there is no finish line...enjoy the ride...

Know Your Numbers

This has been a tough 5 weeks, I’ve seen a friend die of Breast Cancer - age 36, a dear friend and mentor of mine is fighting his final battle of a losing war against Brain and Lung Cancer - age 63, and a colleague and close friend (age 41) was informed this week that some of his key health indicators if unchanged will lead to a health crisis or worse still, early death.

If I were to ask you to recall your “Financial Indicators” (ie. bank account, mortgage, RRSP, Investments, etc), I think most of you would know these numbers, or at least have access to them.  However, if I were to ask what your “Health Indicators” are (ie. BMI, HDL/LDL, Triglycerides, blood pressure, internal pH, resting pulse, etc.), I suspect if you’re like most North Americans, many of you may not know what these indicators mean, their importance to your long-term health, or what their values are.  So why do we know more about our financial health and not our physical health, especially when you can have all the money in the world, but if you don’t have your health, you're living on borrowed money.

Knowing your health indicators and maintaining their values is one of the easiest ways to prevent a future health crisis from occurring.  That said, “Knowledge is power, but action flicks the switch.”  If you’re a regular reader of my blog you’ve obviously heard me encourage my readers to make their personal health a life priority.  Not only is this good for your personal health, it’s also good for our unsustainable healthcare system.  As Dr. Kenneth Cooper (the father of modern day aerobics) said, “If you don’t make time for your health now, you’ll have lots of time to be sick in the future.”   I’m very interested in my future health; say 30 to 40 years from now. Thinking about health over the long term forces me to make good lifestyle choices today.  This strategy appears to be working.  At age 54, I can’t remember when I was last sick and I can still hold my own riding with competitive cyclists that are 20 to 30 years my junior, and according to my doctor my health indicators are typical of her healthiest 25 year old male patients.

 

Like your personal finances, health is a long term investment that should start when you’re young and be monitored throughout your life with on-going action and adjustments to maintain optimal health indicators.  Just think if you started to prepare for your retirement when you’re 55 or 60, chances are you won’t be enjoying that retirement lifestyle you envisioned, that is unless you win the lottery.  The same holds true for your health, don’t wait for the “Cancer-Cure-Lottery” to bail you out of a health crisis after you’ve neglected your health for 20 to 30 years.  Illness prevention is a lifetime commitment and is your best course of action for living a long, high-quality life.  A good friend of mine rode his mountain bike this summer to the base of Mt Everest at the age of 62.  At an age when many of his peers are slowing down and some are dying of degenerative diseases, he’s living life like a 25 year old with money and wisdom. 

 
Maintaining your health indicators throughout your life is the key to maximizing your potential throughout your years, regardless of your age.  And help is on the way; software vendors, corporations, provincial healthcare organizations, HMO’s, etc are all investigating solutions to make it easier for all of us to track our very own “Personal Health Records.”  In the near future, we will have access to technology that will enable us to track our health indicators as easy as it is to track our bank balances or investment performance.  In fact, TELUS Health Solutions has just introduced this solution to the Canadian marketplace and made it available as an internal pilot for its employees to ensure their “Future is Friendly.”

The following are 10 key indicators that you want to monitor on a regular basis.  If you maintain these indicators by making healthy lifestyle choices, chances are you will enjoy good health throughout your life.

10 health indicators you should know and monitor throughout your life:

 

