We are at the crossroads: Obesity is an epidemic, plaguing the young as well as the old, reaching alarming levels in children. Diabetes is affecting millions, and cancer and heart disease are the number one killers in America.
Are there answers? Yes, but we must speak the truth in love. The key to a productive, well-balanced life is spiritual health. To deal with disease, discouragement, and stress without a relationship with God is futile.
One definition of insanity is doing the same thing while expecting different results. Not only can the healthcare system not sustain it, but our quality of life is on the line.
Instead of grandparents playing with their grandkids, they are often barely able to get around. Instead of parents being productive, we are tired and worn out and our families pay the price. Instead of kids enjoying life, they are battling many health-related illnesses. We cannot continue down this path.
If you’re ready to take back your health, it’s not as difficult as it appears. The key is to focus on direction rather than perfection and to get back up when you fall. To help you get started, I’ve listed five tips below. These five areas made an incredible difference in my life, including getting my weight down to a healthy level (tip 3 was key because it put everything else in order). As always, make sure to consult your physician before starting any nutritional program, including fasting.
Here are the top five ways to restore and rejuvenate our cells, and thus, our entire body:
1. Deep Sleep: Deep sleep is when healing and restoration take place. How can we expect to be healthy if we miss this important area? Sadly, very few people experience deep sleep because they are addicted to alcohol, sugar, and caffeine which deeply affects REM.
Some argue, “But I fall right to sleep; these things don’t affect me.” But that’s not deep, healing sleep; it’s adrenal fatigue and exhaustion — the quality of sleep is deeply affected. We then repeat the process of self-medicating the following day to balance out sleep deprivation. It’s a never-ending cycle that we must break if we are to experience true sleep and rest. Late-night eating and social media stimuli also prevent deep sleep. Fix this issue and you’re well on your way to feeling better. Productivity and energy will both increase substantially.
2. Life-Giving Food: I often wonder how many diseases could be prevented and/or reversed by eating better and being more active. Dead processed food from a factory does little to sustain life. We were designed to eat living food that contains the building blocks of life. Vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals are deposited into the body to renew, restore, and replenish. The best diet is actually very simple: Choose God-given food in moderation, rather than man-made, processed refined food.
3. Feast on Fasting: Fasting doesn’t kill us; over-consumption does. Disease is often a problem of toxicity created by what we consume, ingest, or breathe — and fasting can be the detox solution.
Fasting is not a panacea; it simply provides an environment for healing. Since an enormous amount of energy is used to digest food, the energy is instead diverted to healing when we fast.
Today, some top physicians attest to the life-changing power of fasting. Although there are some who shouldn’t fast — from pregnant and nursing moms to those struggling with eating disorders — an overwhelming number of people would benefit from it.
Fasting is hard because we’re withdrawing from things such as caffeine, sugar, alcohol, and processed foods. To avoid this, wean off of these things and begin with short fasts.
4. Activate More Activity: Our bodies were not designed to sit for long periods of time. In 2006, Harvard Medical School put forth the following statement: “Exercise helps prevent atherosclerosis.” And it also helps by “improving other atherosclerotic risk factors such as high blood pressure, diabetes, obesity, and stress.” Inactivity often leads to weight gain and sluggish blood flow. Every pound of fat requires a few extra miles of blood vessels. That means more work for the body, especially the heart. Lose the excess and usher in better health.
5. Stabilize Stress: Some stress is needed because it prompts the body to respond to an injury or an illness by triggering an immune response. But chronic stress, over time, can be very destructive. Imagine an army fighting a battle where they never rest. That’s chronic stress. Chronic stress puts the muscles in a constant state of tension which leads to back and neck pain. This is why it’s important to avoid stimulants — they keep the body in a constant state of stress (fight or flight). So what’s the best way to deal with chronic stress? In short, the four points above are the best way to ward off chronic stress.
My hope is that readers don’t become obsessed with physical fitness because real health has God at the center. Jeremiah 29:13 is a favorite verse of mine: “You will seek me and find me when you seek me with all your heart.”
Don’t stay caught in the endless cycle of killing the symptom rather than the cause. It all begins with a choice to surrender to the one true and living God and experience the peace that surpasses all understanding.