I see a number of clients each week, some of whom have a clean bill of health, but a lot of people have medical issues, ranging from minor to chronic conditions.
I frequently get told stories of clients who are years down the line and are no better, or they have little quality of life from the side-effects of their medication. I hear of delays in getting appointments, being let down by the GP or hospital regarding appointments or surgery, with many issues not being resolved etc.
And it led me to thinking how much we have become reliant on ‘being fixed’ by a system that is now very much broken. We all see on the news, and from talking to staff who work in our GP practices and hospitals, that the system is completely overwhelmed. There simply are not enough staff and resources to cope with the demand, and the staff are tired and underpaid. Who knows how much longer we will have our precious NHS.
Western Medicine has been an amazing development over the decades, and it has helped and saved so many lives. But within the Western cultures we are very reactive towards our healthcare, and we take little proactive care of our health.
We wait until something is wrong to address an issue. We don’t try to keep our bodies healthier to stop them getting sick in the first place.
We place our faith in our doctors to make us better, and trust that what they are telling us to do or take is the right thing for us. But that’s not always the case. We assume our GP is like some sort of guru and knows everything. Yes, they go through extensive training, but they cannot possibly know everything there is to know about the human body and mind. It’s a very broad and shallow knowledge. Although consultants are more specifically trained, they too don’t know everything. A lot of treatment is trial and error, and/or based on the average person. The trouble is you are not the average person and what works for me may not work for you etc. Also, the doctors are human, not machines and make mistakes like you and me. They are not the answer to everything!
There is also a lot of push for medications by pharma companies. Pharma companies fund a lot of our medical training and research, and GPs/Consultants have targets to prescribe certain medications (for example, I’ve heard via one client that their GP prescribes High Blood Pressure meds to all people over age 50 whether they have high blood pressure or not and even if they are not at risk). It’s known too that a lot of the ‘big pharma’ companies own food companies – mostly processed and junk food. You know, the same food that over time makes us sick, and we then seek help and what do you know…we then need to the pharmaceuticals made by that same company? But that’s a story for another day and not what I want to talk about today.
I want to talk about your own health and how much ownership you are taking over it.
The evolution of our bodies hasn’t changed much over the last few millennia, and certainly hasn’t caught up with our modern lifestyles and conveniences. Our bodies are designed to keep us alive. It’s designed for us to:
eat and digest certain foods (often seasonally available foods so not eating same things all the time),
break down different foods in different ways – so meat, vegetables, fruit etc all have their very own processes and chemicals to break down the foods in specific ways to fuel our bodies and help us get the nutrients we need, sent to the right areas. Even certain tastes instigate specific chemical processes - for example, a sweet taste will cause our bodies to release insulin to interact with an expected glucose intake
move (usually to catch or gather said food),
stay away from danger,
rest (usually in line with the hours of daylight and seasons etc)
We have invented processed foods for convenience to fit in with our busy lives. But did you know a lot of that food has already been broken down during the preparation? Therefore, our bodies may not recognise it as food and may expel it, attack it with a histamine response, or just store it as not sure what to do with it. We have come up with all manner of things, thinking we are ‘cheating’ our bodies, but our bodies are way more complicated than we understand. These foods can lead to allergies, auto-immune issues, and a whole host of other issues.
We have an amazingly designed stress response system, our sympathetic nervous system, which allows us to ‘fight or flight’ in a high stress situation. When this is activated, our adrenaline is activated, blood will pump harder to increase our oxygen and make our muscles ready, our eyesight is improved, our digestive system slowed down, and our bodies will release all liquids and solids it doesn’t need to make us lighter (so that sudden urge to go to the toilet when you are stressed is perfectly normal) etc. It’s an amazing system but it’s only meant for a short time stress situation such as being faced with a predator like a lion or bear.
Once that immediate danger has passed then our parasympathetic system kicks in – our ‘rest and digest’ system. It will slow down our breathing and slow the release of those stress hormones and it will bring us back to a state of homeostasis/balance.
But these days we don’t tend to get chased by predators. Our stress response is activated by many things – an annoying co-worker, an email from your boss, having too much to do, not enough rest and sleep, trying to juggle work, family life etc…the list goes on. So we spend way longer with our sympathetic nervous system activated than it is designed to cope with. That leads to issues with mental health, but also with physical health too – in our muscles, joints, organs…and eventually other illness.