1)   Blood Pressure Normal: < 120 / < 80 Prehypertension:120-139 / 80-89 Hypertension:  > 139 / > 89	According to the Heart Lung and Blood Institute, 1 in 3 North Americans have high blood pressure. When a nurse wraps that cuff around your arm, she's taking a reading of the force on the walls of your arteries, which is subject to fluctuating pressure as the heart beats to push blood through your body. The trouble is high blood pressure doesn't have any telltale symptoms, so a person might be living with hypertension unknowingly. Over the long haul, elevated blood pressure can damage organs and fuel a cascade of problems. The higher number (systolic) represents the pressure while your heart is beating. The lower number (diastolic) represents the pressure when your heart is resting between beats. Your blood pressure can change from minute to minute when you change your position or physical activities, or when you are stressed or resting. High blood pressure can damage the walls of your arteries.  Action to lower blood pressure can include medications, but diet and exercise are your best way to really beat those numbers back into submission. A diet high in veggies, fruit, fish, and whole grains and low in red meat, fat and sugar—has been shown to lower blood pressure significantly. And research has suggested that this diet packs an especially powerful wallop when people simultaneously work to reduce salt intake, a known blood pressure booster.
2)   Body Mass Index (BMI) Underweight:  < 18.5 Normal:  18.5–24.9 Overweight:  25.0–29.9 Obese:  > 30.0	Overweight and obesity in North America are now at epidemic levels, not to mention a tremendous financial burden on our healthcare systems.  Body Mass Index (BMI) is a number calculated from your height and weight. The accuracy of the BMI in determining your body fat is influenced by factors such as your fitness level, muscle mass, bone structure, sex, and ethnic origin. The catch however, is that it is not always entirely accurate. A person in excellent condition who has a lot of muscle mass may have a high BMI.  But for the majority of us, BMI still provides a reliable indicator of body fat. Too much excess weight is associated with diabetes, heart disease, stroke, some cancers, sleep apnea, osteoarthritis, liver disease, and complications in pregnancy.  See BMI calculator to know your number.
3)   Total Cholesterol  Desirable:  < 200 Borderline high:  200-239 High:  ≥ 240	Your body produces all the cholesterol it needs; however, cholesterol is also added to your body from the foods you eat—mainly saturated fats. Foods rich in saturated fat include butter fat in milk products, red meat, and tropical oils such as coconut oil.  If you keep your total cholesterol level within the desirable range, you may reduce your chances of heart attack and stroke. However, cholesterol is composed of both "good" and "bad" parts, which also need to be considered. Two important parts of cholesterol are low-density lipoprotein (LDL) and high-density lipoprotein (HDL). See items 4 & 5 below.
4)     HDL, or "Good" Cholesterol Low:  < 40 Normal:  40-59 Optimal:  ≥ 60	HDL cholesterol, or "good" cholesterol, helps clear away cholesterol that can stick to your arteries and damage them. The higher the concentration of HDL in your blood, the less likely you are to develop coronary heart disease. The amount of HDL cholesterol you have may be increased in a number of ways, including getting regular physical activity, not smoking, losing weight and eating a healthy diet.
5)   LDL, or "Bad" Cholesterol Optimal:  < 100 Near optimal: 100-129 Borderline high: 130 -159 High:  ≥ 160 Very high:  > 190	LDL cholesterol, or "bad" cholesterol, is a major contributor to blockages in the arteries that can cause heart attack, stroke, and poor circulation. The higher your LDL concentration, the more likely you are to develop these conditions.  LDL cholesterol may be decreased by reducing trans fats and saturated fats that you eat and by eating more fiber-rich foods.  If you have eaten within 12 hours before having this test, your LDL level may be incorrect.
