Ohhh, all the ailments we have!

Arthritis… Bursitis… Anemia… or Just Aches and Pains!

Or maybe chronic diseases…

Cancer… Heart ailments… Diabetes… Dementia…

or any number of other ills.

Can we recover?

How can we recover?

There are all kinds of pharmaceuticals out there… they’re designed to lessen the symptoms… and that’s what they do.  They can give us the illusion that they’re making us well.  But the case with most of them is, we can take them for the rest of our lives… and still have the same health problem… with diminished symptoms.

When I had a health issue for several years, after enduring lots of doctors, and lots of medicine, with lots of practice for physicians, I was blessed that none of those medicines worked for me.  I had to dig deeper.  I didn’t believe them when they said, “no known cause” and “no cure”.

So I dug deeper; I stumbled upon a term, Functional Medicine.  After much research, I found a Functional Medicine Doctor who specialized in Autoimmune Diseases.  When I walked into her assistant’s office, I said, “Can you please help me feel better?”  His answer was the absolute first hope I had heard: “Why don’t we just make you well?”

And that’s what they did.

I’ve read that your autoimmune condition stays inside your body forever, but that you can keep it dormant if you take care of yourself correctly.  A doctor told me  just recently that all of us have cancer cells inside us, but that they just stay dormant unless they become activated for some reason.

It sounds like (especially if we’ve had an autoimmune condition we have now, or that we have overcome by changing our eating and lifestyle), then it’s our job to do what we can to keep those cells dormant.

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There are lots of things we can do to help our bodies heal from illnesses.  The foundation is in better health.  People sometimes laugh at that.  Yet more and more people are experiencing it, and proving—not only what heals our bodies, but also what causes them to become sick. 

If I were to start listing things that help our health, I couldn’t list all the things.  But there are a few things that are “foundation” building blocks.

Those building blocks have the foundation of plain old common sense, as my dad used to say—he’d say, you just need to “think”… just use common sense.  I didn’t understand what he meant back then—but I do now.

(Now, if any illness is in a more advanced state, life changes can help to be healthier, and can help a person to feel better, but may not be able to improve the illness on its own.)

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I typically build my health scenarios with 5 pillars, then add one more.  Today I’m going to add another.  In case you want to know what the pillars are, I’ll list them.

1.     Nutrition.  No special diet. No leaving off food groups. No shots. No fasting.  Just common sense eating: Real Food.

a.      The best quality you can afford and find. Organic food when possible because of the herbicides and pesticides; and also the poisons that are sprayed on the food after harvesting to keep it fresh.

b.     Meat should be grass-fed, wild-caught or free-range if possible.

c.      No canola oil or vegetable oils.  Use olive oil, tallow, butter, avocado oil, coconut oil, or ghee, etc.  These healthy oils are necessary for our brain, our skin, etc.

d.     Vegetables are good for you.

2.     Exercise.  It’s not a bad word.  Our bodies were made to move.  We need to keep them moving so we can stay strong into our older age.  Exercise is every bit as important to our health as the right food.

a.      We don’t have to kill ourselves in the gym.  Figure out an exercise that you can enjoy.  Or find someone who can enjoy it with you. 

b.     You don’t have to work that hard at it.  Start small.  As small as you want. 

c.      Don’t overdo it.  You don't have to make yourself sore.  But do push yourself a little bit as time goes by.  You don’t have to be aggressive.  Just nudge yourself to do a little bit more.  Walking is my main exercise, even though I am adding other exercises (at home, in the living room). 

d.     If you skip a day (just start back up again the next day), just don’t skip two.  Skipping two could begin a habit of skipping. 

e.      At some point, add some light weights.  You can increase them at any time you want.  Weights help us keep our youth longer. 

f.       If you never stop moving, you’ll always be able to be active regardless of your age.

3.     Sleep.  Most people don’t get enough sleep.  We stay so “busy” trying to get everything done during the day, we don’t have time to “wind down” before bed.  Our brain wants to continually fix all those problems.  That’s not good.

a.      At night while we sleep, our brain and body flushes out toxins and cleans up from the day, so we will be ready for the next day.

b.     Sleep is necessary to re-energize our mind and body.

c.      Deep sleep helps your body recover and rebuild its strength.

d.     Taking time to calm your body and mind in the evening (and also taking breaks during the day) help you have better quality sleep.

