Many health store owners and health practitioners face naïve requests (sometimes even demands) from patrons and patients seeking a magic pill to remedy whatever ails them—a supposed quick fix—that will cure them of their health woes. There are numerous “miracle” foods and fad exercise regimes that promise to do just that.
Unfortunately, if you’re pursuing a quick fix, you may not be on a sustainable health path. You are also susceptible to fraudulent claims of vendors who make lofty promises of immediate health bliss after taking their products.
The truth is that we actually have to be willing to make some lifestyle changes in order to become healthy and maintain optimum health. Fortunately, gradual or slow change is better than no change at all. Thus you can take baby steps in terms of re-balancing and re-calibrating your body to reach your health goals.
Many of us know that we should eat a balanced diet and exercise, minimize stress, while incorporating leisure activities into our lives, for example. However, are we willing to push to implement these steps into our lifestyle?
A recent article advised that knowledge, hard work and discipline are necessary ingredients to achieving one’s health goals. We agree, to the extent that mental processing of your health plan is critical to your success. As the old adage goes, the first battle ground to your success with any endeavour is in the mind. Achieving optimal health, even from a state of serious, chronic illness and disease is no different. Consider the following mental principles to help you to not only avoid falling into a quick fix health paradigm but also to choose and implement wisely along your health journey.
6 Tips to Avoid Falling Into A Quick Fix Health Trap
- Choose Pleasure Over Pain
Now this can be a tricky tip to follow given that for many people, choosing pleasure is what led them down a path of health destruction in the first instance. Here, we’re speaking about lifestyle consumption of starchy, processed, sugary, preservative-laden foods of nominal nutritional value coupled with little physical exercise. Such a lifestyle has, at least in part, contributed to the poor health state of many individuals, particularly in North America.
The “pleasure” that we’re encouraging you to seek and choose is that of a pain-free discomfort-free state of wellbeing. If you’re already sick with terrible symptoms or you’re taking medications with horrible side effects, we encourage you to allow the experience to lead to changes in your lifestyle. However, our next point is also a critical success factor.
- Consider Your Beliefs and Accept “Truth”
Knowing and accepting the truth about your health status, including what caused it and what will improve it (that is, the factors that are at play) is necessary to achieve your health goals. Another way of thinking about this is that we need to seek, find and accept truth(s) about what is or is likely causing our current health concerns and what actions will improve the situation. The catalyst to implement the necessary changes is believing that the changes will help or that there is a chance that they will help. If one doesn’t believe that, then there is very little, if no incentive to make the proposed change(s).
Where chronic diseases and illnesses are concerned, quick fixes often oversimplify the health problem(s) and create unrealistic expectations. One truth is that our bodies are complex systems whose equilibriums may be thrown off by a myriad of causes. Thus, implementing a single food or exercise movement is unlikely to bring about the desired cure or remedy. In fact, such cases often require a system and lifestyle overhaul consisting of a number of changes over time.
As an example, someone who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis may be advised to detox using homeopathic remedies and supplements, change their diet to minimize painful joint inflammation as well as perform certain exercises to enhance flexibility and range of motion.
- Prioritize Your Health
Many people do not consider their health a priority so the quick fixes are enticing when compared to the long-term transition that is necessary to pursue good nutrition, adequate exercise and “peace-enhancing” leisure. Achieving optimal health needs to be a desired objective for which we are willing to make lifestyle changes and not just one-off concessions.
Furthermore, many people do not want to make changes for their health. Changes may include: 1. re-training their mindset about the role of food in their health care such that they make better food choices, 2. re-training their taste pallets to like healthy foods; 3. modifying their daily routines to incorporate more sleep.
Time is an interesting factor when considering one’s health goals. Many of us are impatient, erroneously thinking that the health journey is a sprint rather than a marathon. However, depending on your health concern and how long you`ve had it, you may need patience while waiting to attain sustainable results. You may also need to modify your action steps along the way towards achieving your health goals. As an example, because an illness may have layers of contributing factors, it may make sense to divide the health goals and related plan(s) into stages, then implement the actions accordingly.
