How Healthy Are You?

Guess what! You may not be as healthy as you think. Here's the thing, you can't put poison in your body and expect yourself to be healthy. There is a LOT of toxic stuff around and it takes a concerted effort to avoid it. Let's start with pharmaceuticals. Do they have their place? YES! If you have an acute infection or some other malady, they can be life saving. However, most drugs are over prescribed. Did you know that nature was the inspiration for big pharma? Well it was! Herbs are the inspiration for many a drug but you can't patent something found in nature. Sounds great, right? Well unfortunately, when you synthesize the compounds they don't work the same. However, you can patent something synthetic and that means $$$$$. The problem is they don't work the same way in your body. The natural compounds are synergistic. That is why there are fewer side effects but the man made versions only work on one pathway in the body which is why the side effects occur.

Processed food is another culprit stealing our health. The more ingredients on the package, the less likely it's something you should be eating. While eating whole foods is certainly best and it is simple, it isn't always easy or possible to do. The next best thing? Read labels. Once you start reading food labels, you get a pretty good idea of what you should and shouldn't be eating. When you can't pronounce the ingredients or don't know what they are, put it down! There are so many highly or ultra processed foods out there. The big problem is the nutrients are processed out. Then they tend to "fortify" these items with Vit D or Calcium or B Vitamins. While that sounds good, we end up with a similar problem to the issue with pharmaceuticals. These vitamins are synthetic. You know what that means. Your body cannot assimilate them. That means poor uptake. Basically, there is no point. You will get much better bioavailability from real, whole foods. Unfortunately, most people think Twinkies taste better than carrots. Those ultra processed treats are formulated to be addictive and make you want more. On the other hand, carrots are a gift from nature that can help keep you alive and contribute to good eye sight. While the choice is obvious when you read this, your taste buds will probably say otherwise.... Now no one eats perfectly all the time. Especially me! However, I do know what to eat and do my best to eat the best quality, real food I can get my hands on so when I do indulge in a guilty pleasure, it is easier to offset what it does to my body. None of us are perfect so the more knowledge we have on making good choices the better off we all are.

Our bodies are so smart. Much smarter than we typically give them credit for. They keep us moving and breathing every day with barely a thought about it on our part. That is pretty awesome considering all the thousands of chemical reactions that happen within our cells literally every second.

A little tidbit, Did you know aspirin exists because of and was originally derived from the herb white willow bark? True and you can still take white willow bark for pain relief.

Is there a health related topic you would like to hear more about?

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