4.     Stress.  Stress can kill you.  That’s the most important thing to know.  You must get it under control.

a.      If you think you can’t change “being stressed”, you really should reconsider that.  You can change.  And your life actually depends on it.  The quality of your life day-to-day, depends on it.

b.     Constant stress affects our mind, and affects our body.  None of it in a good way.  It affects our relationships with family.  And co-workers, whether you see it or not—it does.

c.      I can help you see ways you can begin, little by little, to make changes.  Everyone’s different.  Everyone will have a different path.  But you need to reduce your stress level.

5.     Relationships.

a.      Somewhere in your life, you need to have what you can call, “my people”.  People who you can talk to, relax with, and people who will support you.

b.     If you don’t have a relationship in your life that works like this, begin to reach out to people.  Open yourself up to people who you feel are like-minded.  Find a good friend.

c.      We’re made to be around people.  Good people.

6.     Toxins.  I’ve added this because there is so much of it in our world—it’s like we’re swimming in toxins.  Food, water, air… everywhere.

a.      It’s the accumulated amount of toxins we’re exposed to that affects us.  If a food has “a little”, so we feel it’s ok, then if we’re getting “a little” here and there from other sources, those amounts add up.  It’s called your “toxic load”.

b.     Eat food that’s organic every time you can.  Eat grass-fed meat.  Don’t eat over-processed food (almost everything that’s packaged).

c.      Use glass containers instead of plastic; leave off the non-stick cookware; check your skincare—don’t use the chemically-laden ones.

d.     Use more natural household cleaners (vinegar and soda do a lot of jobs as well or better than store-bought).

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Our bodies were wondrously and marvelously made.  They were made to be healthy and serve us until our time on this earth is just about over. You may not believe it, but our bodies were made to heal themselves.  And for the most part, if we help our body, it will be healthy.

The thing I’m adding today, that—if you don’t have it—you probably won’t be able to heal even if you do everything else right, is Inner Peace.

Peace could go with Stress, but it comes from a different angle. 

Where does our Peace come from?

Google says it’s the state of psychological or spiritual calm despite the potential presence of stress.  It also says that inner peace refers to a deliberate state of psychological or spiritual calm maintained despite the presence of stressors.

I’m a little bit surprised that I somewhat agree with Google, with a bit of tweaking.  I believe that Inner Peace, if it’s spiritual, does not have to be a “deliberate state” of calm. 

I do think we can train ourselves to be “at peace” in the presence of stress—but that’s not the peace I’m talking about today.

I’m referring to Inner Peace that gives us a sense of peace and calm that we don’t have to work at, or determine to have.  I believe this type of Inner Peace that’s healing comes from within—without determining to be at peace. 

This kind of peace, I believe, comes from trusting in God who gives us this peace as a gift. 

And if we have all kinds of turmoil continuously in our lives, it’s going to be hard for God to give us that peace.  Most turmoil in our lives, we can control.

I believe the road to recovery is tied to our peace.  And I believe that peace is tied to our healing.

If you have insomnia… or digestive problems… other issues, if you could find that peace, you would have the foundation for healing.

Do we want healing enough to find that peace?

It’s a choice you might want to consider.  We try hard to put together all the pieces of the puzzle.  We try to manipulate our life in every area.  But if we continue our present lifestyle of conflict or opposition or just continual tension, it will affect our health.

Life will never be perfect.  We will never be perfect.  But we may have to seriously consider changing our life around so that we can have some tranquility, and some peace and calm. 

This may be the very thing our body craves—just some calm and peace.  I believe that to be the foundation to everything else.

It could take some deep thought about the changes we could make to accomplish the removal of stress and turmoil in our lives, but it’s your opportunity to face and examine the real source of your stress, and to think creatively to change that source.

In the midst of this, God can help you have that peace.  He is the only source of true peace, as we’re made by Him, and made to have a relationship with Him.  That connection is where our soul finds real peace.

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If this resonates with you, I hope it is helpful to you.  If it doesn’t resonate with you, hopefully it’s because your life has that peace.  Realizing we will never be at peace 100% of the time.  But the foundation of that Inner Peace will help you through the rough patches, and will help you to heal.

If I can help you in your journey of healing, or in your journey to find that inner peace, I will gladly help you.  Just let me know.

Thank you for reading.

To Your Health, to Your Healing, and to Your Inner Peace…

Sharon