The Wellness Umbrella

Most people want to be well, it's a given. However, most people will focus on one or two aspects of wellness and miss the mark. After many years of study and research a fellow chiropractor of mine, Dr. Chestnut, had laid out the three major factors that need to be addressed in order to have true wellness. So what are these three magic bullets of health you ask? Well, first they are not magic bullets per se. Our society is so caught up on the quick fix and the new pill for that ill. These three factors take time to implement properly and time for their effects to be realized. So without further ado here are the three major factors of wellness. How you eat, how you move, and how you think. Yes they are simple. Today I will go over the first of the three and the others in a later post.

First comes how you eat. I know it's not earth shattering by any means but continue reading and maybe you can make a difference in your health and life.

If God made it eat it, if man tried to make it better run the other way!

I don't think truer words have been spoken or written concerning what you take into your body. We eat way too much processed foods and by processed foods I mean anything in a can, box, plastic bag or that doesn't rot after a few days without refrigeration (in general). Take a look at what you eat and see where you can increase you intake of fruits and vegetables. Replace snacking on chips with carrot sticks, celery, olives, grapes and the list goes on. Your body is a temple and you only get one, take care what you put inside of it.

Proper fat intake is vital and I will do an in depth post later, but here is a down and dirty overview of fats. Remember to eat plenty of fish or take a capsule that contains the following EPA, DHA, ALA, GLA. These four fats combat inflammation and are vital to production of hormones and other important bodily functions. Many people who have heart disease have increased their intake of these four essential fatty acids and actually reversed the problem. The reason for this is that heart disease, caused from too much cholesterol isn't the problem it's the symptom. Your body uses cholesterol as a band-aid. When there's too much inflammation in your body, caused by eating processed foods and large quantities of red meat with too much omega 6 and 12 fatty acids, the cells and tissues of your body become inflamed, this inflammation triggers reactions in your body to create more cholesterol. The cholesterol goes to the inflammation in the arteries and veins and covers it up like a band-aid. Add eating a diet high in cholesterol and you have a recipe for heart disease. However when you add the four essential fatty acids listed above, the anti-inflammatory acids, the body is able to decrease the inflammation and your body slowly removes the cholesterol band-aids, thereby curing itself of the heart disease. (Isn't the human body amazing when we put proper foods inside of it?)

Ok, so now you know some basics of returning your body to a healthy state of eating and an anti-inflammatory diet. In addition, remember water is vital to the proper function of every cell in your body. Only put pure, (non chlorinated, fluoridated, chemically treated) water into your body. Your target is to work up to drinking 1 liter of water for every 50 pounds you weigh. Start with 1 liter daily and work up. You'll be amazed what a difference being properly hydrated will make in the way you feel and function.

Well there's a quick and dirty overview of healthy eating. Stop by often to see the next factor of wellness, how you move.

Yours in health.

Dr. Greg Cruz