6)   Fasting Triglycerides Normal:  < 150 Borderline high:      150 – 199 High:  ≥ 200	Triglycerides are in a class of blood fats known as "lipids." If you have eaten within 12 hours of having your blood tested, your level may be falsely high. A high triglyceride level can result in hardening of the arteries, a condition called "coronary artery disease."  High levels of triglycerides are more common in people who are overweight, have diabetes, and/or who do not process fat properly. Your triglyceride levels may be reduced by decreasing your intake of simple sugars (sweets), alcohol and by increasing your physical activity.
7)   Fasting Glucose Normal:  60-99 Pre-diabetes:  100 -125 Diabetes:  > 126	Over time, high blood sugar levels associated with diabetes can damage nerves and blood vessels. This can spur the buildup of fat on blood vessel walls, which can impede blood flow and promote atherosclerosis. Having diabetes increases one's risk of cardiovascular disease. Three quarters of those with diabetes die of heart or blood vessel disease.  A fasting glucose test shows the amount of sugar in your blood. If you have eaten within 8 hours before this test, your glucose level may be falsely elevated. Glucose rises rapidly after meals but should return to near fasting value within 2 hours. A high blood glucose level may be a sign of diabetes or pre-diabetes.
8)   Waist Circumference  (in inches) High Risk Levels > 40 inches for men > 35 inches for women	A waist circumference measurement assesses abdominal fat. Importantly, a higher waist circumference indicates distribution of fat around the abdomen and packing fat around vital organs, which research has indicated is more dangerous than carrying weight in the thighs or buttocks. Be sure you're measuring properly. The correct waist circumference measurement is taken by wrapping a measuring tape around the natural waist at the belly button, not around the hips. Too much abdominal fat is an "independent risk factor" for high cholesterol and heart disease, regardless of your BMI score, which could be normal. A large waist circumference is also associated with an increased risk for type 2 diabetes and hypertension.
9)   Resting Pulse Rate  Between 60 & 80 BPM (Beats per Minute)	A lower resting pulse value suggests your cardiovascular system is more efficient. I’ve been training and competing in endurance events for over 3 decades and I still have a resting heart rate of 37 beats/minute.  And while the research is still emerging on how one's resting heart rate predicts about heart disease risk, a picture is beginning to take shape. There is recent evidence to suggest that a higher resting heart rate is associated with heart disease.  This effect seems to be more pronounced in women than in men, but a January 2010 study in the Journal of Epidemiology and Community Health suggested that in women up to the age of 70, every 10-beats-per-minute increase in resting heart rate boosted the risk of dying from heart disease by 18 percent.  In men, the risk was increased by 10 percent for every extra 10 beats per minute, and age didn't have an impact. The study also found that women who engaged in high levels of physical activity were able to reduce their risk of death due to heart disease considerably, compared with those who did little or no activity.
10)  Internal pH 4.5 - 5.75 very acidic 5.75 - 6.5 acidic 6.75 - 7.5 optimal 7.5 - 9.0 too alkaline Measured via Urine or Saliva with pH strips	Your blood’s pH should be slightly alkaline (7.35 - 7.45).  Slightly below or above this range means you will experience symptoms of disease and sickness.  High acidity is a common problem because the North American diet is heavily acidic and a source of destructive Free Radicals.  When highly acidic foods and drinks are introduced into your diet (ie. meat, fast food, processed food, soft drinks, alcohol, etc.) your body will “steal” alkaline minerals from whatever source it can to maintain the blood's healthy pH of 7.39. This usually means that minerals are taken from your bones and vital organs. Over many years this weakens the organs, muscles and bones. Some of the common health problems resulting from high acidity within the body, include: Acceleration of free radical damage Bladder and kidney problems Cardiovascular weakness Immune system weaknesses Acid buildup resulting in joint pain Low energy Osteoporosis, resulting in brittle bones and hip fractures Weight gain

