Healthy Habits

There are so many chronic illnesses on the rise lately.  It seems like we have been blindsided.  We see not only our elderly parents coming down with these illnesses, but people in mid life, and our children as well.  I hear people question "WHY", all the time.  It is as if it just came out of nowhere.  But the truth is, illnesses do not just one day appear out of nowhere.  We have signs, we just don't see them.  For several reasons, most likely, we just don't know what to look for, and maybe we are just to busy with our lives, running around stressed to even notice.   Or......we conveniently just go get a medication to make the symptoms go away.....after all, this is what we have been taught.  There is pretty much a medication for every symptom, and although these medications have side effects, we really do not think those things will actually happen.   And today, even if we are not thinking of running and getting medication, the ads on TV sure will get you thinking about it.  But the thing is, our bodies are machines, that work really well.  And they go and go for such a long time, even when they don't get what they need they go and go, and they give sign after sign, and then one day, it just all breaks down, like a car without oil, or a clogged oil filter.  One of the issues is, we really do not know what it is exactly that our bodies need.   And many people are worried about losing weight, but not necessarily about HEALTH.  But if you are truly healthy, you will not be overweight.  We are swayed by what we see on TV from companies that are promoting themselves as healthy, but are hiding things in their ingredients.  There are so many ingredients, words that we have no idea what they mean or if they are safe, so we just trust what we are told.  I feel that there are 6 main components of health or illness on the flip side:   Nutrition, Stress, Sleep, Toxins, Exercise and the emotional component.  The nutrition part actually starts with digestion.  Which means that it really begins with how we prepare to eat.  Rushing around, eating in the car, eating fast or while stressed, all contribute to not so great digestion.  If our food doesn't get digested properly, then the nutrients do not go where they are supposed to go, and do not get broken down properly.   It is the acid in our digestive system that breaks down our food. but for many reasons, such as stress, or eating fast, not chewing enough, we never make enough acid to properly break down our food.  One key to this is slowing down, appreciating the food, thinking about it, this gets the digestive juices flowing and is the start for proper digestion.  Of course that is just the first step, but it is Important!  If we don't get the first step correct, what can we expect after that?  Many people think that they have stomach issues because they have too much Stomach Acid.  That is really, hardly ever the case.  Our stomach acid serves a purpose, and many times the problem is actually the opposite, and we don't have enough.  Slowing down the process from the beginning will help with this.  

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