Tuesday, July 12, 2011

Wellness: Paint By Numbers

at 12:20 AM

Have you ever noticed how focused much of the health and wellness industry seems to be these days on numbers?

This is a "good" number while that is a "bad" number, we're told. We are bombarded with numbers in the news, on television, from magazine articles, newspapers, health publications in print and online... numbers, numbers and more numbers.

For instance, a commercial showcasing someone's weight loss starts by highlighting the number of pounds he or she lost. A magazine article will promise to tell you how to lose a certain number of pounds in 3 or 7 or 30 days... more numbers.

Another publication will tell you how a prescription drug can lower your bad cholesterol by a certain number of points, or your blood sugar by this number or that--always numbers!

It's as though we have come to believe we can color ourselves into a state of optimal health and wellness like one of the paint-by-number kits.

Think about it: Why don't we hear more about how someone lost weight... their lifestyle changes such as exercise and the emotional struggles that accompanied the entire process of losing a significant amount of weight?

Why aren't we told more about which foods and herbs can help us to lower our cholesterol, blood pressure and/or blood sugar naturally, instead of being inundated by set numbers these so-called wonder drugs can attain for us?

Instead of being told that a particular food is bad because it has X number of carbs or Y number of calories, why aren't we being educated about the virtues and health benefits of eating a healthy, organic balanced diet instead of just worrying about the number of carbs and calories in the foods we eat?

Weight Watchers, one of the leading weight loss programs, no doubt does have bona fide success stories. But it is almost completely about numbers: the "point" system where dieters are allowed a certain number of points each day or calorie counting with a set number of calories allowed per day.

Is this what our bodies want or need to be healthy and enjoy total wellness?

Is there some little calculator stashed away inside one of our vital organs, tallying up how many carbs, calories or fat grams we've ingested from one day to the next? Punishing us if our numbers of carbs or calories exceed some limit by making us gain weight and rewarding us if we restrict our eating to stay under a set amount of calories or fat grams by making us slender?

Probably not.

It's time for us to wake up and realize that our bodies don't achieve glowing, radiant health and overall wellness "by the numbers."

Being healthy and enjoying wellness in all areas requires something more than simply counting numbers of this or that! We can't go by numbers to tell us our optimal weight for good health, for instance.

While one person might have an ideal weight of 120 pounds to be in a state of wellness, another person of similar build and height might need 10 or 20 pounds more or less to be healthy.

Each one of us is unique. Our individual optimal "numbers" of cholesterol, blood sugar, triglycerides, etc. may fluctuate from one person to another. We weren't all stamped out with a cookie cutter and we cannot take a cookie cutter approach to good health and wellness by forcing our bodies to conform to a specific set of numbers.

Good health and wellness is not a one-size-fits-all!

So, start thinking less about numbers and more about getting healthy with the right foods, natural remedies instead of toxic drugs, exercise, the proper amount of rest for your body, and other things that will add up to a total that equals wellness!

As our population ages and the search for good health and long life continues, we are faced with some alarming thoughts. Will we be among the cancer statistics? Will we develop chronic conditions like diabetes, heart disease or arthritis? Will we endure diseases that render us unable to do the things we love? Or take us away prematurely?

The average person in the western world is killing themselves prematurely simply due to what they eat and the lifestyle they follow.

I decided not to settle for being sub-healthy. I decided not to roll over and meekly succumb to aging. I decided that I wanted to tell others about what I'd found.

What about it? Will you settle for being sub-healthy? Will you continue to suffer the effects of an Immune System that's trying hard but not being helped by you, its owner?

If you are feeling unwell, try boosting your immune system with Red Reishi, an ancient mushroom that has been used for thousands of years as a natural remedy to promote good health, alleviate the symptoms of assorted illnesses and to boost the immune system

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