So what is meant by, “Good Lifestyle Choices?”

You will hear healthcare experts and health advocates like myself refer to “good lifestyle habbits”.  Now that I’ve armed you with 10 key health indicators to monitor throughout your life; what actions, or lifestyle choices will drive long-term positive health outcomes?  Tune in next week and learn more about the smart lifestyle choices you can make today that will produce positive health outcomes you can track and measure.

Until next time…Enjoy the Ride …. Rob

Make Health a Habit

The NEW YEAR is almost upon us and every year people make all kinds of resolutions.  Can you guess what is the number one resolution for 2010?  If you guessed something to do with getting fit, losing weight, eating a healthier diet, you’re right.  They’re all right up there in the top 10.

If I told you about a new pill that you can find on the drugstore shelf that promises to strengthen your heart, manage your weight and boost your spirits and self confidence, you would probably dismiss my suggestion as snake oil.   But an exercise as simple as brisk walking does all this and more!  Walking is simple, natural, and doesn't cost a cent and if you haven't been active for a while, it's a gentle low-impact exercise to ease you into a higher level of fitness and health.

 

With every passing year of your life, you have more to gain from being physically active and paying close attention to what goes in your mouth; as your age-related risks of chronic degenerative disease increase, regular exercise and a healthy diet will either slow or reverse that trend.  In fact, you're even more likely to notice the benefits of regular exercise and healthy food choices if you already have a chronic health condition.

Are you ever going to be fit again as long as you live? The answer is unless you make a resolution to get fit and turn it into a habit – you’re never going to be fit – ever.  So the issue isn’t whether you need one more article describing all the benefits of exercise and diet, no, the issue is how does one make heathy life choices automatic HABITS. 

How long does it take a HABIT to become AUTOMATIC?

Say you want to create a new lifestyle habit, like regular exercise, how often does it need to be performed before it no longer requires Herculean self control to become a habit?

Clearly it’s going to depend on the type of habit you’re trying to form and how determined you are in pursuing your goal.  Ask Google and you’ll get a figure of somewhere between 21 and 28 days. In fact there’s no solid evidence for this number.  The 21 day myth came from a book published in 1960 by plastic surgeon Dr. Maxwell Maltz when he noticed that amputees took, on average, 21 days to adjust to the loss of a limb and he argued that people take 21 days to adjust to any major life changes.

According to Clinical Psychologist Dr. Peter H Brown, two significant factors influence the time it takes a behavior to become an automatic habit, 1) how bad do you want it, and 2) how life changing is the behavior.  Given these two variables the average time to form a habit is 66 days and can swing from as low as 18 days to as high as 254 days.  

In 1979 I was out of shape and overweight when I made a NEW YEAR’S resolution to get fit again.  It took a little over two months to make running an automatic daily habit and although I’ve switched to triathlons and cycling since then, exercise has always been a life priority that’s as automatic as breathing.  

Make your HABIT HAPPEN

I think I’ve heard just about every excuse why people don’t exercise and make their personal health a high priority. Here are just a few I’ve heard over the years:

1. I’m too old to exercise, besides health is for the young, not the old
2. I’m too fat and embarrassed the way I look to exercise
3. I’ve tried to exercise in the past and it’s just something I’m not good at
4. I can’t afford to exercise as gym memberships are far too expensive for my budget
5. I hate exercising, it’s so boring
6. I have the genetics that prevent me from losing weight, so why bother exercising
7. I can’t exercise because there’s no gym near my house
8. I can’t exercise because I don’t know how to start
9. I can’t exercise because I don’t own any fitness
10. I can't exercise because I'm too tired

 
“If you don’t have time to exercise today, you'll have lots of time to be sick in the future”  Dr. Kenneth Cooper

By far, the number one excuse I hear more than all the other excuses combined is, “I’m too busy and don’t have time to exercise.”  Well, if this excuse were true, why are the gym’s, roads and pathway’s full of people that CAN make time in there schedules.  People that exercise have schedules that are just as busy as people that don’t.  So the real reason why people can’t find time to exercise is that their personal health and the health of their families aren't a priority.

How do you form a good Habit

So let’s take a look at how you can make exercise or other positive life choices automatic habits that are hard to break.

1. You need to pick a habit or goal that’s realistic.  Deciding to run for 2 hours a day, for 3 months straight is a goal that will likely fail and lead to injury.  Set yourself up for success and pick a habit or goal that you can accomplish.   A goal like walking or going to the gym 5 days a week for the next 8 weeks is a good start.   
2. Pick an activity you enjoy.  I personally love riding and my habit is so entrenched in my life that I’ve become a master of fitting a workout into my day regardless of how busy I am.  Daily exercise for me is my normal state and an unscheduled day off is an uncomfortable anomaly. 
3. Once you’ve selected an activity you love to do every day and have set your goal, ask yourself WHY this goal is so important.  If you can’t come up with a solid reason or reasons to support your goal, success will be harder to achieve.  I coached my wife for a entire year in preparation to participate in a bike ride from Calgary Alberta to Austin Texas in support of Cancer Survivors.  Having big PURPOSE will provide the motivation you need to succeed.

