In the greater scheme of things, maybe it doesn’t matter what gets your attention because they all share some common ground: lifestyle behaviors are the predominant factors that determine whether you may or may not develop one of these destructive health conditions.
The strength, the health of our immune system should be our first line of defense (or is it offense?) for creating wellness and avoiding – not simply fighting – disease. This seems to be missing from the conversation and from the primary focus of various organizations such as the American Cancer Society.
Many people recognize that saturated fats are needed for energy, hormone production, cellular membranes and for organ padding. You may be surprised to learn that certain saturated fatty acids are also needed for important signaling and stabilization processes in the body.
Between the long hours, stressful jobs, barbecues, teenagers, traffic jams, political shenanigans ozone depletion, and 700 calorie sugar-laced Frappuchinos – it’s a wonder anybody lives to see fifty. The fact that some people do is akin to the Rolling Stones’ Keith Richard’s ability to still tour with the band at age 77.
Processed foods (foods no longer in their natural form – pretty much the only way you can eat grains) – have very little fiber and therefore a huge glycemic load. This means your stomach digests that food down to sugars that enter your blood stream very quickly. Not good. Not good at all – leads to insulin resistance which destroys your health.
Your body has innate nutritional needs that it requires for health and function. These are called essential nutrients. You cannot live on wood like termites. You cannot use sunlight for energy like plants. So, the basic physiology of your body determines what you need to consume for fuel and also for nutrition.
The typical modern diet and activity level creates regular occurrences of unhealthy blood sugar levels in your body. Blood sugar is a term used to describe the amount of the sugar glucose that is in currently in your blood. Glucose is the primary sugar, or carbohydrate, in your body.
After 6 million years of hunter-gatherer existence, humans can be observed sheltering in warm rooms, slouching on comfortable seats in front of glowing screens, being whisked effortlessly between floors aboard mechanical staircases. And it’s killing us.
The essential elements collect, combine, and interact to shape your life. The parts are inseparable. You cannot unmake a cake. The elements that make up a cake combine to create something that is no longer simply the sum of its parts. Your life is a mosaic of the choices that you make.
Rest comes in many forms – our daily sleep patterns, including nighttime sleep for most of us, as well as napping. Rest also includes morning rituals, meditation, breathing exercises, mealtimes and evening rituals. Rejuvenation patterns include our time-off, breaks and vacations (most people are severely ‘vacation deficient’).