healthy self-- heal thy self

What does it mean to "Be Healthy"?  Honestly, think about it for a second... What is health? If you go by what the TV, magazines and most social medias say the "healthy" girl/guy is just a skinny, smiling person that looks blissfully unaware and is dressed impeccably. So what is it really? Does being healthy mean that you don't have any symptoms of illness? If you can eat whatever you want and still fit into those size 2 Levi's are you healthy? If you do meatless Monday are you a healthy person? What about if you go to the gym several days a week but you eat packaged, processed, chemical laden foods and of course still fit in those size two's? What if you do a juice cleanse?  What if...??? I could go on and on. This is an issue I've thought about extensively. And for obvious reasons I really, REALLY want to be healthy! So what is health? And how do you get it? 

On the road to wellness I've learned more than a few things about health and having a healthy body that functions properly. I've learned a lot about food as well. I'm not a doctor or a certified nutritionist of any kind. I'm just a person that's been so sick for so long that I've become borderline obsessed with figuring out what I can do and how I can, BE healthy. Can I heal myself? 

Hippocrates said "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food."  Doctors still repeat the Hippocratic oath to this day.  However,  western medicine had strayed so far from food, nutrition and feeding the body to allow it to do what it was designed to do, heal.  Today it's all about the "magic pill."  It's the quick-fix mentality.  It's big pharma turning the healthcare system into a corporation.  Simply put, it's all about money.  It's sad.  There's no money in healthy people.  There's no money in dead people either.  (Unless of course you're talking to a funeral director.)  The money is in keeping unaware people just sick enough to need all those medications.  Think about it.  Seriously, there was an ad for opiate induced constipation during the super bowl.  THE SUPER BOWL! The most expensive time slots available for television advertising! And instead of ads focused on eating right and exercising the time was used to let us all know to "ask your doctor" about this great new drug.  I mean, there's a drug for the "jimmy leg." I think they call it "restless leg syndrome."  Have you ever bothered to listen to the long list of side effects to these drugs? Wow! 

Once I was standing at the desk in my GI doctor's office waiting to schedule my next appointment.  And standing next to me was a pharmaceutical rep talking to one of the other doctors in the practice.  And I heard him say something to the affect of  "...it doesn't cross the blood-brain barrier... there is a slight risk of death but..."  And like verbal diarrhea (pun not intended) I said "Well, you might be dead but at least your stomach won't hurt anymore!"  Then I kind of giggled because I could not believe that came flying out of my mouth.  The medical assistant looked at me smirked and said "Wow! You really caught on to that pretty fast."  Then the pharma rep turned to me and I could tell that my comment angered him, and he said "Believe me, some of these patients wish they were dead!"  My response? "Believe me sir, you have absolutely no idea who you are talking to!  You are literally preaching to the choir!"  He turned bright red.  My hope is that maybe, just maybe he will think about what he is doing.  I hope. 

Now, do not misunderstand me.  I am not 100% against medication.  Just like I am not 100% against doctors and hospitals.  Like my first homeopathic doctor told me, there are emergency rooms for a reason.  Good reason.  Believe me when I say that as much as I despise going to the hospital, when the pain is so bad that I have trouble breathing and have been consumed by tears, I am beyond grateful for the hospital AND the medications contained in it.  There are some life saving medications and definitely life saving surgeries and procedures.  I wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the emergency surgery I had when I was 20 years old.  My intestine was completely blocked and on the verge of bursting.  It would have killed me.  So I am grateful and I have first had experience with the almost miraculous abilities of western medicine.  I am all for going to the hospital in this kind of situation.  With that being said I go back to my original point, western medicine has come so far from where it started. 

A lot of these modern conditions, autoimmune diseases and their symptoms can be controlled by diet and exercise.  No pills needed.  And no terrible side effects or death to achieve optimum health. 


So, what is health?  Honestly, I think the answer will vary person to person.  After all, every BODY is different.  My definition changes day to day with one constant... I just want to feel better!  I'm still healing.  I haven't been able to reach remission in almost seven years.  I've had four surgeries in those seven years, one of them almost killed me.  I've been rushed to the hospital in an ambulance for an allergic reaction to a medication.  I couldn't breathe and my partner had to call 911.  Did I mention that I was only home from the hospital for less than 24 hours when that happened?  Anyway, I've been through a lot with this Crohn's disease.  This journey started 22 years ago and will continue on regardless of what I do.  As of now there is no real "cure."  So, I continue to search, read books and articles, anything I can get my hands on.  I watch documentaries.  I ask questions.  I feed my body good food from the earth.  I don't just see a commercial and ask my doctor for a pill to "fix" me. Let food be thy medicine, right?!
I am gathering as much information as I possibly can to figure out how I can achieve optimum health; AKA feel better. 


How do you feel? Healthy?

What's in your medicine cabinet?
What's in your refrigerator?