So here are some steps to set yourself up for success:

• Write down your habit with specifics, like your goal, days per week you will exercise, time of the day, etc.  The more specific you are the better chance of meeting your objective
• Tell everyone you know that you’re making a commitment to your health by doing (fill in your goal).  This will help you be more accountable for a positive outcome.
• If you know you’ll require help sticking to your plan, hire a personal trainer for 3 to 4 months, or sign up for a registered fitness class so you have a schedule and routine that becomes habit forming.  And don’t give the cost a second thought, we’re talking about your health here and there is nothing more important.  Just ask someone that has a degenerative disease like cancer what they would pay for the health you take for granted.
• Have your spouse join you, or at least encourage you in your new commitment to health. 

Remember that as with any new adventure in life, there will be ups and downs.  You really need to complete at least 66+ consecutive days of scheduled exercise of varying work loads of hard and easy days.  And if you should miss a day here and there, don’t worry, research shows that missing the odd day has little affect on the goal becoming an automatic habit.  

If there are other healthy lifestyle goals that require addressing, like your diet, don’t try to change everything at once.  Focus on tackling one goal at a time.  After you’re in your healthy exercise routine, than tackle your diet and other lifestyle goals.

Why wait until the NEW YEAR to make health your highest priority in your life.  As my mother told me when she was dying of Leukemia, "If you don't have your health, you have nothing." Make tomorrow the first day of the rest of your life, a healthy life.  No more excuses, start making it happen. 

Enjoy the Ride .... Rob

 

Healthy Eating in a Hurry

A friend of mine is having a hard time moving his wife and three young children from their unhealthy but convenient fast food diets.  This transition takes some planning, but not as much time, or money, as one might expect.

After a long day of work and school, your house is probably full of hungry people. You scan the inside of your fridge and freezer in the hopes of finding culinary inspiration, but find only a flat, square box: frozen pizza. You turn the oven’s dial to 400 C and in 20 minutes, the troops are fed and you get to relax.

Sure, it’s not ideal, but with so much going on in your life – soccer, parent-teacher meetings, work, house cleaning – frozen pizza and McDonalds is often the default choice of convenience. Finding time to prepare and cook up a healthy meal, or even knowing what to cook, can be daunting for most.  But are you happy knowing that you're the reason your children won't live as long as the previous generation.  It doesn't have to be this way.

“People have really busy lives these days, with activities, and work and school. We live in a society where the focus has moved away from preparing family meals and sitting down together,” says Tesia Bennett, a registered dietician with the Pediatric Centre for Weight and Health. “We have such great access to convenience foods.

The trouble is what’s fast and easy is rarely the healthiest. Bennett points out that prepared foods tend to be higher in fat, sodium and sugar than homemade meals. This goes for both the preppared meals you find in grocery stores and the ones in fast food restaurants, too.

In 2004, a Statistics Canada study revealed that, on average, Canadians consumed 3,400 mg of sodium a day, a far cry from the 1,500 mg maximum that doctors recommend. 72% of that salt comes from processed foods and these statistics haven’t improved in the past 6 years.  In addition to their high fat content, prepared foods also contain higher levels of trans-fats, a kind of fat that raises the amount of bad cholesterol in your blood stream.  This unhealthy diet is typical of most North Americans and is responsible for the growing number of people dying of degenerative diseases including cancer, which is directly contributing to the run-away health care costs.