It is estimated that the underlying cause of 90% - 95% of all illness is stress! That is a mind-blowing statistic. Our modern lifestyles, of doing too much and not looking after ourselves, is making us ill with illnesses that could be prevented. We push ourselves to the limit, then end up ill and going to the GP or consultant and expecting them to fix us. No wonder the NHS is overwhelmed and no longer working! It cannot cope with that demand.
We need to stop that reactive approach of waiting until we are ill and expecting to be fixed. We need to take back control and ownership of our own health. And it’s not actually hard to do. I’m not saying we can prevent all illnesses ourselves, however, we can all take steps to reduce the stress and make simple changes in our lives to get back to feeling better and stopping issues from happening in the first place - thus reducing that need for medication.
We can do things like:
Eating fresh food and reducing/removing processed foods. There is a misconception that cooking our food fresh costs more and takes a lot of time, but actually there are tons of cookbooks, websites, social media pages that show this to be untrue.
Reducing refined sugar - whilst that cake or chocolate might taste good, does it taste better than feeling healthy does? Maybe that old saying about not having your cake and eating it has a point
Moving our bodies – it doesn’t have to be a gym workout or class - walking is free and easy, or try something like yoga which may also help with relaxation and stress. Again there are tons of free resources online.
Reducing stress – get a better work/life balance; if you don’t have a job you enjoy, change your job; reduce your financial outgoings; reduce your to-do list; take up new hobbies; read a book; listen to music; dance; get a regular massage or treatment you enjoy; try meditation or yoga – the list goes on!
Reduce alcohol – this is a depressant and not designed to be taken by the body. It affects our body’s processes, leads to illness, reduces our sleep quality, affects our mental health and so much more
I’ve had various ailments over the years – chronic sinus issues, chronic migraines, asthma, cold sores at my nose and other skin issues, high blood pressure, digestive issues. I had daily prescription meds and inhalers to manage my conditions, and needed antibiotics and steroids several times a year. I got fed up with the ‘take these pills’ approach from the GP/consultant due to all the side-effects I got and over the last few years I have taken a step back and tried to tackle my conditions holistically:
I gave up dairy which helped my sinus and digestive issues,
I get regular massage and reflexology which has helped with the migraines,
I do yoga and meditation regularly to keep my stress/anxiety under control
I do daily intermittent fasting (time-restricted eating) - not only have I lost weight, but my skin and hormones are better and my blood pressure is now in the normal range.
I feel so much better, and I am now off all regular medications! However, I still have weight to lose, and I want to deal with that. I have also now moved into perimenopause and have been experiencing some physical ailments of this over the last few months. However, I want to manage this transition into menopause holistically without going to GP for HRT and so I am making changes to my lifestyle:
I’m aiming to clean up my diet. My meals are mostly healthy but I eat a lot of unhealthy snacks (crisps, biscuits, cakes) which makes me feel like crap (and yes I know I feel crap when I eat crap but still I shovel it in like everyone else). So changes are underway - I’ve not had any alcohol since Christmas (as I discovered it was causing my hot flushes during the night); I’ve reduced my refined sugar intake and significantly over the last couple of weeks, and I've started limiting bread. Today I’ve had some food allergy testing done too which confirmed my dairy allergy that I had figured out on my own (it confirmed I am allergic to goat’s milk and sheep’s milk in addition to cow’s milk, as well as all the individual elements of these including whey, casein, and lactose)! However, I also learned that I am highly sensitive to yeast, wheat, rye and barley (likely all gluten) along with certain food additives/sweeteners/preservatives, lager, whisky, tea and coffee. Good knowledge to have so that I can avoid things that my body does not react well with!
I am also moving my body more with exercise I enjoy and to keep my bones strong (which is extremely important during perimenopause and menopause).
I’m taking supplements to boost my vitamins and minerals,
and I’m making sure I am listening to my body and resting when I need to.
Hopefully I can continue to improve my health and let my body do what it’s supposed to. I don't want to end up relying on medication that makes me need more medication for the side-effects, or putting my body under undue stress leading to potentially serious illnesses.
I am taking back control and healing my body naturally, not pushing it to the limit then expecting someone else to fix it.
Will you do the same?
Pauline
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