What does the worlds major health organization say about health? According to the World Health Organization, health has little to do with how you feel and a lot to do with the state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity. According to Websters Dictionary, health has to do with how well the cells, organs, glands, and tissues function at any given time. Can you tell how well you and your body parts are functioning on the inside by how you feel at any given moment? Not necessarily. The truth is, often you can not tell for sure whether you are healthy or not. Whats an example of how you can feel perfectly fine, but you are, in fact, not healthy at all? Cancer. How many people are diagnosed with cancer, which could have been growing and spreading for ten years, or even longer, but they have no pain or warning signs at all? How many people get a clean bill of health from their well-intended doctors, who use the best diagnostic tests, and only weeks or months later, drop dead of a sudden heart attack; and their first symptomdeath? How many people feel great one moment and are struck down by a paralyzing stroke the next? How many people have diabetes for many years before it is detected by themselves or by a doctor? The point is: Just because you feel fine does not mean that you are fine on the inside. Furthermore, just because you get a clean bill of health from the best doctor using the best tests, doesnt mean that you are fine or working well on the inside. Take my friend who was recently diagnosed with breast cancer. She ate well, in her opinion. She exercised regularly. She had a positive, upbeat attitude. She had lots of energy. She worked full-time. She never felt better. She conscientiously received her annual physical, including a mammogram, every year for years. One year ago, her doctor even told her that her blood work showed that she was the healthiest person he had ever examined. And then, bam! After her last physical, she was told that she had breast cancer, and a very invasive kind. Although she felt great and previous tests looked great, she had cancer growing inside of her for many, many years before it was detectable. Her world was tipped upside down from a world filled with high activity, fun, and purpose, to one filled with surgery, radiation, chemotherapy, pain, and fear. Her comment to me was, I just never thought it would happen to me. Nor does anyone else, but statistics prove otherwise. Furthermore, even if you are truly fine on the inside today, if you ignore and neglect your body and health day after day, you will not stay fine indefinitely. So if you cant judge your health by how you feel at any given moment, by a yearly physical, or the most sophisticated tests, then how do you know if you are healthy or not? Thats the point. You really cant tell how well your body is working on the inside. That is why you must work on your body, health, and fitness every day by feeding it with the best food and nutrition from whole, fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, raw nuts, and whole legumes, exercising it every day, not smoking, avoiding drugs, chemicals and toxins, adequate sleep and rest, and a positive attitude. Dont most of us know what we should eat and do to provide us with health insurance and assurance? The tricky part is incorporating your health knowledge into your daily life. However, the best gift in lifeyour life itselfis worth all of your efforts. And the best time to start on your own personal journey to optimum health and fitness is right now. Just put one foot in front of the other and start taking those baby steps to the best you and to the active, joyful, and purposeful life that you deserve. |
