect of health for 128 years.

Many patients come into my office focused on getting the pain to stop. That makes perfect sense because pain can consume almost 100% of our attention. Pain though is often the alarm, not the problem. Heart disease, cancer, and even diabetes have no specific symptoms, especially during the early stages of onset. Thus, waiting for a symptom before you start making lifestyle changes could be too late.

Okay, let’s cut to the chase! The path to health begins with the food in your kitchen, travels through the thoughts in your head, and continues down the road to the gym, all while being careful to avoid toxicity in your environment. Add this to a healthy spine and nervous system and you are well onto your way to better health.

Your body was designed to eat food. Understand that there is not ‘junk food’ and ‘health food.’ It is either junk or food! The more processed the items you eat, the less it is food. Ideally it is best to eat organic fruits and veggies, clean meats (meaning no hormones, antibiotics, or pesticides), and healthy sources of fat.

Positive and negative thoughts have a major impact on your health. Consider this, if you spent 5 minutes per day (or longer) focusing on how sick, tired, and rundown you are – doesn’t it make sense that your health will suffer. Yet so many people spend much of their day stuck in a rut. The opposite then would be to focus on the blessings and the good in your life. This is not meant to be a ‘just think it and get it’ idea, nor is it intended to be a ‘get over it’ type of comment. If this is an area you struggle with, it would be a great idea to talk with a professional.

We all know that we need to exercise. It doesn’t necessarily need to be at the gym, but we need to move – daily. Go for a walk, ride a bike, participate in an exercise class on YouTube. You can even join a gym. Whatever you enjoy doing – begin and keep on keeping on.

An often-overlooked area affecting health are toxins in our environment. Not just the pollutants in the air and chemicals used on fields and yards, but inside as well. How often do you change your furnace filter? What type of cleaning products do you use in your home? Are you using personal care products with lots of chemicals and unhealthy additives? Are you eating conventionally raised meat and/or non-organic produce? All of these toxins add up over time.

Whew, that is a lot to process in such a short time! The best way to be successful is to take small steps. Pick one or two things you can add, or do differently. After a couple weeks, assess your progress. Modify what needs to be modified, and add another step or two.