How are you Feeling?



“Never affirm or repeat about your health what you do not wish to be true.”                      Ralph Waldo Trine.

Have you, or someone you know, ever said things like this?

• I feel a headache coming on.
• I didn’t get enough sleep last night; so today I’ll be tired and worthless.
• I always get allergies this time of year.
• I think I’m getting sick. 
• My grandmother had Alzheimer’s and so did my mother, so I’ll probably get it too.
• Whenever I travel I get sick.
• I feel so old; my body aches all over, and I know it’s only going to get worse. 
• If there’s a bug going around you can be sure I’ll get it.
• This indigestion is killing me

As you can see, our thoughts, feelings, and words often affirm something about the status of our health…sadly, something we don’t wish to be true.

You know, I’ve long believed this statement: ‘The thoughts I have, and the words I say create my reality’. I’ve used this mantra with myself and my children. And I’ve been heard to repeat it many times over a semester to my college students. But I continue to be amazed; and stopped in my footsteps at the rock hard truth behind it. So I was particularly focused in when I began reading the first few pages of a book titled Mind Over Medicine.  

 Author and Medical Doctor Lissa Rankins shares this statement, worthy of being repeated: “Change your thoughts, change your behaviors; change your behaviors, change your biochemistry.”

This once traditional physician for over 10 years takes the reader on a journey through her evolution into integrated medicine as she takes on this question we should all be asking ourselves. “What if you have the power to heal your body just by changing how your mind thinks and feels?”

Dr. Rankin confides that her traditional medical education didn’t in any way train her to practice or support this notion.  “It’s no wonder,” Rankin writes, “the notion that the mind might have the power to heal the body would be threatening to many mainstream Doctors. After all,” she says, “ we spend a decade learning the tools that supposedly give us mastery over other people’s bodies…..As doctors we like to believe we know your body better than you do. The whole medical establishment is based on such a notion.” Lissa Rankin shares her personal experiences of her past patients, “Most people are happy to function within this paradigm. The alternative—that you have more power to heal your own body than you’ve ever imagined—lobs the responsibility for health back onto your court, and many people feel like that’s just too much responsibility. It’s much easier to hand over your power and hope to someone smarter, wiser, and with more experience to ‘fix you’."


Dr. Rankin words took me back to Dr. Joel Fuhrman’s statements that I had heard just the week before, in his presentation about nutrition. He too shared his concerns about how we too readily seek out doctor visits, in hopes that a bottle filled with legalized drugs will treat the ‘whatever is ailing us’. He agreed that physicians were too quick to pass out what he called ‘permission slips’ for pills and procedures. He instead wanted physicians to help their patients learn to take responsibility for their health.

There is was again…that word ‘responsibility’.

I wonder … if we do shirk our duty of taking responsibility for our own health, is it because we don’t believe we can actually make a difference, or that we have the power. Or do we pretend to ignore it because the realization that we actually have the means to control it is just too scary and mind-blowing to think about. We cry out, “You mean, what you’re saying is I’m supposed to learn how to fix myself? But I can’t…It’s just too much work, it’s too hard, and besides, I can’t be bothered! Can’t I just get a prescription; an out-patient procedure, or a body replacement instead?”

Hmmmm…..

Like any change of behavior we wish to pursue, it first requires that we take this first step: The step of awareness. I think we should all rise to a challenge this week of becoming more aware of the words we speak, and the thoughts we have about our own health. What are others around us saying about their health? I’d love to share what you come up with. Post it on Facebook, my blog or my email at smallsteps4bigresults@yahoo.com.

Next time I plan to share more from Dr. Lissa Rankin and the plethora of scientific proof she found about how our thoughts affect our health.

Are You Eating Your G-BOMBS?



"The Whiter your bread, the sooner you're dead"  Joel Fuhrman M.D

      Several years ago, our Yuma Community was selected, along with another county, as the most unhealthy county in America. It's sad...I know. But now, our community has a new goal: to become America’s healthiest county.  And as part of getting to that goal, the healthiest County in America campaign is trying to educate us all about healthy living.  So they invited Family physician, nutritional researcher and New York Times best-selling author Dr.Joel Fuhrman to come to our town to tell us how to make that happen.

