Self help... Health Insurance?

His health was excellent right up until the last few months. Even earlier this year he was still climbing up ladders and pruning trees. He never took prescription drugs, he ate sensibly and maintained an active lifestyle right to the end.

Because of the satisfying life that he had led and the way which he enriched the lives of everyone around him, the funeral whilst sad was quite unlike most others in that it was a true celebration of his life. Many speakers told stories of his 'exploits' and how his wisdom and good humor had helped them in their lives.

I couldn't help thinking...

Whilst the service was taking place I thought of how out of the ordinary this service really was! I was reflecting about how common it is when someone passes away around this age, that the discussions afterwards often revolve around how the deceased is better off now because they have had poor health for so many years and as such their quality of life had been low for a long time.

Usually added to these comments are ones such as 'it will be a relief to the family because it has been such a strain on them'. The last comment is particularly relevant if the loved one who has passed away had any form of dementia. Happily I knew that those types of comments would not be heard after this service.

(I do have a reason why I am telling you all this... I will come to it later!)

After the service there was the usual get together for family and friends. As sometimes happens at these types of gatherings you come across old acquaintances that you may not have seen for many years. That happened yesterday when I met a number of people whom I had not seen for 20 years or more.

Interesting comparisons!

It was particularly interesting meeting up with these people again after all this time. Most of them were of a similar age to me (late 50's). What was fascinating was the wide variance in the condition of these people.

The overwhelming majority of these people did not look good and I found out that many of them had already had heart attacks or serious illnesses of some sort. In fact, many of them did not look much younger than my friend's father who had just passed away 30 or more years their senior. There was however the odd one who was looking good and in good shape and health, but as I said they were the exception rather than the rule.

Later on I discussed this with my friend who knew these people well and we discussed the different attitudes these people had towards health and lifestyle. I suspected what the different attitudes were likely to be and my friend confirmed this. It was like they were wearing a sign on their face and body's.

Without exception those people who had always had a 'non thinking' attitude towards health were the ones that were having health problems and looked older than their years. In contrast the couple of people who cared about their health still looked good and young and had had no health problems.

According to my friend they eat sensibly, exercise and take supplements and have done so for many years.

Now I come to the point of this blog...

These people were prime examples of an undeniable reality that age degeneration is a gradual process and the speed of the degeneration is directly linked to how the body is treated and nourished. The majority of the group that I have been talking about would only have a very remote chance of living to 90 like my friends father. But... if they did they would have a very poor quality of life and very likely become dependent upon nursing care.

On the other hand the other two people that I referred to will very likely exceed age 90 and do so full of vitality and without disease. If my friend's father can do it with no health knowledge other than understanding the importance of good nutrition and exercise then imagine the possibilities with the knowledge that we have today.

I for one, intend being around for my 100th birthday... and beyond... and enjoying every minute of every day with no drugs, or any assistance of any sort other than our own supplements which will become even more sophisticated as scientific knowledge grows. Of course as I have said before no supplement can work miracles. If you don't take care of the basics such as exercise and sensible nutrition then you will never be able to maximize your anti-aging potential.

I also can't help wondering what would have happened if 10 years ago my friend had been able to get his father on say our Total Balance and Omega 3 DHA. (Note: This is hypothetical only because the knowledge and technology to produce our Total Balance did not exist 10 years ago.)

Prevention is the best health insurance on earth!

Prevention of disease and aging is a much talked about subject but only practiced seriously by a small percentage of people. It would be so easy for the majority of people to practice it instead of it being the preserve of a small minority. So... why isn't it practiced more?

I think the reason is that so many people have become conditioned to the 'quick fix'. They think that they do not have to make changes to their lifestyles because they can 'do it later' when they have time, and they think that if they get ill in the interim that modern medicine will fix them in no time at all. After all there are a lot of 'miracle drugs' out there, aren't there?

NO... there are no miracle drugs! In fact, the majorities of these so called miracle drugs merely suppress the symptoms of disease and in the process throw the body out of balance (side effects) and potentially create other serious illnesses.

Likewise there is no single miracle nutrient that will instantly slow down the degeneration of your body. The ONLY way to slow down your aging is by:

• Ensuring that all the nutrients in your body are properly balanced.
• That your organs are getting the 'fuel' that they need to function properly.

With the correct 'fuel' your hormonal cascade will function properly... with a resultant impact on all other aspects of your health. We all know just how difficult it is to get the nutrients your body needs from just diet alone, because of this supplementation is the only real solution. But the thing to remember with supplementation is that the changes may be so subtle that you don't even notice them for maybe months, or even years. It is not until you get older and compare yourself with others of your same age that you really begin to appreciate what they are doing for you.

Oh... another reason why I think that people don't implement prevention programs... cost! They figure $60 or $90 per month is just too much to spend on supplements. But, is it really a cost? Only each individual can be the judge on that... but, I would question that argument when you break it down to a daily cost of between $2 - $3.

At the end of the day, what is good health really worth? Most people don't realize its value until they lose it... sometimes it’s then too late... sometimes if they are lucky they can start again...

I hope that the issue raised this week is something that you will reflect on, as decisions that you make now could have an enormous impact on your life 10 years into the future.

In good health.