Don't Take This for Granted Anymore

"Let food be your medicine and medicine be your food."
- Hippocrates

A number of months ago, I seriously hurt my knee while exercising. I became laid up for quite a number of weeks and began to take a very good look at my life and all of the things that I take for granted, such as walking, climbing stairs, driving, bending to pick things up if I drop them and so on. Fortunately, I did not have a serious illness, but having my knee out of commission gave me a taste of what it is like to loose some of the freedoms I'd been enjoying in my life. It made me realize that I take my health for granted. What about you? Have you thought about your health?

Recently, a family member ended up in the Intensive Care Unit of a major and highly rated Chicago hospital and I spent quite a bit of time there. Sadly, I witnessed rooms filled with patients who had blocked arteries, heart problems and other life threatening conditions. And, I was very grateful for modern medicine and what it could do to save a life. However, what I did notice was that there did not seem to be much concern around prevention, beyond prescribing pills.

Since I am someone who has studied healthy eating and it's effects on the body, I do my best to make healthy choices when eating out. So, when I went down to the hospital cafeteria, I was surprised at how difficult it was to nourishing foods. There were sweets and bags of chips, sodas and a lot of fried foods, and the sugar content was high, everywhere I looked; in the sauces, on the chips, at the salad bar and even in some of the soups.

I wondered why a hospital would serve foods like that? Didn't they realize the consequences? I guess not. For I observed highly trained doctors and nurses, surgeons and assistants, people who repaired hearts, brains and bones, who saved lives and so on, standing in line with trays in hand ordering up greasy hamburgers oozing with some type of artifically created melted cheese dripping off onto a side of french fries. All of this only to be washed down by a sweetened soft drink loaded with high fructose corn syrup. This frightened me. I wondered if the highly intelligent people, who every day see the results of serious diseases even knew any better? Did they not see the connection between the food we put into our bodies and it's ability to perform optimally? Dr. Andrew Weil spoke to my class, back in 2007 at the Institute for Integrative Nutrition in New York City and shared that medical schools only provides 30 minutes of nutritional training for doctors.

Where do you receive your information about food? Stop and think for a moment? The media? Advertising? Commercials? Studies put out by the very companies who are producing the foods?

Why I am telling you this? Because I care about you and your wellbeing. So many foods today taste good and yet are so nutritionally void of the necessary vitamins and minerals we need today. Many foods are advertised as desirable yet can put our health at risk. And far too many people struggle internally with feelings of low self esteem because they simply cannot fight against temptation anymore. It important to be educated.

You learn how to operate your car, your three remote controls, your cell phone, your iPod, but do you know what it is that your body needs to run at it's best?

Did you know that a 20 oz bottle of Coke has 68 grams of sugar? That is approximately 8 1/2 teaspoons of sugar. When I give my Sugar Blues talk I put all of that sugar into an empty Coke bottle for the visual effect. People are shocked. And, I have not yet met anyone who said they would gulp down 8 1/2 teaspoons of the sparkly white stuff, yet many people do everyday . . and possibly more than once per day. Sadly, there seems to be a large gap between the food we consume and our knowledge about it.

I don't believe in diets or will power. What I believe in is nourishing yourself with what you truly need. That can be the right types of food for your body or it can be working on your relationship, finding a career that is fulfilling, developing a spiritual connection that feeds your soul, or bringing some physical movement into your life. I'm talking about Primary Food and Secondary Food, which is the food that we have on our plate.

Are you aware that it is the balance in your life that often drives your food choices? Also, your body type, blood type, constitution, family ethnicity, and whether you are a dancer or an accountant. Food is individual for each person. That is why diets don't work.

What will be the cost to you if you keep going as you are now? What would be different if you started making some shifts around the way you eat and/or other choices in your life? Contact Me Now to set up a free consultation to go over your health history and to talk about your dreams and goals for your life.

You have this one life, enjoy it to the fullest.