With the knowledge of the risks associated with prepared foods, and the benefits of a healthy diet and weight control, there’s no better reason to prioritize eating well and the timing to to start now. But where do you start?  Here's three easy steps:

1. Sit down as a family once a week and come up with meals for the following week or, if that sounds too ambitious, do ti for the next few days. It’s good to involve the kids, too. Ask them if there’s something they’d like for dinner, or snacks. Giving children the chance to participate creates an opportunity to teach them about healthy food.
2. After coming up with a number of dinner ideas, check the fridge and pantry to see what ingredients you have and what you need before drafting a grocery list. This will be your secret weapon the next time you venture into the grocery store.  Having a list reduces the impulse buying at the grocery store, rather than going in there with no plan and shopping with your eyes, or worse, your stomach.  If you’re still concerned about impulsively throwing convenience foods into the cart, stick to the perimeter of the store. That's generally where the real food resides.  Most of the unhealthy convenience items lurk in the aisles at the centre of the store.  Produce and other healthy chioces tend to be located on the far walls of most grocery stores.  While it may seem like more work up front, making a list can also minimize your time in the grocery store and the number of times you go grocery shopping each week.
3. The third step is cooking, but it needn’t be arduous. There are many ways to reduce cooking time.. Sometimes your microwave can be used in lieu of the oven. My wife will often use a slow cooker to prepare entire meals the night before. Just throw in the ingredients and turn it on before you go to work. Other strategies include defrosting meat the night before and cutting up vegetables ahead of time. Kids can often help with this.

 

As you’re prepping for the next day’s meal, you can also make lunches at the same time – another task kids can help with. Packing your own lunch isn’t just healthy; it’s about $400 cheaper annually than hitting the drive through.  My wife and I involved our daughter in meal preparation ever since she was a young child and now that she’s 25 and living in London England, she has a love for cooking delicious healthy meals and would never eat something out of a box, or default for a fast food pit stop meal.

Of course, old habits can be tough to break, so I suggest that families make changes gradually and together. If you’ve been eating out 4 to 5 nights a week, cooking all week might not be realistic. However, if you’re opting for prepared foods for dinner, there are things you can do to improve the nutritional quality of the meal. For example, if you’re ordering in pizza, substitute salad for the wings, or prepare a platter of fresh vegetables as an appetizer and order a small pizza instead of a large.

If you’re unsure about how to create a balanced meal, don’t be bogged down by the contradictory health studies and other information in the media. In the end, healthy eating can be pretty basic.  Eat 7 to 10 servings of fruits and vegetables a day (a serving is anything that fits into the palm of your hand) and balance this by adding protein or carbs.  A rule of thumb that I follow is to look at my plate and figure 70% to 80% should be vegetable (raw is better) and 20% to 30% protein or carbs.  Eating healthy isn’t complicated. 

Creating a healthier lifestyle for your family can be a challenge, but sending the right messages to your kids can make the transition easier.  Lead by example.  Children emulate their parents and if you eat well and abstain from the junk food, they will too. I also suggest that families sit down to talk about the changes they’re willing to make and get everyone’s buy-in.  Reassure your kids that you won’t take everything they enjoy away from them.  That said, British celebrity chef, Jamie Oliver is a master of preparing healthy food.  My daughter lives by his delicious and fast meals that blend flavors from various foods, while meeting the health requirements the body requires.  Take a look at this presentation he gave to an audience at TED.  It will open your eyes.

 

Whether your children are seven months or 17, it’s never too late to get your family eating better.  The more you can do to prevent disease earlier on in life; the better off your children will be as adults. Besides, we’d much rather be talking about prevention than illness treatment.”

Enjoy the ride … Rob

Cancer: Is it time to rethink our approach to its prevention?

One of my best friends was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer last week and was given 6 to 24 months to live (he is a non-smoker).  Specifically, Larry was diagnosed with inoperable Adenocarcinoma and it has already spread into his brain and lymph system.  I consider Larry a good friend, a mentor and someone I can always rely on to provide a balanced opinion on any topic or situation. Larry had such an influence on the way I think, I would often ask myself, “what would Larry do in this situation?’

 

 

 As one of the leading causes of death today, the thought of developing cancer weighs heavy on many people’s minds, and for my friend Larry and his family, more than most right now.  As statistics have shown, the risk of developing the disease - lung, colon, skin, prostate, breast, or other types of cancer - is growing exponentially. The question we all should be asking ourselves is why?

