Health is a term which represents the quality and balance of your mind, body & spirit. All the parts which make the whole need to be addressed.
You ask how?, What does it mean?
The Ancient Master of Taoism Lao Tzu teaches:
“The journey of 1,000 miles, begins with one step at a time”
So let us begin with baby steps, on your road to optimal health, naturally through the miracle of lifestyle changes.
Detoxification
Everyone is affected by toxins. It can be from the environment, the foods, the water, and even from toxic relationships.
Begin by cleaning the gastrointestinal system. More than 70% of the immune system receptors are in “the gut”. When the GI system is out of balance it manifests in many of the symptoms and diagnoses that we see daily– diabetes, hypertension, fibromyalgia, arthritis, chronic fatigue, irritable bowels, cancer and many others.
Through the Institute of Functional Medicine we follow the “5 Rs“:
1. Remove — Remove stressors: get rid of things that negatively affect the environment of the GI tract including allergic foods and parasites or other bad bugs such as bacteria or yeast. This might involve using an allergy “elimination diet”.
2. Replace — Replace digestive secretions: add back things like digestive enzymes, hydrochloric acid, and bile acids that are required for proper digestion and that may be compromised by diet, drugs, diseases, aging, or other factors.
3. Reinoculate — Help beneficial bacteria flourish by ingesting probiotic foods or supplements that contain the so-called “good” GI bacteria such as bifidobacteria and lactobacillus species, and by consuming the high soluble fiber foods that good bugs like to eat, called “prebiotics.” Probiotics are beneficial microorganisms found in the gut that are also called “friendly bacteria.” Use of antibiotics kills both good and bad bacteria.
4. Repair — Help the lining of the GI tract repair itself by supplying key nutrients that can often be in short supply in a disease state, such as zinc, antioxidants (e.g. vitamins A, C, and E), fish oil, and the amino acid glutamine.
5. Rebalance — Pay attention to lifestyle choices – sleep, exercise and stress can all affect the GI tract.
Nutrition
Eliminate the most popular allergens: Dairy, wheat, gluten, simple sugars, artificial sweeteners.
Eat more vegetables, fruits and clean animal protein. Organics whenever possible and follow a protocol of proper nutraceuticals.
The Core Balance Diet book brings forth the study of nutrigenomics, which teaches how nutrients and lifestyle choices interact with genes and influence cellular activities.
This is why scientists say: “you are what you eat”.
Now there is increasing evidence that your feelings also release biochemicals that influence. So it’s also accurate to say: “you are what you think and feel”.
Stress Management
- Identify Sources of stress.
Prolonged stress may lead to exhaustion of your adrenal glands, which play a critical role in helping you to deal with stress. Adrenal exhaustion becomes a vicious cycle that includes depression, fatigue, feelings of anxiety, and lowered resistance to illness. It is in your best interest to prevent adrenal exhaustion from occurring by developing healthy stress-management techniques.
- Decide how to change the way that you handle it.
You have a choice to handle your stress, or have the stress handle you.
Exercise
Explore and find forms of exercise that motivate you.
Critical is to begin with stretches. Next, look at different cardio programs like: walking, cycling, swimming might be some to consider.
Follow with toning and strengthening.
Qi Gong, Tai Chi, Yoga, and Pilates are some examples for combining the above.
Spirit Nutrition
Many people focus on feeding the body, while starving the spirit.
Connect with the belief in something greater than yourself, nurture this and you’ll have a better chance of staying healthy longer and healing faster if you become ill.
Use any tools that motivate you. Whether its through meditation, prayer, soft music, or connecting with nature. Feed your spirit.
If we could give every individual the right amount of nourishment and exercise, not too little and not too much, we will have found the safest way to health.” … Hippocrates Circa 400BC
References:
© 2010, The Institute for Functional Medicine.
Health and Spirituality by Judith Orloff MD
