The best thing I ever did for my health and happiness

Well, ok, the BEST thing I ever did was marry Natalie, but a close second is today's topic.

Today, I'm not going to give a long intro, I'll not keep you waiting and just get right to it:  One of the best things I ever did for my health and happiness was to change my understanding about the way my body works.

Currently, when I look in the mirror, I love who I see because I have an increased understanding of who that is looking back at me.  I understand that this body is merely a shell of dirt, being maintained by an organizing intelligence.  My understanding changed when I realized the absolute truth - that this body renews and regenerates itself continually.  This body is set on automatic to heal and replace itself.  I realized that I am not the same person I was yesterday, last year, or last decade...I realized that my body is earth, it's animated earth.  It comes and goes, it's fleeting - and so is yours.  Take a look:

 

• The lining of the gut is entirely replaced every 5 days.
• Your external-most skin regenerates every 14 days.
• Your blood cells replenish themselves every 3-4 months.
• Your bones and muscles last about a decade.
• Your brain on the other hand lasts a while longer.

All of this put together allowed me to change my understanding of who and what I am.  I am not this body, but this body is a reflection of who I am and everything that's happened to me.  It reflects the environment I'm currently in and every environment that I've been in in the past.  It reflects the choices I am currently making and every choice I've made in the past.  The most important contributors to whether we are sick or well are what the body is fed in terms of nutrition, movement, and thoughts.  Another way of thinking of it is - this body is like my house, only better.  It's smart!  And keeps rebuilding itself constantly - day in, day out - without my thinking about it.

"What I did was change my understanding about the way my body works."  

If I place my body in a poor food environment (feed it poorly), it's like building a house out of rotted wood, if I feed it what it was designed to have, it builds itself very soundly.  This goes for choosing the McFilthy double bacon cheeseburger or the fresh, organic salad with organic, cold pressed, extra virgin olive oil dressing and pasture-raised chicken.  This goes for choosing to sit on the couch day after day or choosing to do squats and pushups. This goes for looking at myself and saying, "I wish [my nose, hair, body shape, etc.] were different," or saying, "I love myself and I'm grateful to have this body today, it's doing exactly what it was designed to do given the circumstances."

I could go on and on about all the choices people make all day long, the reality is that your body is absolutely amazing and it wants nothing more than to be healthy and happy.  Of course it does!  The major reason it's not doing this is the environment it is being placed in day after day.  Achieving a solution requires a shift in YOUR thinking, an increase in YOUR understanding that your body is doing (with few exceptions) exactly what it SHOULD be doing based on your choices about what environment you choose to put it in.

If you want to make better choices about what environment you are placing your body in, a wellness expert or coach is the best option to help you change that stinkin' thinkin' over to beneficial thoughts in line with the way your body really operates.  The reality is that the culture in America acts as if what you put into your body isn't important--that if you get sick, you can blame your genes/parents or some virus/bacteria or plain old bad luck.

The reality is that yes, accidents happen and there is an occasional genetic cause (<2% -- and we're lucky to have medicine for these conditions), but over the long haul, people are primarily sick or well based on the thoughts and beliefs that run through their heads all day long.  This constant stream of thoughts will directly control what you choose to eat and how you choose to move your body.

In order to have the best possible body and best possible life, you've got to get control of that steady stream of thoughts that controls every aspect of your life and is also responsible for your happiness.  The main problem is that most people have never evaluated those thoughts, why those thought are there, and how to improve them.  Wellness doctors are trained to help people improve their environment by making better choices and they offer classes on how to evaluate what's going on in that bean of yours.

Although great at stitching us back together again and helping with the occasional genetic defect (<2% of cases), the "Health" Care System in the US is not very good at helping us make better choices and getting us to place ourselves in environments that produce health.  They simply are not trained in getting us to change our understanding of how our body works and WHY it's behaving the way it is.  It's incredible that this is the very thing that will allow us the best possible health and happiness that we all deserve - naturally.

Here's to health and happiness based on choice not chance.

Reconnecting you to Choosing Happiness and Health, day after day based on New Understanding - Doctor Steve Perry, DC

Flu - Are you going to let it get you?

It's on its way again. After last year's flop of an H1N1 threat and the accompanying scandal, I hope I stop seeing advertisements of "free" (e.g. paid for using extorted tax dollars) shots for it!

