The Wisdom Of Healthy Living
Human beings like to find simple and fixed ideas, principles or dogmas to follow that help us navigate the stormy seas of life with ease. We yearn for what is simple and clear and shy away from complexity, uncertainty and strangeness.
We love to find things that “make sense” to us and often buy into concepts and ideas that confirm or fit in with pre existing biases. We also have many ingrained biases that can be exploited by others looking to get on our good side.
In the world of health, we find a number of camps looking for our support. There are many who are happy to go along with what they see as the mainstream and scientific consensus. They will go along with their doctors advice and largely will go along with the mainstream. They have no time for looking into alternative health ideas which they see as wacky or “woo woo”.
Then there are those who defy science and look towards nature. They believe that everything natural is instinctively better than anything man made. They shun all products with “chemicals” or anything made in a factory. They are often unlikely to go to a doctor and would rather find a “natural” alternative.
But the wisdom of healthy living lies in knowing that there is no certainty in either path. In fact, each health challenge has to be judged on it’s own particular merits. We should not throw out either the medical or the natural method when assessing how to regain out health.
When it comes to our health, the biggest risk most people face is chronic disease. The scientific and medical route understands chronic disease. Your doctor can diagnose it and perhaps prescribe you with medication or therapies to help live with it. But the medical system will admit that chronic diseases are caused by lifestyle choices and there fore there is no “cure” in their eyes.
The alternative, back to nature, enthusiast may in this situation find that changing to a more natural diet of fruits and vegetables gives their body the support to cure itself completely of many chronic diseases. The fruit eater will in this scenario proclaim the superiority of the natural path to healing.
On the other hand, a person may contract an infectious disease such as malaria and shun medical assistance to fast or eat only fruit. They may find their condition gets worse until they give in and take the anti malarial medication. In this situation, the medical side will proclaim their superiority in helping with diseases which the body struggles to battle alone.
Where do we find a balance in this?
You must accept that the wisdom of healthy living is not to dogmatically stick with one idea. Rather, be open to the fact that the best solution to the situation is not necessarily going to be what you believe to be the ideal. If the problem is related to lifestyle, then a lifestyle change will be the best thing to work. If the problem is not caused by diet, then changing your diet may only have a limited effect.
I believe that your body’s health is best supported by a 100% raw vegan diet. But this does not mean that it has the potential to help your body to regain health from any condition. Having the potential to heal fully and being able to heal fully are 2 different things.
When someone has gone far down the path of disease, there is no assurance that a healthy diet or lifestyle will allow them to regain their health. They may have simply gone too far already. Or perhaps through genetic misfortune, they are destined to not live a long or healthy life and nothing will stop that.
We know that for most people, their main problem is their diet. The main risk they face to their health is the development of obesity and chronic disease through poor dietary choices. Changing to a healthier and more natural diet would make a huge difference to the health of out planet in a massive way. Many healthy conditions would virtually disappear and hospitals would empty very quickly.
But we can not pretend that this is the full story. There are health challenges, sometimes genetic, sometimes as a result of foreign antigens, viruses or bacteria that will be supported by medical intervention.
The wisdom of healthy living, is to accept that making the best choice in the moment means being prepared to not dogmatically stick to either path. You must assess every situation as it comes to you and find the solution that truly works, not the solution that fits in with your beliefs.
This is the true wisdom of healthy living.
Human beings like to find simple and fixed ideas, principles or dogmas to follow that help us navigate the stormy seas of life with ease. We yearn for what is simple and clear and shy away from complexity, uncertainty and strangeness. We love to find things that “make sense” to us and often buy into…