Radical...

I am saddened when I hear of people suffering from all kinds of ailments headaches, migraines, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart disease, diabetes, autoimmune disease and on and on.  It is sad to know people are hurting and suffering to varying degrees.  Modern medicine has clearly aided in lengthening the human life span and lessening many debilitating conditions.  

Ironically, at a time when we have the most access to great health care we also have more people than ever in world history who are sick in one form or another simply due to a lack of exercise and unhealthy eating habits.  

If we get a headache we take a pill.  If we have high blood pressure we take a pill.  If we have high cholesterol we take a pill.  If we have heart disease we take a pill.  If we have diabetes we take insulin.  Etc, etc, etc. 

I am not advocating against medicine.  I am asking that we just stop and think for a minute about how radical it is to rely on pills to fix our health concerns.  Often we simply exchange one issue for another potentially negative one.  If you watch TV for 30 minutes or an hour, undoubtedly you will see commercial(s) selling a pill to cure a modern illness.  The people in the commercial are always beautiful, financially secure, appear healthy, and full of life, BUT then we hear the list of side effects.  Some commercials are even scarier describing a former pill that is no longer on the market because of the negative side effects.  

I don’t want to judge anyone who is suffering but to offer hope that is far too often taboo.  Our doctors just won’t communicate as firmly as I am about to.  Maybe the doctors don’t believe you can make the changes, maybe they are in too much of a hurry to see patients, maybe the pharmaceutical companies are to some degree too influential in the decisions and choices of our health care system.  

Think about how radical it is to have open heart surgery, or bariatric surgery, or take insulin every day, or fill our bodies with pills that we may come to find out have very serious negative consequences.  

What would happen if we began to exercise properly and develop a lifestyle of eating healthfully with a diet based on whole foods mainly sourced from plants?  How often do you meet someone who exercises regularly and eats healthfully who is ravaged with disease?   When we do meet people who exercise and eat healthfully, how often do they seem vibrant and full of energy?  I am not saying exercise and eating right is a formula that works 100% of the time.  It doesn’t, and people are quick to point out the exceptions, for example, the regular runner who dies of a heart attack.  But this is not the norm.  Exercise and eating healthfully does work really well the vast majority of the time.  Our bodies were designed for and have evolved to move and consume a diet rich in a diversity plants.  

Give exercise and healthy eating a try!!!  It has no negative side effects.  There will never be a commercial sharing the negative side effects of eating broccoli.  It will increase the chances of your living a long life and having one richer in quality as well!