The "secret" To A Long And Healthy Life

A couple of days ago I had a booth set up for the day at our community's Women's Expo.

Each year that I attend this event, I have a day full of some of the most interesting conversations. Some are very sad, some are perplexing, and others are just plain maddening! Very rarely do I have the opportunity to meet someone who shares my viewpoint regarding health and well being.

This year, not only did I meet a lovely lady who shares many of my thoughts and principles regarding health, she has been living these principles for decades!

Let me share with you just why this lady felt like such such a breath of fresh air...

After spending several hours at my booth, talking to many women about their health concerns, I was truly feeling overwhelmed by the magnitude of chronic health problems. Their stories really got to me. I met many women who are currently going through cancer treatments, which is troubling enough. But no one is talking to them about creating rock-solid health simultaneously. In fact, most were told nothing about lifestyle, or were told that they didn't have to change anything.

Easily, over 80% of the women I spoke to said they knew they needed to lose weight, yet they were going about it in ways that are dangerous to both their current and future overall health. The insane diets and surgical procedures they had gone through shocked me.

I am utterly astonished by how many people had undergone surgery for a lifestyle-related 'condition', and admitted that their results were short-lived and underwhelming. When we started talking about daily lifestyle choices, they confirmed that they hadn't changed much, or anything at all. No one had recommended it.

If anything, the lifestyle choices that had been recommended the most to people were scientifically inaccurate things like: eat less fat, cut back on eggs, drink your milk for calcium, eat more grains for fiber, add more low-intensity cardio activity for weight loss, and the one that aggravates me the most - "Don't eat too many vegetables at all... they interfere with your medication!"

Ah, yes. Medication. The sheer number of drugs people are now on is nothing short of alarming! There's such a feeling of desensitization to this issue. It has become so common to be on drugs, or to know many others who are on drugs, that we now just accept it as "normal". Far from it.

This is where people have placed their faith. I saw the consequences of this misplaced faith at the expo in person after person.

It was almost comical to see the number of skeptics or nay-sayers who didn't even want to stop by my booth because they "don't believe in natural health stuff" or their "doctor told them to stay away from that sort of stuff". "WHAT sort of stuff??" I wondered. "Health? Is your doctor advising you to stay away from Health?!"

It sure does seem that way at times! Like I said, it would be hilarious if it weren't so sad.

So, let's get back to my breath of fresh air...

After a few hours, I noticed a group of older ladies making their way to my table. Their ages most likely ranged from 65 - 80. They were a lovely bunch - very friendly and enjoying their day together. One lady in particular spent a little more time than the others browsing through the literature on my table. She said, "It's good that you're helping people be healthy. It's a good thing."

I turned to her, noticing that (at least on the outside) she looked quite healthy and fit, and said "Thank you! You look like you're doing a good job taking care of your health."

She looked over her shoulders to see how close her friends were, then she leaned in toward me and said in a hushed voice, "Yes, I DO feel good. But I'll share a little secret with you... and I believe it's WHY I'm so healthy. I'm 78 years old and I don't take any medicine! None. Never have. THAT'S the difference between me and my friends. I see it all the time - the more medication they take, the less healthy they are. I don't want that. That's not how to stay healthy."

I told her I wanted to hug her and squeeze her and take her home with me!

I asked her to share a little more about her lifestyle. It's one thing to not take needless drugs, but she clearly appeared to be doing more proactive things to build her health. She was fit and trim with good tone and excellent posture. She moved about with ease. Her skin glowed with vitality and her eyes twinkled!

(Sadly, I couldn't say the same about several of the attendees who were 30, 40 and even 50 years her junior.)

She shared that making healthy choices had always been important to her. She told me that, "It's not really all that difficult. I move, stretch and exercise in some way everyday... and I have for many years. I eat 'normal' food that I cook at home, and I take time to smell the roses... I enjoy life! It's not hard!"

By the way, when I asked her to explain what "normal" food was, she confirmed what I thought she meant. "It's REAL food! Food that I've been eating since I was a child!"

Go figure.

This lady didn't need all the science and research that now overwhelmingly supports the direct relationship between our nutrition, movement, and mental/emotional choices and our cell function. To her, it was just good 'ol common sense.

I realize that life can throw us curve balls. I know that health emergencies can pop up. I realize that there are times when a drug or surgery can save our life or get us through a very dangerous health crisis - times of trauma or acute injury. However, I know that this approach was never intended to be a lifestyle!

We simply cannot continue on this path of drugging ourselves and somehow expecting health to result, or not realizing that we're establishing the risk factors for disease. Do not mistaken "numbness" or "feeling less pain" for health and normal function. A healthy body feels the warning signs of a problem, and it will continue to feel those signs (no matter how unpleasant) until we do something to correct the underlying problem.

Covering up the warning signs has always been a very dangerous game to play. Even worse, and alarmingly more common now, is the choice to take drugs for various symptoms or conditions, but having NO exit strategy and NOT simultaneously taking proactive steps to restore function and health.

Health does not come from a bottle or a surgeon's blade. It comes from consistently making healthy choices, for years. The sooner we realize this and invest a little more time and energy into those healthy choices each day, and rely less upon the dangerous 'crutches' of drugs and surgery, the sooner we will reap the fabulous benefits of better health and function!