How to Take Care of Your Body for Health & Wellbeing

A friend and thought leader that I greatly admire recently posted a satirical statement on Facebook: “Synthetic processed food is ‘normal’ and you’re ‘extreme’ if you are insistent on putting only natural things in your body. … Sounds legit.”

Those of us who know how much he cares about his body and eating well laughed at the statement, of course.

Synthetic Food Isn’t Healthy

Eating synthetic processed food vs organic, grown in the garden with love food, is very well illustrated by the difference between margarine and butter. Apparently, margarine is only one molecule away from actually being plastic. Many report that if you put a stick of butter and a stick of margarine outside, bugs and animals won’t touch the margarine. That’s because it’s not real food.

I will not get into the pros and cons of dairy here. I’m just pointing out that synthetic, over processed food is why so many in the western world have health issues. And, physical wellbeing GREATLY impacts mental wellbeing and happiness as well.

My response to my friend’s comment was this …

“Glad I’ve been extreme for decades. … And it shows. LOL At least to me. I feel vital, happy, and healthy in my early 60s.

Many others in my age range aren’t faring as well. I’m head of the committee for my 45th high school reunion coming up. Several of my classmates have died. Many are on many medications and have had lots of surgeries for this or that. To me, that’s not normal.”

Science is finally proving what many of us have known for ages. Many maladies are preventable.

Learning How to Take Care of Your Body is Vital

But you have to put you first and you have to take care of yourself. You have to believe that you matter.

If you are under a doctor’s care and have serious health issues already, definitely continue following the guidelines set out by your health care professional. Just realize there are some things you can do to assist your wellbeing.

While I was putting myself through college (way back in the day), I worked as a receptionist at an Internal Medicine doctor’s office. Those type of doctors tend to treat long-term illness and dis-eases like diabetes, heart issues, etc. The patients tended to be older, and they had to come in all the time for bloodwork. None of them looked well. I began associating aging with the body falling apart. I realized that was not a healthy mental picture to hold, so I quit that job. Presupposing that pain and dis-ease are normal as a person ages is not a good idea.

I’ve been talking about the importance of health and taking great care of the human body for decades. I even started writing a book about it many years ago. However, I realized there are people far more qualified than I to talk about the topic. So I dropped the book project.

But, that doesn’t mean I stopped caring about health or how important I think it is to take impeccable care of the vessel (your body) that houses the Divine.

It Took Having Extremely Poor Health for Me to Learn These Things

Why do I know these things?

Why does it matter so much to me?

Because I used to have horrible horrible health. I could have been the poster girl for a particular brand of soft drink. Why? Because every time you saw me, I was holding one in my hand. I would have 8 to 10 a day.

Talk about destroying your health. WOW was my body a mess. So much sugar. So much pH imbalance. I was sick ALL THE TIME. And, whatever was going around, once I caught it, I couldn’t get rid of it. I sometimes had to sleep 16 hours a day. Life was no fun and I felt bad most of the time.

So when I finally realized that what I was eating and drinking were part of the problem, I did a radical shift. I didn’t eat sugar in any form for 8 years. I started taking supplements. I started taking impeccable care of myself. And, thankfully, I’ve been able to overcome many of the physical issues I’d been dealing with because of it.

Now the only things I drink are pure water, organic hot tea, and the occasional small glass of wine. That’s it. I haven’t had a soft drink in 15 years. And, even then, it was 1 time while we were crossing from Fiji to Vanuatu in a private yacht. The ocean was really rough and I was feeling nauseous. So I had a single soda to settle my stomach. In hindsight, it was probably the preventative I took beforehand for potential nausea that most likely caused the nausea. And, for an upset stomach, now I’d turn to ginger tea.

Before that single soda, I hadn’t had a soft drink since my late twenties … when I found out I could be healthier if I changed my diet and took better care of myself.

Something I learned along the journey of becoming more healthy … When the body is healthy and pain free, it is easier to make good decisions, “receive” and properly interpret higher wisdom, and a whole lot more.

I had to really study the subject of “how to take care of your body” to make all the positive changes. It’s not something they teach you growing up. And, back when I was plagued with health challenges, Google didn’t yet exist for me to look up things.

I’m sure you’ve seen a list like this before, but it’s something to keep top of mind all the time. These are but a few of the things that are important to lead a healthier, happier life.

• good nutrition
• pure water
• sleep
• sunlight
• exercise

The Importance of Sunlight

I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again: sun is important to health. But you should try to never allow your skin to burn in the sun or use toxic chemical sunscreens. If you have to use sunscreen, make sure it’s natural/healthy.

At the beginning of the warmer season, I put on shorts and a top that allow my legs and arms to get sun exposure. I begin with only 10 minutes a day and work up from there. Every day I spend a little time in the sun, without sunscreen. I do sometimes use a coconut oil-based lotion … just to keep my skin moist. And, I make sure I drink LOTS of pure water and even spray water on my arms and legs to stay cooler when it is really hot outside.

This year, I wasn’t able to be out in the sun as much because we had construction crews here for 2 months. As soon as the remodeling was over, I was back to my daily routine of sitting in the sun to read.

Besides trying to eat healthy food, I take a fair amount of supplements that include vitamins, minerals, adaptogens, and several others. I was born with a compromised immune system, so my need for extra supplementation may not be the same as yours.

Other Things That Are Very Important to Wellbeing

Possibly even more important is doing whatever it takes to reduce or eliminate stress in all its forms.

It’s also important to remove pollutants/toxins in the air you breath, the products you put on your skin, the foods you eat, etc.

A less tangible form of pollutant/toxin is what you feed your mind. Focusing on negative things, news and tv shows that paint a horrible picture of life on our planet, can wreck havoc on your sense of inner peace.

A vital key for me is daily meditation. It helps me stay calm even under duress and to flow more easily with life’s unexpected twists and turns.