In deciding how one is going to deal with the dreaded "flu season" this year, there is always the decision to vaccinate in the young, the old, and everyone in between.

I find health care and government recommendations to vaccinate every man, woman, and child (over 6 months) in America quite odd in light of the research. A recent review of the literature failed to show that vaccinating children under 5 for flu was any better than placebo and yet we continue the recommendations - who's running this thing?

So, with all the hype and fear-mongering on the news, internet, magazines, etc, how does one decide what to do concerning flu? Let's apply the two most important questions you could ever ask yourself concerning long-term health and wellness:

Question #1 - Why do Americans suffer so much flu-related illness?

Answer #1 - Simple: Toxicity and Deficiency.

Americans by and large are toxic with most or all of the following: sugar, omega-6 fats, refined carbohydrates and trans-fats, gut bacteria imbalance, sedentary lifestyles, subluxation, anger, stress, and more. All of these things are stressors which reduce the short- and long-term immune system function designed to respond to invaders.

Photo from Flickr.com

Americans at the same time also suffer from epidemic levels of deficiency in: fresh, whole vegetables and fruits, high-quality meat, high-quality fish and omega-3 fats, good bacteria in the gut, sun and Vitamin D, exercise, properly functioning spines, feelings of love and appreciation for self and others, feeling of belonging and life purpose, gratitude . . . the list could go on.

How could we possibly expect to be well when all this is the case?

Should we really expect one shot to be able to take away the problems associated with weak immune systems we created by living toxic and deficient lifestyles?

So, how about. . .

Question #2 - How can we get and stay well?

The answer to this one is SO simple! Supply your body with what it requires (sufficiency) and keep your body free from things that harm it (purity). Sufficiency and Purity are the most logical ways to allow your body to express the lifelong health and freedom from illness and disease (including the flu) that you and your children deserve.

If you want to have the health you deserve (and a strong immune system), be sure that you are putting in nutritious things in terms of Eating and Moving and Thinking. This includes adequate vitamin D (which performed better than the flu shot in studies in children), veggies and fruits, high-quality meat and fish, probiotics from plant sources, exercise, chiropractic care (to ensure a properly functioning spine and nervous system), feelings of belonging and contributing to an economy, working towards a life-purpose, unconditional love for yourself and others, gratitude, etc.

This also means staying away from sugar, too many omega-6 fats (from vegetable oils, grains, and industrial meat), trans fats, dangerous drugs, processed foods, sedentary living, poor posture, accidents/trauma that damage your spine and joints, perceptions of stress, etc.

Only when we begin to ask ourselves better questions (like WHY we are sick) do we have any chance at coming up with a real solution to the pandemics of suffering that we see in modern America. When I think of the little ones, I say to myself, "It's worth it." I get the motivation to love and care for my body the way it was intended to be - this so that my kids will have a good example to follow. And all of this so they can grow up with healthy bodies and great immune systems, naturally.

Reconnecting you to lifelong wellness and prevention.

Yours in Health, Love, and Freedom through informed choices - Steve Perry

PS - Anyone seen an advertisement for raw eggplant yet? I'm still waiting.

Becoming the Doctor

Classes ... Done!

Clinic ... Checked out this week!

National Board Examinations ... No problem!

Deciding on what location to begin practicing ... To Be Determined!

 

I enjoyed the chiropractic curriculum but am glad to be done.  I learned a ton and will continue to strive for lifelong education and improvement of my knowledge and clinical skills.

Checking out of the Health Center this week has been bitter-sweet.  It is sweet to be done and have finished the multitude of requirements in the Health Center, but it is tough to say, "Goodbye" to all those I've been working with to achieve a new level of health and happiness.

I've completed all the requirements of the Life Chiropractic College West doctoral program and all testing for the National Board of Chiropractic Examiners.  I am free and clear as far as proficiency examinations go!  Next step is to take the licensing and ethics test for the state (or states) I will be practicing in, and then you can officially call me "Doctor Steve"!

There's only one small thing stopping me from helping all those people out there who really want to get and stay well - I don't know where I'm going to open up shop yet.  I'll be sure to keep you up-to-date on the major decisions that lie ahead.

In the meantime, I'll continue posting relevant discussions about the scientific evidence behind Eating, Moving, and Thinking better to obtain a life of Natural Health and Happiness which results in the Freedom to Live with passion!

