Wellness Versus Illness

Jim made a great about my post from 2 days ago. Yes, medical school teaches doctors to look for, diagnosis and treat illness. It does not look at how to keep a patient in wellness. The focus is definitely disease. This is why many doctors are not helpful when you're looking for answers to keep you well or for promoting wellness. Have you ever had gone to the doctor and all is well and they day "Just keep doing what you're doing." This is not teaching you about how to stay well.

There are always things we can be doing better to maximize our wellness and keep working on staying out of the healthcare system. If you get what you focus on, then focus on wellness. It's not that most people think about disease or illness, but rather they don't think about it one way or the other and have never been taught how to keep themselves well. It does take some work to stay well and the benefits are beyond your wildest dreams.

How to Beat the Economics of Staying Well

Do things that will make you healthy and keep you healthy. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Eat smaller portions of meats, chicken and fish, filling up on good green and bright colored vegetables.

Remember to fit exercise in. You don't have to go to the gym or spa to do this. Walking is free. Walk for 60 minutes a day without stopping. Practice Yoga at home. You can get a DVD to help you begin, or find a program on the TV. Jump rope, any piece of rope will do, you don't have to go buy a special jump rope.

Laugh every day for 10-15 minutes. The earlier in the day you do this, the better, but any time is better than not at all. See my previous posts in April regarding laughter.

Economics of Healthcare

If the cost of seeing your doctor is prohibitive, consider going to a clinic or community center for health care. Usually the costs are prorated because the clinic is subsidized by the government. This will help you if you have a chronic condition that requires follow-up care.

Also consider going less often. Perhaps you don't need to be seen as frequently. Negotiate this with the doctor.

Look for any free tests or screenings. I live in Colorado and we have a public Health Fair every year. There are many free screenings at this event. You can also get blood screenings at a very reasonable cost - much cheaper than going to a doctor's office. If you need help interpreting the results, respond to my blog and I will get you help.

Save on your medications. Ask for the least expensive drug. You don't necessarily have to have the latest drug on the market. Also, know about the programs for $4 or $5 for a 1 month supply of your prescription.

Peventive Healthcare

As I mentioned yesterday, the economic crunch is definitely affecting people's ability to pay for healthcare and prescriptions. One of the things that people feel they can cut out is regular teeth cleaning. Not a good idea, but I understand that dental coverage with insurance is not always available and if it is like the plan I have, it only covers about 30% of one cleaning per year. So here is a tip to help you continue to keep your mouth healthy during these difficult financial times.

If you have a local dental school, go to the dental school clinic. The cost will be much less and you can be sure to not neglect your dental health. Letting your dental health go is going to cost you majorly in the future, so stay up with it.

If there is not a dental school in your area, strike a deal with your current dentist. Let them know your inability to pay. They are usually very willing to work with you, so that you continue to get preventitive care.

#7 Healthy Habit

Managing your weight is the last habit to get into. We all know that if you are over weight you are more likely to develop disease.

The National Institutes of Health have actually shown that waist circumference is a strong predictor of mortality. Men with a waist greater than 44 inches women with a waist greater than 41 inches have a 25% higher mortality rate.

So watch that waist line and what you're eating!

Liver Cleansing

The other major filtering organ is the liver. The liver's sole job is to remove wastes and toxins from the blood. Cleansing the liver should be done to remove the excess wastes and toxins that build up there, but it should be done with supervision. You should have guidance as you go through this process.

There are some things that you can do to help the liver detoxify. First and foremost is eating a diet that is rich with fruits and vegetables - raw is better than cooked. Secondly, you should be aware of the types of fats you're putting into your system. I know I have spoken about this before, but one of the things that really gums up the liver is hydrogenated fats/oils. Get rid of the margarine. Use the olive oil and vegetable spreads that do not contain hydrogenated fats/oils. This means any hydrogenated fats/oils, even the partially hydrogenated ones.

Since I do recommend that you have guidance with this process, contact me via the blog if you are interested in detoxifying your liver.

Benefit #2 of Cleansing

The burden of toxins on the body come out in physical complaints such as stiffness or pain in joints, allergies, headaches, depression, fatigue, and digestive problems to name a few. The more we overload the system with toxins, the more problems that will arise.

Cleansing can help you decrease the load of toxins and make you feel much better in the process. The first time that I did a cleanse, I was having some pretty severe foot and ankle stiffness and pain. After a 2 day cleanse, the stiffness and pain was almost completely gone. I became an instant believer in cleansing. Subsequently I have found other benefits, but this really speaks to this particular benefit.

Most illnesses occur because of toxic overload on the system. These toxins are in the foods that we eat, the air we breathe and the water that we drink and bathe in.

Detoxification

When I talk about detoxification, I am speaking about detoxifying the body but not about detoxifying from alcohol. Although alcohol causes toxicity in the body and we see the end result of drinking alcohol excessively ends with you developing liver disease because the liver becomes so toxic that it can no longer function.

You see a lot out there these days about cleansing and detoxification. And the question you should be asking is, is it safe and do I need to do it. The answer is that it can be safe if done properly and yes you should do it in order to detoxify and cleanse the liver. My first thought when I heard about cleansing was enemas to cleanse the bowel. This is not such a great idea. There are ways to cleanse the liver and other organs involved in detoxification and help you to become healthier.

Over the next few days I'll be talking about the benefits of cleansing and then I will get into how to do it.

The 9 Inch Diet

Here's another diet with some sound information, but nothing you haven't heard and not much in the way of teaching you what foods to eat. This diet basically is to get a smaller plate - a 9 inch in diameter plate. That way you will eat less. Good sound advice here, but hopefully not something that is new to you. A smaller plate can cut the number of calories by up to 1/3.

The other thing in this diet is that it really goes after the root problem which is portion size, or "portion distortion". I would love to see a menu at one of the restaurants that says "can I downsize that for you?" Probably not going to happen, but think about it.

While a smaller plate is helpful in cutting down on portions, you still should look at the foods that you are eating. Are they healthy foods, providing you the nutrients to feed not only your brain but also the rest of your body. And what about exercise??

Your Relationship with You

I just got back from a seminar on relationships. The one take home from every speaker was that all of your relationships are a reflection of your relationship with yourself. Your relationship with you can be healthy and you will be healthy, or your relationship with you can be not so healthy in which case, you will not be so healthy.

Getting in touch with your relationship to yourself is not always something we like to do. Especially since it usually is attached to pain in our past. Did you know that most of your relationships are based on beliefs you were given by your parents and others who were in your life when you were very young. In fact, most of your beliefs are formed in the first 3-4 years of your life. Most of us barely remember those years, and yet they have the biggest influence on your beliefs.

So why this is important to your health is, that for you to continue with some of the beliefs you have, the body must do things to help you manifest those beliefs. In many cases, the body manifests disease. Reread my post from November 14. There is an example there of exactly what I'm talking about here.