Treating Health Problems Naturally with Good Food, Nutrition, Herbal Medicine and Lifestyle Solutions

A recent survey presented by Andrew Green at the American Diabetes Association annual meeting presented some disturbing facts about lifestyle change in diabetics. The SHIELD (The Study to Help Improve Early Evaluation and Management of Risk Factors Leading to Diabetes) study measured such things as physical activity, weight loss and the changes that study participants had made to help control their diabetes.

Despite knowing that lifestyle changes will help control their diabetes, the study revealed that most people fail to make changes. In the study of 3867 people with type 2 diabetes only 70% tried to lose weight in the previous year, even though 87% knew that obesity aggravated the problem. Only 13% were physically active in the week of the survey.

The interesting thing was that most people were well aware of the effects that diet and exercise had on their type 2 diabetes. So this begs the question, what makes one person want to stay healthy and what makes another person continue with a diet and lifestyle that they know is making them ill?

Of course some food is addictive but so is feeling fit, healthy, full of energy and a zest for life. Foods that are full of sugars are the most addictive and can give a temporary high, but after that comes the low and often the feeling of guilt. Different people do of course have varied responses to their weight problem. When having a Cellular Health Analysis some of my patients will be genuinely motivated when the test measures that they have advanced ageing. Others are angry and refuse to take on board the real state of their health. This is unfortunate as the Cellular Health Analysis is a great tool that will measure the positive changes to a person’s health such as decreasing fat mass decreases and improved muscle mass and nutritional status.

If you have a weight or other health problem let me tell you that sometimes weight loss and generally being motivated to look after your health takes some “tough love”. It may take some self analysis for you to determine why you are resistant to looking after your own health. Although there can be some intellectual challenges in finding new things to eat, I believe resistance to change is more of an emotional problem. So if you are having a struggle with motivating yourself and nurturing your health, try these exercises.

1. Imagine where you will be in 10 years time if you continue to do the same things as you are currently doing. Be truthful with yourself. This might mean considering living a life of pain & suffering with neuropathy & inflammation, it could be taking insulin injections daily, it could mean being wheel chair bound, unable to get out of the house, unable to play with the grandkids. Each of us has a different situation, so make your own reasonable projections.

            On a scale of 1 (very bad) to 10 (feeling good), how do you feel about your future?

            Now ask yourself if you like what you see.

2.   Imagine you are now eating well – not going hungry – but enjoying some beautiful fresh, whole food. Your desire for sweet things has naturally dissipated as you change your eating habits.     You have also discovered how to cook delicious, mouth watering foods cooked with Low Glycaemic Load  alternatives to the sugary foods of the past. You didn’t realize just how tasty these foods were,  because  the    foods you were eating had interfered with the body’s natural response to healthy foods and brought about unnatural cravings.

 Imagine how much more energy you have. You look forward to getting out of the house each morning and breathing in that fresh air as you go for your daily walk. You catch a glimpse of yourself in a mirror and like what you see.

On a scale of 1 (very bad) to 10 (feeling good), how do you feel?

 3. Ask yourself what things tempt you to eat badly each day. Is it sitting in front of the television or computer? Is it boredom in general? Is it going out with friends or family? Is it peer group pressure or is it cooking to try to please your partner? Is it lack of cooking skills? Is it that bowl of sweets that are left in front of you at work?

 Identify each of your weaknesses. Identify the who, what, where and why of your problem eating.

4. Now get yourself a sheet of paper and rule a line down the middle of it. On the left hand side, write down a list of what makes you eat badly or not want to exercise. Now in the right hand column, write down a list of strategies to overcome these issues. For example on the left you might have written “Healthy food tastes disgusting”. On the right you therefore might write “buy a good cookbook” or “try one new food every day”. If having snacks is the problem (left side), then you might write “have a house full of healthy snacks” in the right column.

 When doing this exercise, don’t forget to address the emotional issues. You may find a deeply hidden sense of poor self worth, a feeling of wanting to hide from the world, or a feeling of wanting to beat yourself up.

 There is always a negative issue there that is influencing you, even if you are unable to identify it initially. If this is the case, maybe you should seek out a practitioner such as a kinesiologist, who can help you identify thoughts hidden in your subconscious mind.