Yours in Health, Love, and Freedom Naturally - (almost Dr.) Steve

P.S. - if you're thinking you'd like a new Wellness Doctor and Chiropractor to move to your area to put Health back into your "Health Care", add a comment to this post and I'll be sure to consider you :)

How do your beliefs stack up?

Do as I say, not ... You know the rest.  Today we're talking about beliefs and how powerful these little things are.  People have lost their lives for them and nations have gone to war over beliefs.  They are relevant today to each and every one of us as they are the very cause of the current "Health Care" mess.

I was thinking the other day about beliefs and wondered, "Is it possible to know what other people believe?  After all, beliefs happen on the inside and people can say anything they want on the outside."

Gandhi said it this way:  "Your beliefs become your thoughts. Your thoughts become your words. Your words become your actions. Your actions become your habits. Your habits become your values. Your values become your destiny."

I believe that it IS possible to tell what people believe.  You can SEE what they believe by looking at their actions (choices).  I've heard people say, "I can't hear a word you're saying because your actions are speaking so loudly."  Actions are in fact physical manifestations of the underlying invisible beliefs.

As just one example, let's apply this to food: if people say that they believe eating high quality food will help them be healthy and yet they regularly eat junk (like most people I know), there's one of two things going on:  Either #1 - they don't really want to be healthy, or #2 - they don't believe that eating high quality food actually IS a large determinant of health. The first option -- that people don't want to be healthy -- is an utterly ridiculous concept.  This leaves us with only one option: that people don't really believe that high quality food matters for our health.  If people WANTED to be healthy, and they KNEW high quality food mattered, then they would CHOOSE high quality foods over illness-producing ones every time.

The reason medicine is failing (Health Care Reform anyone?) is because it does not instill the beliefs that personal choice is important for health.  If it did instill this belief and people wanted health, then everyone under medical care would be making healthy choices.  The reality is that people have become convinced that there's some way to well-being other than making good choices, that there's some system that can compensate for their personal shortcomings and that this system is more important than their personal choices as a determinant of their long-term health.  Sounds pretty ridiculous I know, but that's reality.  The reason I know this is based on what people actually DO, not what they say.  Let's take a look:

Currently in America, the number one source of calories is the High Fructose Corn Syrup in soft drinks (soon to be replaced by "real sugar" as if that's any better).  A recent CDC report stated, "In 2009, 67.5 percent of adults ate less than two fruits daily and 73.7 percent ate less than three vegetables daily."  If people are in control of their actions, and if healthy choices result in health, then one could conclude that either people don't want to be healthy or people have some misguided beliefs controlling their actions.

Medicine does a lot of amazing things (heart transplants, morphine to numb pain after car wrecks, etc) but it HASN'T helped people believe that what they do matters for their health.  Medicine as a whole is an utter failure when it comes to helping people live in ways that could result in them actually BEING healthy for a lifetime.  This is the very reason that heart disease, Type II Diabetes (both very nearly 100% preventable), and cancer (highly preventable) are major health threats in America but not in many other countries (until they adopt our way of life).  Why I started blogging was to show people the evidence that what they do matters and they CAN be healthy once they become aware of their actual beliefs.

Here's to believing that what you do matters.

Reconnecting you to Natural health through accurate beliefs.

Yours in Health, Love, and Freedom - Intern Steve

My current 9/11 (or The epidemiology of obesity)

When I returned from Afghanistan, I thought I left the war behind.  Little did I know that I was in for a rude awakening when I started working toward my doctorate in health and wellness and discovered how sore our health troubles were in the US.  The most shocking statistics I saw had to do with our children who are developing chronic illness (yes, diseases we thought were due to aging) faster than any other group.  Our US children are developing obesity, type II diabetes, and heart disease faster than any other age group.  So much for leaving the war behind, I'm knee-deep in it again.

The first thing I wanted to know was what the cause is.  There are some very intelligent people who seem fixated on the idea that there's a gene as the cause.

With over $1 Billion being spent right now trying to track down and "turn off" (with drugs) the obesity gene, someone like me has a hard time trying to decide whether to laugh at the sheer absurdity of the venture or to cry at the waste of time, resources, and talent.  This idea that we need to find the genetic cause of our obesity is not only ridiculous but is actually dangerous to our children and our economy.

For thousands of years, humans have existed without the current problems of obesity.  It wasn't until about the 1980s that the US and England started plumping up like ripe fruit.  

