Taking Health Into Your Own Hands
[Tweet ""It is no measure of health to be well adapted to a profoundly sick society" - J. Krishnamurti"]Before studying holistic nutrition, I wasn't really sure what this quote meant. It wasn't until 2 months into my program that this quote started to resonate within me. Yes, I know there are a number of different interpretations of this quote, but for the sake of our little chat today, we're going to be putting it in terms of health and nutrition.Now let me ask you something – have you ever gone in for a blood test and came out with results from your doctor saying "everything looks good, you're good to go!"? Most of us, right? But did you know this actually means "everything looks good compared to the masses, who actually aren't representations of optimal health and might in fact, have an ailment, sickness or disorder themselves"? In other words, our health is being compared up against mediocre health standards which is classified as "good health" in our society, when in actuality, that "good health" may not actually be optimal. If your blood test doesn't show anything too extreme, they'll typically slide those cases under the rug.But what happens when that little thing that got missed starts turning into a big thing? Heck, even I (or my sister) was missed while in my Mom's womb – yup, true story! My Mom didn't know she was having twins until she gave birth to me. Then 17 minutes later, she was still massive and the doctors weren't exactly sure why. So they put a heart monitor up to her belly and to their surprise, they heard a heart beat and screamed, "There's another one in there!" My Dad still tells me that he was positive/freaked out of his mind thinking he was going to be one of those Dads with septuplets. Can you imagine? I mean, we had ultrasounds and the whole bit but apparently our twin cuddles were so epic, that we were able to disguise ourselves as one ginormous 13lb baby. High five, sister! But back to my point – why aren't we looking deeper?I remember I used to look at cereal boxes and think I was the bomb diggity because each bowl I was consuming contained 100% of the recommended amount of Vitamin A we should be getting in a day (of course, I had no idea what Vitamin A did for me at the time either). What I didn't realize at the time was that this daily value was the bare minimum amount of nutrition required to prevent disorders such as rickets, but it wasn't saying how much we should be consuming to THRIVE and live optimally!Are you starting to see what's wrong with this picture? Or do you want me to continue story time?I'll finish with this last one, mainly because it's what inspired me to write this. During my advertising days, I would reach a point in the day where I would get a huge headache, feel dizzy, or even worse, feel drunk (without the aid of alcohol). Eventually I got used to it and just started accepting this as normal. I just thought it was because I was looking at my screen for too long or because the weather was changing. These are valid facts in some cases, but when you have recurring symptoms, we can't keep playing the blame game – we need to get to the root of the issue and stop accepting our symptoms as the norm.[Tweet ""We need to get to the root of the issue and stop accepting our symptoms as the norm""]My extreme headaches leached into the beginning of my time at The Institute of Holistic Nutrition, as I continued to play the blame game, thinking that sitting in class and having to pay attention for 4 hours was giving me headaches. Perhaps, true in some cases, but again, not when it's happening all the time. Being in nutrition school forced me to look at my diet and make some changes. I was stuck in that "I can eat healthy desserts all the time because they're made with healthy ingredients" phase for a while until I realized my issue may have been rooted in that habit. By indulging in healthy treats day after day, I was pumping my body with way more sugar than it could ever need in a day – yes, even natural or healthier sugars have the same effect on your body as white table sugar – that's a story for another post! I started to monitor my grain intake closely, not by limiting it exactly, but by being weary of when and what I was eating it with and how that would affect my blood sugar levels.As a result of taking my health into my own hands, I discovered that I had tendencies of hypoglycaemia and learnt to pay more attention to my carbohydrate intake. Want to guess what happened? No headaches. What was plaguing me for months, what I perceived as normal, wasn't in fact anywhere close to normal at all.All of these 850 words to say, don't settle for anything less than optimal health. At the end of the day, your health is all you have. Always get a second opinion and start taking your health into your own hands today.
3 Ways To Take Your Health Into Your Own Hands Today:
Pay attention – I'm not saying to put on your hypochondriac hat and go to town, but tune into your body and listen when something doesn't feel right. If you go to see your medical doctor, don't just listen to what they tell you, but work with them. Ask questions. Find out what lifestyle or dietary changes you can start making immediately to target the issue. After all, you are the commander of your body and only you know best.
Stop masking your symptoms – We live in a society that thrives on instant pleasure. So when a headache creeps up on us, what do we do? We grab our trusty bottle of Advil to instantly relieve the pain so we can return back to our instantaneous state of pleasure. But by masking our symptoms, we aren't getting to the root of the issue or treating the problem. We're allowing it to perpetuate even more. Before reaching for Advil next time, think about what might actually be causing that headache. Perhaps you're dehydrated? Even tired? Maybe it's even that new medication you started? Think thrice before you act.
Look at your diet – People are often surprised to hear how much their diet can effect how they feel – mentally, physically and emotionally. If you're noticing recurring symptoms, start keeping a diet diary and then eliminating certain foods that you're consuming on the day you're experiencing the symptoms. Eventually, you'll rule out the culprit and may even discover a food sensitivity or intolerance you didn't know you had.
How have you taken your health into your own hands? Have you noticed a drastic difference?