If you have to start somewhere, start at the foundation

Physical, Mind And Spiritual aspects in relation to your Health.

There is more to YOU then meets the eye!

The Iceberg Metaphor
The Iceberg which meets the eye is only a part of its whole.

This part represents our physical being, which you are probably most concerned about. However the underlying story, the reason for most of our problems may lay in that part which we can't see, our Mental and Spiritual Being.

The unseen parts and properties are the bigger ones and because of this double size, if ignored, has to be rated as double trouble. Just remember the Titanic.

Neglecting this simple fact, means neglecting yourself the way to health.

Health has to be discussed in a holistic aspect.

At no point am I suggesting that one part is more important then the other.

Actually, the mental asspect may be more important, as without the right attitude, conviction, self-respect, responsibility, you may not even start on a path to better health...

However, we will attend to the physical part first, even if your problems are, say something like stress. This is because we need some ground rules, something like a foundation to build up on, and I hope that you have the right attitude already :-)

Your Foundation always comes first, you can't build Health if there is no Foundation.

Wherever you struggle in life, there is a need to learn something, which usually means changing part of your lifestyle.

In regard to health, change relates right back to our cells.

Our cells are constantly dying and renewing. This is the clue to total health!
If your cells are constantly renewing, then there is no need to stay sick or diseased.
Your body has the capability to totally regenerate.

• Every 90 days a new blood stream is built in the body by the food you eat, the liquid you drink and the air you breathe.
  
  

• Every eleven months we have a new set of billions of body cells.
  
  

• Every 7 years we have an entirely new set of bones and connective tissues!
  

If "your" cells are not doing this and they are reproducing sick cells instead of your original healthy ones, you have to change something in your physical, mental or spiritual being to bring about a state which facilitates healthy cell reproduction.

The medical system believes in fighting a disease, either killing something, cutting something out or intervene in your body function with chemical intervention.

Obviously, I am not denying that this can be a life saving experience, and I don't think we can do without it. I do think however, that we can do much, much better in supporting our health by natural means.

Modern drugs are very impressive in suppressing Nature's warning symptoms that something is wrong, but do they cure?

Why, with such progress being made and medical science claiming to have more and more answers, are hospitals more overcrowded than ever?

Consider this: around the turn of the century, one in 30 people died of cancer, nowadays it can be as high as "one in three", and "one in four" for Queensland.

Why this horrific increase?

What has changed over the years?

Our environment has changed, marketing has changed, even our thinking and attitude have changed, and not always for the better...

The addition of food additives, refining and preserving food, pesticides, industrial chemicals and environmental pollutants combined with a hectic and probably un-healthy lifestyle are in part to blame.

It is quite hard to buy food not contaminated with chemicals. Many food items available today are toxic and anti-nutritive, destroying or leeching out much needed vitamins and minerals.

The two great physical enemies of life are:

1. Xenobiotics
(foreign chemicals to our systems): preservatives, colourings, herbicides, etc., belong to this class and so do medical drugs with their side effects.

2. Nutritional Deficiencies and eating Protein, Carbohydrate and Fat in the wrong Ratios.

Foundation Programme - Summary -
Health needs a foundation.
Once your foundation is in place, everything else follows naturally.
Loosing your foundation is like someone pulling out a rug from underneath your feet.
We can't divide ourself into parts. Our physical, mental and spiritual body has to be seen as one. Neglecting one, will cause a problem in the other. Every problem is a problem of the whole body. An upset digestive tract is not a separate entity, the rest of the body, the mind and spirit are attached to it.
In building your foundation for better health, you as a "whole person" will get a foundation to stand on.

Your Foundation and therefore backbone for your Health will be;

a well balanced Diet,

an exercise program

and some lifestyle changes.. including attitudes...

Why Change the Way I eat, you may ask?

A national survey stated once, that 75% of people are Overweight and 20% are Obese...
Heart disease, Cholesterol, Diabetes and general chronic diseases are on the rise...

We seem to be nutritionally more aware, but do we act on the correct knowledge?

Our fat consumption has gone down, yet our fat bellies have gone up. What is wrong?

We should be getting slimmer.

The answer is that the Standard Diet proposed by most dieticians, heart and diabetic specialists is based on the idea that we should get 65-70% of our daily calories from carbohydrates.

Some even want to get the fat percentage down to 10%.

Indeed, some people have become Fat Phobic...

The reason low fat diets fail is because the body shifts into carbohydrate burning mode so it needs less and less fat for Energy requirements. Therefore there is no fat burning.

This standard diet would be fine if people would stick to their required amounts of food. But Carbohydrates do not control the hunger, so you eat more than you should. Add to this the sugar craving or craving for more carbohydrate and you know why this diet can't work.

A Diet has to be a balance of protein, carbohydrate and mostly unsaturated fats... anything else is not a diet for long term usage... some diets may have their merrits short term to achieve a certein result, be it weightloss, detoxification, weightgain, musclegain or varoius diets designed to change some specific health problems. However, most of these specific diets arte only working in the short term and should be followed by a good sensible balanced diet.

The clue to live with a successful eating plan, is to always learn about the basic balanced diet first. Make sure it works for you and is sensible for a modern lifestyle. Having mastered that diet, which is now your new lifestyle, makes it easy to employ other specific diets, as you would automatically fall back into your new lifestyle diet.

Article supplied by the editor of Use Nature, Dieter Luske