Does anyone think we've had a genetic shift in the last 30 years - that all of a sudden the genes of certain populations changed?

This is the idea that's being perpetuated with all the outside-in chemical solutions to everything from high cholesterol to eyelash shortness.

The idea of a sudden gene change is absurd, but many people in academia and the public have fallen for it because it's very appealing to think that we had nothing to do with our problems.  It's an easy idea to sell.  

If the problematic obesity gene is "found", the researchers will get glory, the drug companies will get filthy rich for providing the "solution" and the Medical Doctors will push the drug on our kids.  Forget the fact that this has never happened before EVER in the history of all humans.  But today, all of a sudden, it's a gene that caused the obesity.

There's a lot riding on this.  But what's at stake is more than glory for a few researchers, trillions of dollars for drug companies, and more hand-tying for our medical doctors (it'll become malpractice if you DON'T prescribe the "solution").  What's at stake is the identity of our kids as capable and self-actualizing, and as being able to own the consequences of their choices.

What worse sentence can you give someone than telling them, "It's genetic, there's nothing anyone can do"?

If your doctor tells you "It's in your genes and here's the drug to fix your problem, but you should probably exercise and eat right too", what reason in the world do you have for actually eating right and exercising?  They just told you that's not what caused the problem.

What's the point of changing anything if it's in your genes?  What's the point in changing if a drug is the solution?

Wellness and Prevention are illogical within this understanding of the genes as the cause and so too is personal responsibility.  You see, the major fruits of the last 30 years are a production of people unwilling to own the consequences of the things they do.  And why should people take responsibility with everyone (especially the TV and their doctors with pills) telling them they had nothing to do with it anyway?

Please look at the chart above again and realize that the recent spikes in diseases of affluence, also called "Western Diseases" (type II diabetes, cancer, heart disease, obesity and strokes) are NOT due to a recent genetic shift.  With our kids growing up in this time where everything that's wrong with them can be "undone" by taking a pill (including the length of their eyelashes), is there any worse concept that the TV or their doctor can tell them day after day than "You're genes are messed up, there's nothing that can be done to change, and a prescription is the only solution?"

My question is - If it's not genes that are the problem, what could it be?

- It couldn't be the fact that we are underconsuming diets of fresh, whole foods - foods that humans have consumed forever (except for the 20th century).  

When was the last time you saw a regular apple advertised on TV?  Raw broccoli?  Raw peppers?  Raw zucchini?  Is there any wonder why we eat mostly processed foods?

- It couldn't be that families are consuming things (food additives, chemicals, artificial sweeteners, etc.) that have NEVER been introduced to the human species EVER until the 1980s.  

- It couldn't be that mothers and families are moving (or not moving) in ways that are completely foreign to their genes.  

When was the automobile invented? the escalator? the motorized scooter? the television (where our kids spend hours a day)?

- It couldn't be that kids and parents are plagued with emotional stresses such as constant impending doom and gloom on the NEWS.

- It couldn't be a lack of feeling of belonging and acceptance and love and contributing to a society.

- It couldn't be the fact that many of us don't know our neighbors and live in constant fear of attack from the outside.

9/11 anyone?

Stressors like eating, moving, and thinking in ways that are not genetically compatible have been linked to obesity and every other Western Disease.

Which drug are they going to come up with that will solve the problems we create by putting ourselves in such a stressful environment?  

With a billion people starving in the world right now, is it really a good idea to develop a pill to get Americans to eat more without gaining weight?

Only when we realize the actual cause of the problems do we have any chance of coming up with a viable solution.

Our physiology (or state of function - health or illness) is the genetic expression of our choices.  It's the expression of our past and current environments.  If we develop a problem, the first place we should look is the environment of how we are eating, moving, and thinking instead of assuming that a gene caused the changes in our health status.

Reconnecting you to freedom through responsibility.

In Health, Love, and Freedom with informed choices - Steve Perry


PS - next time someone hears an advertisement on the radio or TV for raw eggplant shoot me an email.



Graphic from:

Journal of Internal Medicine Volume 263, Issue 4, pages 336–352, April 2008

Resource:
http://www.epidna.com/abstract/pm/18312311

Encouragement and Permission

Encouragement and Permission.

This topic is one that's very close to my heart, it's something I've done for a long time, but I never had a name for until I met Dr. Brooks. As a parent, a mentor, a role model, a teacher, a coach, and a doctor, I can't think of any other concept that is more universal in inspiring others to achieve more and to reach higher than that of Encouragement and Permission.

