Why do I get sick?
People, for the Most Part, Don’t Get Diseases – They ‘Earn’ Them …..
Your throat gets scratchy, your nose begins to run, every muscle in your body begins to ache, and the readings on the fever thermometer begin to creep up. The next thing you know, you feel terrible and you know you’re in for a at least a few days of bodily miseries.If the feelings of being too ill to go to work or function normally in your daily life lasts more than 48 hours and /or does not respond to fluids, rest, and pain relievers, you should of course contact your physician, but the questions is you keep asking yourself is – WHY DO I GET SICK?
95% of the time, it’s not the virus or bacteria we so quickly blame our woes on. Even Louis Pasteur the father of pasteurization said… when talking about the cause of disease and the presence of bacteria…“what came first the diseased tissue or the bacteria?” and the answer was the diseased tissue caused by lifestyle factors.
The old adage, “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is certainly true, and since this blog is not about getting sick in the first place, here are some usefull tips:
Get enough sleep, rest, recovery, relaxation and Rejuvenation.Babies grow while they sleep and adults heal and restore their immunity while they “get their Z’s”, and vice versa. Consistently short changing yourself of needed recuperation is a great way to lower your immunity and open the door for infections— and worse. When you vital energy is low, cellular function deteriorates, especially when combined micronutrient poor foods, and lack of conditioning.
Often, you can help abort an infection in the early stages by going to bed early, taking an afternoon nap (snooze at lunch instead of eating or put your head down on the desk for ten minutes during a coffee break, etc.) or otherwise increasing your personal energy do so with a Nutrient Rich healthy eating style that starts by adding superfoods into the way you currently eat and you won’t be getting sick, as often or for as long as you used to. When you are healthy, sickness takes on a whole new meaning.
Stay hydrated. But notice, we’re not saying “drink water”. Drinking water is great when you are active, when it’s hot and you need to cool down, or when you are simply thirsty, but the true is, eating high water content foods will take care of most of your water needs, negating the need to be drinking all the time. The need to drink 8 glasses of water a day is for people who eat unhealthy, water poor foods, that are low in produce (fruits and vegetables) and high in animal products and refined foods, which don’t have water. Since that’s usually the case 90% of the time or more, most people don’t keep up with their need to stay hydrated. To stay more hydrated and healthy, drink a glass of water if needed, but more importantly, drink a fresh vegetable juice, have a salad, or fruit, or any of the countless recipes make from plant based nutrient rich foods. They are all water rich.
Keep your diet micronutrient rich and clean. Plenty of fresh fruits and vegetables (preferably organically grown) have hundreds, in some cases thousands of antioxidants, bioflavonoids and other phytochemicals that strengthen our cellular function and immunity. People who eat a plant-based, nutrient rich diet are often more at advantage here because of their generally higher intake of high quality produce. Refined sugars, hydrogenated oils, and other chemicals in refined food, weaken our immunity, and it is herein that people eating “plant based” but nutrient poor diets, focused on micronutrient poor grains as the basis of their diets, animal milks and refined junk foods, lose their healthy diet advantages. Particularly foods that are micronutrient poor are associated with increased allergic reactions and mucus flow – possibly factors that facilitate infection.
Assure comprehensive nutritional adequacy. By including lots of dark, green leafy vegetables, fruits, legumes, and small amounts of nuts and seeds. These whole foods, plant based and nutrient rich are the best sources of nutrients. But both vegans and non-vegans alike must take note: A healthy immune system requires sufficient zinc, vitamin B12, vitamin D, and omega 3 fats, nutrients that can be scarce on a completely plant based diet or even a carnivorous diet. Be sure your diet includes foods that supply enough of these nutrients – zinc in whole grains, nuts, seeds, beans, etc. and omega – 3 fats in walnuts, flaxseeds, leafy greens, etc. B12 and vitamin D is not found in foods other than mushrooms, so you might have to take the supplement. Supplementation is not about whether you eat plant or animal based, it’s needed if it’s need and there are nutrients everyone should be supplementing based on a number of modern day factors.
Be active every day even if you are not training. Gentle exercise even like walking can increase heart rate which forces more blood through the liver and kidneys, resulting in more rapid removal from the blood of bacterially derived proteins and other waste products of infection that keep you feeling ill. Exercise is about more than being muscularly fit or excess fat free; it’s about keeping your body clean. An active body has a healthy lymph system, which mobilizes and eliminates waste “weight” in the process. When your body’s energy is high, your function is high; when it’s fueled right, you don’t promote disease, and when it’s conditioned you stay clean and strong.
Truly manage stress. When we are under stress our entire body feels it; both negative distresses, even positive eustresses can cause much life style-induced diseases if excessive, even though the latter is better than the former. If late nights, sleep deprivation, fast foods, and other immune depressing factors are common to your life style, they are probably part of the assault on your immune system. You need to compensate for them with taking rest whenever required, a more plant based, nutrient-rich diet, regular activity and exercise and other essential lifestyle strategies will benefit you when it comes to managing stress. These only the 3 core essentials of health and higher performance; there are other lifestyle skills need to live a healthy lifestyle successfully and achieve your goals.
Determine why you want to change or “improve” your lifestyle.If you want to or get more sleep, change the way you eat, or exercise more… determine why you would want to make such changes because none of these lifestyle changes are natural goals in and of themselves. We can make goals of each of these aspects of our lifestyles, but this is usually not effective because to have a goal to eat better, you have to not be eating healthy.
What’s effective is making it your objective (which is near term and immediate) to get more rest today, or improve say the way you eat in some way today or be more active today… so that you can achieve your life, business or sporting goals in a more powerful way, healthy and functioning at a higher level. This is motivating.
If you want to stop earning diseases through poor lifestyle practices, and no longer want to live chronically overwhelmed, with low energy, nutrient poor eating practices and a deconditioned body that is a sitting duck for poor immune system function then put these practices into play.