Wednesday, December 29, 2010

It seemed like a good idea at the time...

I extend my sincerest apologies for publishing unfinished posts earlier this week.  I guess that's what happens when you schedule rough draft posts (very rough on one occasion) for some arbitrary day in the future that seemingly will never arrive and then totally neglect your blog for a month.  I have since taken down the offending posts and will strive to be more "together" in the future.

Well, seeing as the last time I posted a real post was early in the month of December, I'll take this opportunity to say that I sincerely wish everyone had a wonderful Christmas spent with family and friends and celebrating in the true "reason for the season".  If you don't celebrate Christmas I wish the very best for you and your family in whatever celebrations you hold.

I wish you all a very prosperous New Year.  I will continue to post (albeit short posts) filled with an increased knowledge of how our bodies interact with the environment we place them in and therefore how we can choose to be more well by modifying this environment.

Once again, blogosphere, please accept my sincerest apologies and my commitment to be more on it in 2011.

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Doctor of the Future (part 2)

Previously we got Thomas Edison's take on health care in America, he discussed the fact that our whole approach to bacteria missed the mark.  I agree.  We may have done some very serious damage to ourselves and our children by disrespecting bacteria.

As previously discussed, medicine has its place for injuries and trauma but wellness doctors ("doctors of the future") will be needed to take care of people at all other times (even when they have NO symptoms).  You see, the sicknesses that we experience, with very few exceptions, are NOT due to our genes, but to an environment that is not in line with the human design.

In my research I am amazed at how far current "expert" recommendations are from what humans actually require in terms of what we eat, how we move, and how we think.

I find it interesting that Edison mentions bacteria.  Bacteria have been advertised to the American public as something we should be afraid of, something we need antibacterials and antibiotics to kill.  The lesser-known fact is that some of these bacteria are actually REQUIRED for us to be healthy.  And medical journals continue to report that indiscriminate use of antibiotics has been and continues to be very damaging to individual as well as public health.  Could it be that our need to use antibiotics is really a symptom of the fact that we are deficient in required beneficial bacteria?
Did you know you have a daily REQUIREMENT for friendly bacteria?  And without this daily need fulfilled your body cannot function as it was designed?
There is a natural balance of bacteria in the healthy human gut which helps us digest food, provides vitamins and other essential nutrients, and prevents overpopulation by harmful bacteria.  Despite all that we do know about them, I'm convinced that we probably will NEVER know the full extent of the beneficial functions these little "bugs" perform for us - and I actually don't really care.  I have seen the evidence that they are necessary and that most people are deficient.

Despite what yogurt advertisements proclaim, our bodies were designed to get a great deal of their bacteria not from dairy but from plants (especially lactobacillus plantarum).  Due to the US's current growing methods of veggies and fruits, the traditional healthful bacteria historically found in our food are killed by pesticides, herbicides, fungicides and soil nutrient depletion.  The sad fact is that in today's industrial food environment it is impossible to have a balance of healthy bacteria without supplementation.

Just like within our own bodies, there was a balance in nature that we changed when we "improved" our growing practices to grow more food more rapidly.  Beneficial bacteria are simply NOT available in modern day United States like they were throughout all of human history.  In fact, living in the United States today it is IMPOSSIBLE to ingest the right amounts and proportions of bacteria from food as our healthy predecessors did.  Proper gut microflora (balance of bacteria) is CRITICAL for proper immune system function.  Knowing this (and more) it is easy to see why Americans suffer so many immune system problems (cold, flu, autoimmune conditions, etc)
Are you supplementing with a high-quality probiotic from non-dairy (plant) sources in order to provide your body with its daily need?
Finding out what our body NEEDS in terms of food, movement, and thoughts is critical in order to fully express health.  As you come to a deeper understanding of what our bodies actually require, you will be amazed at how far off the American way of life is - even those who thought they were eating well (like myself) have a long ways to go.  And as Mr. Edison foresaw, you too will see that we don't need treatments, we need good information and true prevention.

Reconnecting you to the possibility of FULL health through better information - Dr. Steve