Encouragement - supporting someone in their decision after they have been informed of the consequences of making a choice.

Permission - allowing the consequences to be owned by the individual - for better or for worse - without judgement.

Using this simple approach to parenting as well as patient care, I have seen amazing things in terms of an individual's growth and responsibility and happiness and freedom. It is very encouraging to see people achieving new heights by making decisions on their own with increased knowledge.

My three-year-old daughter shows that she understands this concept when she gets down on her little sister's level, looks her in the eye, and informs her about different options she has while they play together. Often, after informing her of playing options, Sophie will give Ivy permission to make a choice and finally, followup with encouragement about that choice. It's such a fun experiences to witness such a small person helping another in a simple yet profound way.

All playing aside, Encouragement and Permission is about responsibility -- something corporations, societies, and governments tend to shy away from.

The opposite of Encouragement and Permission is Coercion without information. Coercion without information is forced obedience of a person who lacks the knowledge necessary to make decisions with no attempt to educate them.

Although necessary when dealing with very young children, this is an inferior way of upbringing and is very prevalent in today's society and in government. Using this method of behavior change produces a state of dependence and ignorance where people feel no need to take responsibility for their own actions. This is a state where the government, corporation, doctor, or care provider runs every aspect of a person's life and tells them what they must do. People brought up with this mentality aren't interested in increasing their knowledge about their choices and actually seek a parent or government who uses Coercion without information to make decisions for them. By doing this they remove from themselves the need to take responsibility. This philosophy is extremely disempowering and very prevalent.

This mentality is everything I fought against in Afghanistan and what I continue to fight against now. During my tour of Afghanistan I witnessed the first EVER free election of the Afghan people, what a humbling day. Here in America, I blog and teach others about changing their health status through their choices. I teach others how to take responsibility for their lives and their health, to allow them to make mistakes but to be happy in the fact that they made the decision on their own and know that tomorrow is another opportunity to make a good decision.

This is freedom. The use of Encouragement and Permission is how we transmit freedom from ourselves to others.

Reconnecting you to a life of freedom through informed choices.


- (Very-soon-to-be-Dr.) Steve

Got depression?

Depression is something that can be severely disabling and something that a great number of Americans suffer with.  It can transform a person's world.  I was reading a recent article comparing three different treatments for people suffering with severe depression - 1) Exercise alone, 2) Medication alone, and 3) Exercise with Medication. 

The findings were astounding!

The Exercise WITHOUT Medication group had better recovery as well as fewer relapses than either of the other two groups.  Just take a look at the chart!

The amazing thing is that not only did exercise beat medication, but exercise alone beat exercise WITH the medication (meaning that the medicine appeared detrimental to the recovery of these people after they began an exercise program). Say "Wow!"

Important - Exercise is NOT a therapy! Adequate movement (especially movement of the spine) is ESSENTIAL for proper functioning of the brain, heart, lungs, muscles, and every other part of the body.

If these depressed people were deficient in exercise causing chemical changes in the brain, how can we possibly think that medication is the rational solution?

If their bodies NEEDED exercise but didn't have it, what is the only way to reestablish a normal level of health?  If we continue to focus on drug-centered solutions to overcome lifestyle-created issues, where is the hope?

A LACK of an essential nutrient allows the possibility of disease. Having this understanding is absolutely critical for optimal health and wellness!

How can we call long-term drugs without exercise a "treatment" for depression and consider ourselves rational and "evidence-based"?

More important is the understanding that within the human body, there's never a time when you have just one cause of any "condition". If you also helped these depressed persons improve what they were putting into their body in terms of NUTRITION and THOUGHTS, imagine what would happen for their ability to express amazing health and vitality!

Where is this understanding in today's "Health Care"? Is this the conversation that goes on between a depressed patient and their doctor? Are these sick people viewing the drug as a REPLACEMENT for exercise (look at the relapse rates in these two groups)? Are depressed patients being told that exercise alone may be their BEST option? These people are NOT going to get this information in a drug commercial on TV - exercise is FREE! Who's going to tell them the truth?

Here's to getting and staying depression-free by supplying the body what it needs in terms of movement, nutrition, and emotion.

Reconnecting you to health and happines, Naturally.

Reference:

http://www.psychosomaticmedicine.org/cgi/content/short/62/5/633