29
Jul

Disease Conscious to Health Conscious

Self Medication has become a standard ‘health maintenance‘ behavior for most Americans. We’re talking about prescription medications (whether legally or illegally obtained), OTC (Over-The-Counter) drugs, and even Herbal, Vitamin, Mineral, Nutritional Supplementation. The search for an external substance that will change our internal state of being has become a routine norm in today’s society.

‘Mother’s Little Helper’, a song by ‘The Rolling Stones’ recognized this cultural substance use/abuse paradigm as far back as 1966. Public discourse continued over the years with the 1994 release of Elizabeth Wurzel’s book “Prozac Nation”, and subsequent 2001 movie with Christini Ricci. Today, with unprecedented levels of legal prescriptions, the danger of prescription over-use, is tragically more real than ever.

More people are relying on a chemical crutch to fix, mitigate, or ignore, what is ‘broken’. “Self Medication” no longer just refers to irresponsible, recreational, or addictive, use of unregulated illegal ‘street drugs’. Those turning to Statins, SSRI’s, Beta-blockers, and even more addictive substances (e.g. legal opioids) are among the “most educated”, “successful” segments of society. Addiction, and drug abuse, are serious and complex topics I must defer to others far more qualified than I to adequately address. What is within the scope of our topic here is the modern paradigm that so many Americans have fallen into… the institutionalized use of pharmaceuticals as a panacea.

Pharmaceutical sales have skyrocketed over 30 years:

The ‘Quick Fix’. Anyone (this means me and you) who takes -or has ever taken- a prescription medication to treat a symptom, mitigate effects of illness/disease, or eradicate a pathogen, has done so with the expectation of relief. To be certain, it is a great blessing to have an effective treatment option in a convenient, easy to take form. However, it is our reliance on, and trust in, that external substance to change our physical, mental, or emotional state, that has become a behavioral norm. We, as a society, have relinquished our God-given connection with the nature of our being. We’ve stopped listening to our own bodies and instead rely on the promise a man-made substance will do this for us.

People have stopped believing in our own internal power to heal and have largely delegated this responsibility to outside forces (e.g. other people, drugs, etc.). When we feel bad, or something goes wrong, we go to the doctor to seek some way to alleviate our distress.

It has been said that Americans do not have a “Health Care” system, but rather a “Disease Care” system.

As long as there is more profit to be made in treating sick people, rather than curing them, there will be little incentive for corporate-driven medicine to help consumers reach and maintain, their best health.

What I know for sure: No one else can “heal me”. Only my body can heal itself. I love and greatly respect my doctors. Yet, I recognize they are not God. Most medical doctors learn so much in their many years of education, yet receive little or no formal nutritional training. Therefore it is incumbent upon myself, to use whatever God-given abilities at my disposal to explore all avenues of treatment.

Medical physicians diagnose and treat symptoms. They do this extremely well, when provided the right protocols, diagnostic tests, and pharmaceuticals. But what happens when they’re not given the proper tools to do this? What if the tools don’t even exist? Or, even worse, the patient is not able to afford the cost of whatever expert treatment is available? What alternatives exist?

Out of necessity, I’ve become my own best health advocate.

Expectation

Having grown up in the west, I trust, and have benefitted from, the allopathic approaches to disease, trauma, and illness that we Americans are familiar with. If I break a bone, I want to benefit from the power of an X-ray, an MRI, and other diagnostic testing. I expect thorough orthopedic analysis and remediation. I’ll probably want pain killers, and thorough follow-up from the doctors. If I contract an infection, I want to avail myself of whatever bio-pharma solutions have been approved, and shown to effectively treat, that insult to the body. For the most part, I have confidence in the analytical methodologies rooted in modern science as described by the World Health Organization.

“Diagnostic techniques and procedures encompass all investigations and tests intended to identify the cause of an illness or disorder. They include, for example, laboratory tests for infectious agents, and imaging techniques, such as radiology and ultrasound examination.”

However, as I’ve learned in my experience with an “invisible” chronic illness (CFS aka ME), traditional medicine simply does not have all the answers, or even know all the questions. That has led me to become my own best Health advocate to the extent symptoms of my illness allow it. Therefore, in addition to seeking professional medical help from others specializing in what I don’t know about, I must also know what I have direct control over myself. This empowerment begins with the one thing we all do every day… eat and drink. The nutrition I choose to feed my body will either help it, or hurt it. The cellular level is where all healing, and ‘dis’ease, occurs.

Seek the Whole Truth

Regardless of your level of education, or background, always, always always ask more questions. Always seek the whole truth. Not partial truths, alternate facts, or only what we want to hear, but the whole truth, and nothing but the truth… Your Life depends on it. When a health-care provider, no matter how skilled or well-intentioned, cannot give you an adequate answer, please seek additional expert consultation and continue your self-education.

We are a nation of ‘Disease-Consciousness’.

“Disease-consciousness and health-consciousness are exact opposites. Health-consciousness is the positive approach to body care, while disease consciousness is the negative. It is utterly impossible to think of two separate conditions at one and the same time, so while you are disease conscious, you cannot think about health-building. Health-consciousness, on the other hand, guides your thoughts to consider ways and means of building health.

If you center your thoughts on ways and means of treating disease, you lose the image of health. Do you remember the quote “Lo, that which I feared most has come upon me.”? Our thoughts act as a pattern through which our lives are given expression. NEVER allow your thoughts to dwell on anything you do not wish to happen.” ~ Dr. Forrest C. Shaklee

What happens when we stop fighting the disease and start nourishing the cell?

Our bodies were designed to extract nutrients from the foods we eat and utilize them automatically wherever the body determines they’re needed. Most processes of the body happen relatively automatically, without requiring the conscious brain to directly instruct. Oh! the hubris of humankind to believe we can outsmart nature!

When it comes to getting the Nutrition we need, the first truth to acknowledge is that most of us simply aren’t. America now has the most overfed, and undernourished generation ever recorded. The deficiency of nutritional content within the foods we choose, and the overall erosion of real nutrients in our whole diet, are main contributors of chronic – and preventable – disease. If we are to focus on being more health conscious, we must consider nutritional supplementation to augment the deficiencies of today’s diet. This is no longer controversial. However, nutritional supplementation alone should never be presented as treatment of any specific illness, symptom, or syndrome.

Nutritional supplementation is intended to benefit just one disorder – tissue cell starvation. This, of course, includes every cell throughout the entire body. There should not be an expectation that ingesting a particular nutritional supplement will solve all your problems. That would be like putting a gasoline additive into your vehicle’s fuel tank in hopes of dissolving years of accumulated engine carbon deposits. Would be nice if it were true.

So, how do we know Which Nutrition to take? and whom do we trust to give us good wellness information, for free? (I mean, besides Google, lol). Perhaps your research should start with those who know from experience. Anne and I have spent decades being disease conscious. The natural progression, for us, has been to morph into a more health conscious focus. There are no “quick fixes”, or “short-cuts” to achieve, and live, your best health possible. Wellness begins with your mindset… an openness to learn, and to change. After all, the thoughts, behaviors, and consumables that may have helped cultivate illness are not going to be what helps heal it.