The Basics Of Health
Optimal health requires optimal awareness and attention. The basics is one thing composed of many inseparable things. It's not possible to do the minimum (like eating better and/or exercising) and get the maximum (like health). These are good places to start but there are other aspects to us and our health. The only way to achieve health is by giving attention to our four basic inseparable aspects: physical, emotional, mental and spiritual. These aspects are already integrated as parts of our total being. These aspects affect our health because what we are made of and what makes us who we are, affect health. Since we are always affected by anything and everything about us, a comprehensive approach to health is the only approach to health. Full attention to the full self is a non-negotiable requirement to achieve the one and the same - health/fulfillment. The following basic ideas and perspectives will be helpful: 1. Increase nutrition, reduce toxins and get adequate rest. If there is a child in our care, what are we giving them if we're not ensuring they receive these things daily?2. For more specific ideas, review the list of ”Food Nutrition Health Information.”
3. ”Expanded Definitions: Reality, Illusion & Delusion For Everyone.”
4. Are you getting some sun? It is an overlooked nutrient that does multiple things. We are people of the sun. Sunlight is beneficial to all of our four basic aspects.
a) The Importance of Sun Exposure (1)
b) The Benefits of Responsible Sunbathing (2)
c) Benefits of Sunlight (3)
d) Benefits of Sunlight: A Bright Spot for Human Health (4)
By himself, the sun is powerful. Imagine the possibilities when we combine the entire nutrition family? This should be inspiration enough to avoid a reactive passive approach to health (neglecting our complete selves and then hoping someone else can improve our health without us having to do anything to improve in any of the four areas that constitute health). The best advice we need to hear, health “experts” rarely give. What they should tell us are sensible things like, “Stop neglecting yourself.” or “Stop doing what got you into this mess,” or “Do the opposite of what you're doing now” or Take a right turn here and keep going until you get there.” The question doctors and other professionals do love to ask is “What brings you here today?” (Now we're getting somewhere!) What has brought us to this place at this time? We can answer this question without anyone's help. We must perform ongoing assessments of our health. We must avoid the false sense of health security from following and passing the standard list of medical checkups. The physical is only one of the four areas we should be checking on a regular basis. When we must seek assistance, we should choose those who know health means comprehensive. If they practice this belief then nutrition and prevention will be discussed at each visit. Prevention is the best use of our time and other resources, Prevention is that proactive pound of cure we're looking for. Prevention is being proactive and being proactive is a prevent offense. Preventions can sometimes lessen the need for treatments and sometimes have healing effects. The only way to experience life & existence as intended is to have health. The only way to have health is be whole. The only way to be whole is to address the whole. When we do not, we always unwittingly work against our health. We become efficient at being deficient.
Iron Deficiency
According to the World Health Organization, “iron deficiency is the most common and widespread nutritional disorder in the world. It is the only nutrient deficiency which is also significantly prevalent in industrialized countries.” ”The major health consequences include poor pregnancy outcome, impaired physical and cognitive development, increased risk of morbidity in children and reduced work productivity in adults. Anaemia [caused by iron poor blood] contributes to 20% of all maternal deaths.” (5) According to a 2005 Duke University report, “the symptoms of iron deficiency range from anemia, fatigue, weakness, and cognitive deficits to serious heart complications and developmental disorders. Low iron levels can even influence the development of hereditary blood disorders, Parkinson’s disease, and certain cancers. More than 80 genes start to malfunction when people don’t get enough iron. All this comes from the lack of one nutrient. Some of these genes are known to be vital in generating energy, copying the cell’s genetic code, and protecting the cell from free radicals and aging. The effects of others are unknown, meaning iron deprivation may cause even more side effects than currently recognized.” “Iron deprivation actually reprograms the metabolism of the entire cell. Without this nutrient, there is a complete reorganization of how cellular processes occur.” (6) There is an abundance of iron in the natural world in plants. When plants are grown as intended and eaten as intended, we should not be deficient in such a fundamental and widely available nutrient. Viewed another way, many of our health problems are related to our lack of overall attention. This “attention deficient disorder” is something we can fix anytime we choose, choice by choice. These same choices are also essential and beneficial to mitigating and sometimes eliminating the more commonly known ADD.Who Doesn't Know Nutrition Solves A Slew Of Problems?
Despite nutrition being the most fundamental of needs, nutrition is either absent or stated as a secondary consideration by many “experts.” Perhaps those questions on intake forms cover it. Rarely is nutrition discussed as the primary treatment consideration. When was the last time someone whose advice we followed discussed nutrition with us? In reality, it's not their job. They didn't take us to raise. “Experts” are treatment-oriented - sick person in; still sick, but treated patient out and in and out... In addition to the side effects from these prescriptions, there is an overall lingering effect. The lack of extensive care eventually leads to the need for intensive care. Despite this crisis, many of us never receive care because our condition goes undiagnosed. If we took a good look at ourselves, we'd see it. This is why self-diagnostic care is a non-negotiable part of health. It is an individual responsibility to be nutrition-oriented. Who has anything better to do at any given moment? We must study, listen and learn more about our entire self. When we do need to seek assistance, we must research information before, during and after any advice and treatment. We must also become more literate about our physiology, even down to the biochemical level. If we are anything at all, we are a bunch of elements and a bunch of cells. Learning more about these bits and pieces that build the blocks of health will improve our appreciation of what works for us or against us and how. We will hesitate and question before putting or allowing anything in. We will urgently seek what nourishes and, as we grow in awareness, we will remove and reject what doesn't. Improved understanding is achievable if this is the expectation. The natural outcome of this ongoing process is health. Know thyself is more than just an intellectual mandate. It is also about the innerworkings, outerworkings, interconnections and outerconnections of bodies, minds, emotions and spirits. Maturing in this comprehensive point of view will not only improve our decisions, it will simplify them down to two words – nutrition and health. Read Part 7c - Family Planning Developments, Self-Esteem And Abuse & Neglect Context And So Continues The Meaning Of Life & Existence (Part 7c) Notes:(1) enjoying-the-spirit-filled-life.com, The Importance of Sun Exposure, Enjoying The Spirit-Filled Life, Accessed 3/28/13.
(2) Shults, Laura, The Benefits of Responsible Sunbathing, gentleworld.org, Accessed 3/28/13.
(3) NaturalHealthRestored.com, Benefits of Sunlight, Accessed 3/29/13.
(4) Environmental Health Perspectives, Benefits of Sunlight: A Bright Spot for Human Health, National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Center For Biotechnology Information, U. S. National Library of Medicine, National Institute of Health, Accessed 3/29/13.
(5) World Health Organization, Micronutrient deficiencies, Iron deficiency anaemia, Accessed 3/29/13.
(6) Lung Cancer, Cracking the code of the deadliest disease in oncology, DukeMed Magazine (Spring/Summer 2005) Volume 5, Issue 4, Accessed 3/29/13. p. 14.