 

Modern medicine has waged a failing war on this insidious disease that focuses on "prevention," though it's not the true prevention of the degenerative disease itself.  Rather, physicians and scientists recommend screening for early detection as their idea of “prevention”, when sadly in most cases by the time the disease is detected, early or otherwise, it's already become a crisis and is very hard to combat.  As a matter of fact, the failure of drugs and treatments of the disease can actually harm the body as much as they help.

 

After the death of my mother almost 30 years ago, I began a lifetime of research into the true prevention of disease.  Knowing that cancer, or any degenerative disease takes years or decades to develop before it becomes a full blown crisis, I was less interested in the actual symptoms of cancer and more interested uncovering the symptoms that one could recognize leading up to a cancer crisis.

 

So what to look for?

 

Cancer is the mother of all degenerative diseases and for the most part there are ways you can identify early warning symptoms and take corrective action before cancers develop, but the changes need to start immediately.  Cancer, like most degenerative diseases doesn’t just sneak up on you; it takes years, even decades to develop into a killer.  Knowing these 7 early warning symptoms and taking immediate action is your best form of prevention:

 

1.     Loss of appetite and fatigue: your digestive system is the body’s largest consumer of energy and when the body is placed into stress, it redirects energy required for digestion and elimination of food and waste to the area(s) of concern.  Feeling fatigue is another way the body redirects its energy to repair and correct itself.  Whenever you are ill, you will notice a lack of energy and general feeling of fatigue.  To see this defence mechanism operate in a positive way, just ask anyone that just ran a marathon if they want a big meal as they cross the finish line.  Food is the last thing on their mind.  Also after running a marathon, the body is dealing with the immediate stress of recovery and repair of damaged muscles tissue from pounding out 26.2 miles and much of the available energy is directed to recovery, which takes hours of rest before the marathon runner regains their appetite and energy levels.  But unlike a sick person, once recovered, a marathon runner will eat the fridge and its contents. 

 

2.     Toxaemia: when the body’s toxic levels increase, the body reacts by accelerating the elimination process.  It does this by raising the body’s temperature, ie. Fever.  Combined with the previous stage’s symptoms, a fever mobilizes the body’s defences.  The increased body heat acts as a catalyst and causes the toxins to liquefy and pass into the bloodstream where they are transported to the organs of elimination (Bowels, Lungs, Bladder and Skin).  When you’re sick, you will notice that you have to urinate more and your get the sweats.  These are both examples of your body doing its job.  Attempting to take drugs to reduce a person’s fever actually inhibits the body’s ability to rid itself of the very toxins it’s trying to eliminate.  No one enjoys the discomfort of a fever and night sweats, but resists the urge to take drugs that only get in the way of the body’s ability to deal with the elimination of the toxins.  Many people think the fever is the illness, when in fact the fever is how your body defends itself and eliminates the root cause of the problem.

 

3.     Irritation: as the toxic and acidity levels within the body increase over longer period of time, it has to take more aggressive measures to suggest that you take notice and address an escalating health issue.  Irritation is a condition in which the body sets in motion to speed up the elimination of toxins.  Bowels and urine are obvious processes of toxin elimination and may not be painful unless ignored.  Less obvious is when toxins are eliminated at other sites in the body.  Your skin for example, is the largest organ in your body with over 4 billion pores to remove toxins.  Generally, people with skin conditions have high levels of internal acid and toxins within their bodies. All diseases thrive in an acidic environment, so it’s important that you know your body’s internal pH.  Using a simple pH strip to regularly measure your internal pH for high acidity will let you know if your diet has to be adjusted to more alkaline foods.  Finally, people with physical irritations generally display emotional irritable; some of these signs are: nervousness, depression, anxiety and worry, just to mention a few.  Be aware that many emotional problems have a very physical root cause.  Just watch the show the “Biggest Loser” to see the emotional affects poor health can have on an individual.