     “Did you know our great American diet is killing us?  Did you know that diet filled with fat, sugar, white flour, salt and dairy products is the foundation and causation of the catastrophic rising incidence of cancer, diabetes and heart attacks? How many of you want to die from one of those diseases?  Are you willing to do something that will keep that from happening to you? If so raise your hand up.” 

    And most of the 800 + of us sitting in the high school auditorium on a Sunday afternoon did just that, as we listened to this man on a mission. Dr. Joel Fuhrman didn’t mince any words as he slammed the toxic American diet.  His message was clear. For more than four hours we listened as he shared statistic after statistic; study after study; and story after story of the harmful poisons we pour into our system every day.  He filled our minds with the disastrous and deadly consequences that come from the choices we make each time we put something unhealthy into our mouths.   He said if we asked the Al-Qaeda to create a diet for the U.S population; they would pick the one that the American people are currently eating. In Dr. Fuhrman’s opinion those of us that indulge in this 'normal' heavy intake of sugar, fat, white flour, dairy and animal fats are carrying around a suicidal bomb of our own….it just may take a few years for it to explode!  His scientific calculations claimed that we have 85% of our population in the United States overweight!

        Fuhrman, nutritional and natural food expert, had scathing remarks for the drug companies that seek to make billions and billions of dollars off of our need for quick fix to better health.  He talked about the multitude of physicians that buy into this as well and readily hand out the ‘permission’ slips that allow their patients to swallow the very pill that is leading them to their premature death or disease.  He wonders why more doctors don’t take their overweight, depressed, sickly patients and slam their head against the wall and tell them they are all idiots; Idiots for believing the hype from the drug companies, for believing in the quick fix schemes of book authors just trying to make a fast buck and feasting off our gullible natures.  We’re Idiots for believing that the food companies that sell us our processed food might actually care about our health. Dr. Fuhrman chastised the American education system that leaves its students ignorant about nutrition and healthy living.   

   He instructed the audience and explained a plethora of scientific studies that have clearly shown quick, positive, and at times, miraculous medical results after regularly eating the foods he refers to as G-BOMBS.

G-Greens

B- Beans

O-Onions

M-Mushrooms

B- Berries

S- Seeds and Nuts

  By the time I left the presentation I was ready to swear an oath to eating kale soup, mushroom sandwiches and steel oats, sprinkled with lentils and flaxseed.  Seriously folks!  Dr. Fuhrman was a persuasive, polished, motivational speaker, with plenty of scientific and anecdotal evidence to back up his potent message.  I went to bed psyched!

      But when I woke up this morning; I didn’t feel the same.  I just wasn't motivated to take on the enormous challenge of changing my diet in such an extraordinary way. I couldn’t live up to the healthy eating he was touting. The thought of chewing steamed Kale makes me want to puke, mushroom sandwiches sound disgusting, and who eats beans sprinkled on their breakfast food????

       Was it even conceivable that Yuma county could meet their goal?  I certainly couldn't.  I had a brief 'whoa is me' moment, but I was quick to remind myself of my principle of small steps.  I must set goals that are achievable, specific, and ones I can feel confident about.  I wondered how many others at that meeting walked away throwing their arms up and saying..."no way, Jose, it's just too big of a goal!"  

         I did agree with a lot of what the Doctor said; and although I’m not yet ready to get rid of processed sugar all together in my diet…maybe I could begin by halving the amount I eat.  If we can’t give up sodas yet; how about setting a specific limit and gradually decrease our intake every month?  Don’t like the taste of whole wheat pasta…try mixing it with white pasta.  I'll keep working on getting in those three fruits and vegetables each day.  I'll continue with my big salad for lunch.  I'll add in some cooked mushrooms, more berries, nuts, and broccoli; and maybe I can even sneak in some raw kale if I’m not looking.

                     Small steps....I just need to take small steps...

I suggest you check out Joel Fuhrman’s website to learn more about his program of healthy eating. http://www.drfuhrman.com/