Hello again,
This phrase is one I came up with while talking to my husband, and I quite like it:
Are we victims of our diseases/illnesses, or are we masters of our health?
When you think all the health challenges we've had with the pandemic, the ongoing challenges of obesity/overweight, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and more, along with the over-stretched NHS, it makes sense that, as much as possible, we could benefit enormously from taking our health into our own hands.
This isn't to say that we never need doctors, hospitals and the like, but I think there is a lot we can all do to improve our general wellbeing and reduce our chances of needing medical help.
There are no guarantees, obviously, but so many aspects of health are negatively impacted by the way we live - what we eat, how much/little we sleep, our movement, how much stress we are under, and the environment we live in.
My main area of interest is food, and it has become blindingly obvious to me that, as with many things in life, what we put in determines what we get out.
Our bodies are like machines, designed to work efficiently, given the right tools and maintenance.
For humans this means giving the body enough of the right nutrients in the right amounts to help it run well. We couldn't run a petrol car on diesel, or vice versa. In a much more complex way, the body needs the right kind of fuel to function at its best and fend off threats.
We've become obsessed with nutrition in its simplest form over the last 50 or so years - calories in/calories out. The only concern has been with weight control, not supply of essential nutrients, and I believe this has caused us harm and made us less healthy than we could be.
We NEED all the vitamins and minerals to fuel the chemical processes in the body, along with plant nutrients called phytonutrients to help us manage inflammation and other potentially harmful processes.
These things also help us to detoxify not only those substances which are naturally created in the body as by-products of digestion and biochemical processes, but also the external toxins from pollution, plastics, chemicals etc.
Without some of them we may become anemic (iron), have trouble with mental health and perception (zinc), become low in mood and/or energy (B vitamins, magnesium and more), suffer from skin or immunity challenges (vitamin C, zinc, vitamin A, Vitamin D), have inflammation, either overt in the form of pain and redness, or subtle underlying low grade inflammation - this gives just a few examples.
When this situation goes on for a long time - months, years even, the body finds it harder to cope and deal with, and this could be why it can take years for a health condition to develop to the point where there is something to diagnose. Unfortunately, many people suffer a raft of symptoms for a long time without a diagnosis.
We also need complete protein (see previous blog) to make sure we can replace cells as they age and die, to maintain muscle mass, to build immune cells and neurotransmitters, and more.
We need good quality fats which haven't been altered chemically, for many purposes, including brain function, nerve function and protection against inappropriate inflammation. Contrary to the message we've received loud and clear for fifty or more years, we need all kinds of fats - saturated and polyunsaturated.
What we don't need is excessive sugar, processed foods and adulterated fats. All these make more demands on the body while providing very little in the way of nutrients - the very nutrients which we need to process these things!
The simplest, and best things we can do to support our health with food, in my opinion, are:
Thank you for reading. Until next time...
This phrase is one I came up with while talking to my husband, and I quite like it:
Are we victims of our diseases/illnesses, or are we masters of our health?
When you think all the health challenges we've had with the pandemic, the ongoing challenges of obesity/overweight, diabetes, heart disease, arthritis and more, along with the over-stretched NHS, it makes sense that, as much as possible, we could benefit enormously from taking our health into our own hands.
This isn't to say that we never need doctors, hospitals and the like, but I think there is a lot we can all do to improve our general wellbeing and reduce our chances of needing medical help.
There are no guarantees, obviously, but so many aspects of health are negatively impacted by the way we live - what we eat, how much/little we sleep, our movement, how much stress we are under, and the environment we live in.
My main area of interest is food, and it has become blindingly obvious to me that, as with many things in life, what we put in determines what we get out.
Our bodies are like machines, designed to work efficiently, given the right tools and maintenance.
For humans this means giving the body enough of the right nutrients in the right amounts to help it run well. We couldn't run a petrol car on diesel, or vice versa. In a much more complex way, the body needs the right kind of fuel to function at its best and fend off threats.
We've become obsessed with nutrition in its simplest form over the last 50 or so years - calories in/calories out. The only concern has been with weight control, not supply of essential nutrients, and I believe this has caused us harm and made us less healthy than we could be.
We NEED all the vitamins and minerals to fuel the chemical processes in the body, along with plant nutrients called phytonutrients to help us manage inflammation and other potentially harmful processes.
These things also help us to detoxify not only those substances which are naturally created in the body as by-products of digestion and biochemical processes, but also the external toxins from pollution, plastics, chemicals etc.
Without some of them we may become anemic (iron), have trouble with mental health and perception (zinc), become low in mood and/or energy (B vitamins, magnesium and more), suffer from skin or immunity challenges (vitamin C, zinc, vitamin A, Vitamin D), have inflammation, either overt in the form of pain and redness, or subtle underlying low grade inflammation - this gives just a few examples.
When this situation goes on for a long time - months, years even, the body finds it harder to cope and deal with, and this could be why it can take years for a health condition to develop to the point where there is something to diagnose. Unfortunately, many people suffer a raft of symptoms for a long time without a diagnosis.
We also need complete protein (see previous blog) to make sure we can replace cells as they age and die, to maintain muscle mass, to build immune cells and neurotransmitters, and more.
We need good quality fats which haven't been altered chemically, for many purposes, including brain function, nerve function and protection against inappropriate inflammation. Contrary to the message we've received loud and clear for fifty or more years, we need all kinds of fats - saturated and polyunsaturated.
What we don't need is excessive sugar, processed foods and adulterated fats. All these make more demands on the body while providing very little in the way of nutrients - the very nutrients which we need to process these things!
The simplest, and best things we can do to support our health with food, in my opinion, are:
- Eat REAL, unprocessed food, preferably prepared at home
- Eat good quality protein with EVERY meal
- Eat a rainbow of natural colours each day (this is the simplest way to ensure a wide variety of minerals and vitamins, and also helps nurture a healthy gut microbiome)
- Use fats as they occur in natural foods
- Watch those carbs - the next piece in the sugar/overweight/diabetes story is that ALL CARBOHYDRATES turn to sugar in the blood. So bread=sugar, pasta=sugar, potatoes=sugar. It's not a message most of us want to hear, but it is important to understand that this is so.
Thank you for reading. Until next time...
RSS Feed
