What I’ve Been Doing for My Health

Last week I talked a bit about what you can do to help yourself. This week I’ll share some of what I’ve been doing lately and what I’ve done in the past.

As I wrote previously, my husband and I recently did a whole foods cleanse with unexpected and fantastic results. His blood pressure went from on the danger zone line to well within normal and 3 weeks after the cleanse was done, we’ve each lost 15-16 pounds, plus many other benefits, like having more energy, less brain fog, sleeping better, no more snoring, less joint aches, better skin tone, and no migraines so far.

Since I’ve experienced the wonderful results of doing a whole foods cleanse, it will be a normal part of my life. I tried the types of cleanses with supplement kits, but didn’t really see much change.

AND I learned that 2 or even 3 large glasses of water a day just isn’t enough; especially if you still consume caffeine and alcohol, and/or are very active.

Over the course of many years, I’ve had issues I’ve to deal with on my own by necessity or by desire or both. The biggest thing was getting out of plantar fasciitis pain. I suffered tremendously for 5 years. I did research and tried many things. But that one did eventually take outside help as things had gone way too far.

If I had been more on top of it in the beginning, I may have done well enough on my own. But I now know what to do to avoid having the condition again and what to do if I get any little signs of stress in those tissues.

Very recently I’ve learned quite a bit about inflammation, not just localized inflammation as in arthritis, but over-all inflammation with no obvious signs. Knowledge really is power! I want to take care of this to avoid the many life threatening diseases believed to be caused by this. Preventive medicine.

So along with researching everything, water, and cleanses I’m ready to add deep breathing exercises to my repertoire of health tools. Every time I’ve tried it, I’ve felt energized, but it works the other way around too, to calm you and reduce your stress. But I haven’t made it a daily thing. That is changing right now. We don’t breathe properly and as a result don’t get enough oxygen to properly fuel our bodies and keep our hearts strong.

I’ve been unable to ride my bicycle due some sciatic pain lately, so I’ve been looking into that; the possible causes and what type of strengthening/stretching exercises to do for it. Also I just finished reading a book on gait correction in order to correct other structural imbalances. Much, much of this is related to problems such as plantar fasciitis and sciatic pain, among many others. One more easy, and cheap, too for me to have.

This is just a little of what I have done to help myself.

Knowing the problem is half the battle, so they say. I do believe that. I’ve had many tough crossroads in my life and by exploring outside my sphere of ingrained habits and comfort, I learned so many things, including a lot about myself.

Many of our journeys may be long and full of strife, but if we stay on that journey, we *will* come to a better place! I hope all of  you explore and experiment to find health tools to build your own personal health tool kit.

Now, I’ve been feeling guilty because I have recently posted pictures of all but one of my little furry feline babies. So here is Libby, presenting herself as I gift, which she truly is. I’ve also found that a cat’s purr is healing to me!

What Have You Been Doing For Your Own Health Lately?

Yes, we can have some problem and run to the doctor. He or she will then prescribe something that treats, maybe, the symptoms. You might exchange 20 words with the doctor himself if you’re lucky, but the rest is talk with the nurse or physicians assistant and the office staff.

Very often the problem remains, or returns, because the real problem wasn’t addressed, only the effect, or symptoms. And it doesn’t look like that will change anytime soon.

It’s not really the doctor’s fault either. He does what he was taught, what he has time for, and what the insurance companies tell him he can or can’t do. And he is also influenced by the big drug manufacturers. Sometimes, many times, HIGHLY influenced.

So what can you or I do to help ourselves? Plenty!

Let’s start with becoming informed, and to be truly informed we need to be open to new ideas. After all, at one time the world was believed to be flat, and Columbus was proclaimed a heretic for believing otherwise. But exploring new thought is the only way we learn and progress.

In my own health journey, I’m not only looking at improvement, but also prevention, which is something our current healthcare system does not look at, not do they want to or want us to, because it’s not a profitable endeavor.

I want to understand as much as possible about how my body functions and what the possibilities are so I can walk into any medical office informed and able to weigh the pros and cons of any procedure or drug suggested or prescribed.

For me, at 54 (tomorrow, btw :), it may seem prevention is mostly water under the bridge and many others feel that way also. But it isn’t really. Stop what’s causing the dysfunction now, correct it, and prevent it from occurring again. And learning preventative measures, even if there really is no going back, can give you the background you need to truly understand your conditions and manage them, if not turn them around.

Then you may take charge of your issues and use your newfound knowledge and desire (ah, desire/want, another BIG factor in healing) to take charge of your health and move forward. IF you have serious issues, you need to keep your healthcare provider informed and work with him or her. If they don’t want to listen to you, you might want to get another opinion.

Don’t spin your wheels. Use your innate healing power to drive change!

What have I been doing for myself? Come back next week to find out.

Til then, Get Happy and Get Healthy!

And more furbaby pics!

Eza on the left and Simon sharing some sunshine. Forgive the bright light in these photos. I can’t get these animals to pose in the right places or to sit still long enough!

Annie and Peeper.