 

4.     Inflammation: remember these words, “Pain is your friend, not to be ignored”.  Pain is the body’s most intense effort to cleanse and restore itself.  Inflammation and the resulting pain is the result of toxic overload in specific areas of the body for a long period of time.  When inflammation exists, we are diagnosed with one of the “itises”.  Tonsillitis (inflammation of the tonsils), Hepatitis (inflammation of the liver), Arthritis (inflammation of the joints), Lymphadenitis (swollen lymph nodes), Dermatitis (inflammation of the skin), Colitis (inflammation of the Colon), etc, etc.  At this point, corrective action can be taken to reverse these and other painful, inflammatory conditions.  Unfortunately, many people simply take medication to mask the body’s natural warning system as they proceed to the next stage of disease escalation unaware of the damage they’re doing to themselves.  This is why so many people are surprised when they discover they have a serious health condition.  As a rule, I never take pain medication, unless I absolutely know the root cause of my health issue.  For example, I would take a pain killer to address an acute situation, like a broken bone.  I would never take a pain killer to address a long-term chronic health issue.  And the more pain I experience, the greater my attention and focus to correcting the issue.  Also note that the very drugs used to mask the pain are also toxic and highly acidic, adding to the very problem the body is so desperately trying to correct.

 

5.     Ulceration: the fifth stage is an indication that the body has been under assault for such a long time that massive amounts of cells and tissue are being destroyed.  This condition can be extremely painful because there are exposed nerves.  Just ask anyone that has stomach ulcers, or open, oozing sores anywhere on their body.  I just returned from my place in Arizona and I saw a man that weighed over 300 lbs and had a serious rash in addition to open sores on his legs, arms and face.  I can only assume his skin condition was over his entire body.  This is a sign that his body is extremely acidic is overflowing with toxins and is desperately trying to eliminate them through the skin.  Unless this person takes immediate action and has a complete change in lifestyle, he shouldn’t be surprised when he’s presented with a health crisis, like cancer.

 

 

6.     Induration: Scaring is a form of induration, which is a hardening of tissue, such as an ulcer.  But this tissue hardening has real purpose, as it is the body’s attempt to encapsulate the toxic material and preventing it from further spreading freely throughout the body and holding it in one place.  The sac is a form of non-cancerous tumour.  That said Induration is the last stage that the body is still in control of its own cells.  If the destructive practices that brought matters to this advanced stage of disease go unchecked, the cells will become uncontrollable and move to the final stage; Cancer.

 

7.     Cancer: This is the end point of a very long evolution of disease progression.  As with most degenerative diseases, this takes a significant amount of time, (as in years or decades), and if the causes that brought the body to this point are not drastically reversed, the result is potentially fatal.  In the best of circumstances along with a total commitment to a healthy regimen, many cancers can be arrested and reversed, but it takes extreme diligence and a concentrated effort.  Don’t let a crisis like cancer be your wake-up call to changing your unhealthy lifestyle, especially when there are so many early warning signs that should catch your attention. 

 

Cancer Prevention

You'll mostly hear doctors use the word "prevention" in regards to mammograms, screening methods, and blood tests.  But true prevention comes in making sure your body has the tools it needs to keep itself healthy in the first place.  Remember, the natural state for the human body is health, not sickness.  The toxic free radicals we encounter every day through sunlight, air and water pollution, pesticides in our food need to be eradicated by making lifestyle changes that include, having a healthy diet by eating at least 7 servings of fruits and vegetables every day, taking quality vitamin, mineral and antioxidant supplements to bridge the nutritional gaps in our degraded food supply and committing to a regular exercise program for at least one hour a day, 6 to 7 days a week.

 

Summary

 

“Knowledge is Power, but Action flicks the Switch”

 

I started this block in May of this year with the purpose of providing people with information and knowledge that empower them to make more informed decisions about their personal health and wellness.  It takes 10% knowledge and 90% action to transform an unhealthy lifestyle.  If only one person out of the 3000+ that now follow this blog world-wide makes a positive change to their life through the information I share, I will have met my purpose.  Let me know if you’re the person that takes positive action and tell us your story.  You will inspire others.

 

And Enjoy the Ride

 

Rob