- The Way “the” Solution Is Framed Matters
In essence, it’s not helpful to tell someone (or even yourself) that it will take ‘hard work’ to achieve their health goals. The phrase “hard work” sends a message of doubt and discouragement about their achievability. If one has already accepted the “hard work” mentality, it may also seem “hard” because your current health state appears very far from your desired goal. Rather than declaring that it takes “hard work” and as mentioned above, it is better to conceive the action plan within the framework of small, gradual, steps. This will increase the likelihood that the steps will not only be implemented but also be sustainable.
Another problematic notion sometimes embraced is that there is only one way to achieve a desired health goal, when in fact there are probably several. Trying a few actions at a time and tweaking as needed can lead to great health results. Incorporating the guidance of one or more health practitioners may be helpful in this regard. As long as you maintain your commitment to yourself and belief that it is possible to achieve the health goal, you have what you need to keep pursuing your desired health state.
- Discipline Can Be Created
If you don’t have a naturally disciplined, task-oriented personality, you may think that achieving a solution to a serious health problem is nearly impossible. After all, there is an element of organization involved in scheduling your daily activities such that you go to bed early enough to then have energy and time for exercise. The same can be said for making time to regularly chop fruits and vegetables to avoid making poor food choices because nutritious food is not readily available.
However, discipline is another element that may be fostered by different mental “activities” or methods. For example, consistently visualizing yourself in the state of the intended goal—such as healthy, strong, active, slender, pain-free, to name a few– can go a long way toward connecting your health goals with your daily nutrition and exercise choices. Somehow, the vision of your desired state makes the decision easier, sometimes even enjoyable!
As stated above, pain and discomfort experiences can also inject discipline into your decisions and actions: If a certain food causes you severe pain and discomfort, that should be a constant and effective reminder not to consume it. That is, of course, if you believe that consuming the particular food is causing the pain or discomfort and that refraining from it will alleviate these symptoms. Unfortunately, many people deny that certain foods are harmful to them, preferring instead to let their taste buds lead them in making “Double D” food choices—Delicious and Dangerous!
- Accept Responsibility For Your Own Health
As fad exercising and dieting usually have culture or even “cult”-like sources, its also important to quench the desire to move with the crowd, including friends or family. Your health transformation is personal such that it is really important to be willing to make the necessary changes by yourself and for yourself, such that others cannot derail you. In this regard, it`s okay for others to come along for the ride, but you’re not relying on them in deciding and implementing certain health steps. This way, they’re not positioned in your psyche to discourage you should they abandon the plan or even dissuade you from pursuing your goals.
Food, Health and You is an 8-episode documentary series wherein Dr. Carl Bamlet outlines how food played a major role in his healing and triumph over pineal germinoma, also known as brain cancer. The series also explores the world of natural disease prevention and reversal for such crippling conditions as obesity, heart disease, type 2 diabetes and more.
The Autoimmune Bible is the story of how Mark Stevens used ancient secrets hidden in the Bible, specifically about food, to heal himself from the life-threatening auto-immune disease, multiple sclerosis (MS). The vital information caused him to quickly slow down the disease and reverse the damage done to his brain. These same biblical secrets can be used to cure other autoimmune diseases like Grave’s disease, Hashimoto’s thyroiditis, lupus, type 1 diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, fibromyalgia, and many more.
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To explore some of the options that have helped chronic disease sufferers restore the internal equilibrium within their bodies, including natural remedies and alternatives, purchase from our Health Treasures Series:
“Food, Health and You” at
https://www.pearlsofwisdomforabundantlife.com/food-health-and-you/ and/or
“The Autoimmune Bible” at
https://www.pearlsofwisdomforabundantlife.com/the-autoimmune-bible/
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