We are all so much more than our thoughts, actions and perceptions. We should have faith in our own ability to heal and live well and for a long time. So why don’t we?
The main reason is that this is not in our own reality, and therefore we feel we don’t deserve it. We have a general route map for our life and by thinking this way create our own destiny. We are what we think and that which is around us, good or bad, we have attracted into our lives. There is no chaos or accident in the universe just whatever you are experiencing right NOW. Even when we think of what we will do tomorrow we are doing it in the present, and similarly thinking of the past is only possible right now. You don’t think of a time when you were thinking of the past, just the experience itself. Oh I remember sitting in the garden thinking about when I was walking to school as a twelve year old…Sounds bizarre doesn’t it?
If this is getting rather confusing, then well done on getting this far in the blog. You were supposed to switch off at the first sentence, but clearly you know that there is a pearl (or two) of wisdom in here somewhere.
Since we are experiencing this reality in this human body, it’s only right we look after it. In fact the body is quite capable of looking after itself – you just need to get out of the way and let it get on with the job. This is where diet, or your pattern of eating, comes into it. Once you feel good about yourself you can focus your energy on matters other than what your next meal looks like and think less about your outwardly appearance. Once you have the basic needs box ticked you can work on the areas that will make you more resilient and happier and perhaps even a better person, or at least where you think less about what others think of you. There are numerous diets out there including simple fasting, which in itself has a wide spectrum, the Ketogenic diet, One Meal a Day (OMAD), pescatarian, whole foods plant based, carnivore etc. More on this in later posts but put simply, focus on things that will serve to bulletproof you and your immune system. My top three tips are as follows;
1. Sleep Well
2. Eat Clean
3. Exercise
Simple isn’t it? An important aspect of this is your gut flora, which is like the universe but inside you (in fact the universe is inside you but that's for another day). There is much conflicting evidence out there and I don’t intend to go into the great detail here, but what is clear is that the richer the bacteria the better, and even if its depleted to some degree following an illness for example, over time this can be reversed and brought back into balance. Having a strengthened immune system makes you less vulnerable to catching illnesses and can help you heal from within. Eat clean food wherever possible. Strangely the number of illnesses appears to have increased in line with the growth and availability of different medications. Probably just coincidence?
"Strive to preserve your health; and in this you will better succeed in proportion as you keep clear of the physicians, for their drugs are a kind of alchemy concerning which there are no fewer books than there are medicines"
Leonardo daVinci
Although what you eat and how you exercise is important, timing is also a crucial factor, so how do you know when to sleep, eat or exercise? We are all conditioned from childhood to follow certain rules in relation to these but they may not be the most natural and optimal way forward, nor may they be aligned to our circadian rhythms. Eating refined carbohydrates for instance, frequently throughout the day, is not a wise option for most people. Regular spikes in insulin prevent the use of fat as fuel and can eventually lead insulin resistance and to Type II diabetes. Cyclic eating would seem to be a sensible option but again, everyone is different and activity levels, cultural differences, social life, and working patterns, to name but a few factors, all have a part to play. The key is not to become obsessed with food – you should be able to skip a meal without getting anxious or frustrated. Training your body to become metabolically flexible will allow you to do this. Put simply, if you believe one doughnut will make you fat, then it will – if you don’t believe this then one doughnut will be just fine. The key is not to beat yourself up about it.
Animals are good at this and there is so much that can be learnt from watching birds, fish, dogs and even cats. You don’t see animals that are overweight or suffering from chronic illnesses, or even feeling guilty about eating something super tasty. This is because they’re not stressed out worrying about the future or dwelling on the past, they’re not eating processed foods and taking tons of medication. They eat when they need to (and from a limited menu), often flitting between fasting and feasting. The only animals that are the exception are the ones over which we have some control or influence over. Most pets such as cats and dogs can easily be overfed and become ill through genuine acts of kindness. Animals are great at living in the present.
My pet cat sleeps most of the time, eats when she wants to and has a wander around the neighbourhood when the mood takes her. I’m pretty sure she doesn’t think I better get up and do something or else I’ll get fat just lying here in the sun. It’s not part of her reality, she doesn’t believe it’s going to happen, so guess what? It doesn't. I'm pretty sure If I suggested she might become a bit podgy through nibbling throughout the day and doing next to zero activity, she might just reply with the words of Rodgers and Hart, "It never entered my mind", the Miles Davis rendition is a real treat by the way.
As a side note, great care needs to be taken when changing any sort of lifestyle aspect such as exercise or diet and certainly to ensure you run anything significant past a medical specialist. From my perspective I would only introduce one change at a time so you can monitor what works well and what you can disregard.
I will go into more detail in future posts but for now it’s important to realise that the body is built to survive and it’s only when foreign, processed unnatural material is introduced into it, that it gets overburdened and confused trying to remove waste from the cells and preventing damage to the delicate structures within the body.
Learning to manage your energy systems by fuelling better is key. So remember for now to work on these thing in this order of importance, Sleep, Eat, Exercise (SEE). When you SEE better you realise there's so much more hidden in plain sight just waiting to be discovered.
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