Healthy living: Answers to Your Deepest Darkest Health Questions

Q. Over the past year I have watched 3 of my close friends become suddenly diagnosed with a serious illness. They lived completely normal healthy lives before this and were still young, only in their 40's and 50's.  This led me to question my own health and take a deeper look at my habits.  Sure I look healthy on the outside, but what is really going on in my body?  I have never focused on myself, I am so busy taking care of everyone else.  Is it too late?  Has the damage already been done?  Is it possible to heal my body?

 A.  It is ABSOLUTELY never too late to take charge of your health.  The key here is to first make the choice and decide to be healthy and find a safe, simple, and natural strategy that works easily in your life.

#1.  You need balance.  Your body has the amazing ability to heal itself; it's a self-regulating entity.  Your body strives for homeostasis, or optimal balance.

If you were cooking and added too much of one ingredient you would have to add other ingredients to balance the recipe.

 #2. You need variety.  Consuming foods from the entire color spectrum.  Each color contains a specific set of vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids, antioxidants and phytonutrients that work together to give your body the nutrients it needs.

 #3 You need moderation.  Too little or too much of anything is not a good thing. 

I knew this girl in high school who suddenly became obsessed with carrots.  I'm not sure why she was driven to this obsession, but over the course of a couple of days she ate nothing but carrots. You would see her walking down the hall and sitting in class eating her carrots.  By the end of the week she literally turned orange. 

 Now of course you know that carrots are really good for you for a number of reasons, but in moderation, too much apparently will turn  you orange!

Q. I am a grown woman.  I am smart, confident, and live a purposeful life.  My big deep secret is that I am terrified to go to the doctor for my annual checkup.  You see, last year my lab work came back with some near dangerous limits.  I promised my doctor that I was going to take care of my health and start exercising, stop drinking those delicious cosmo's with my girlfriends, stop snacking on cookies and donuts at work, and eat more whole foods.  And I did, for about a month, then very slowly I went right back to my old habits. 

 A.  You are not alone.  We are creatures of habit.  You probably failed because you tried to change everything at once.  It's better if you take small steps at a time and once you are successful with that change then move on change something else.

You need to ask yourself a few questions and be very honest about the answers.  Go back and remember last year when you first heard the results from your doctor, you were a little scared, right?  Now, you are scared that the results will be really bad news.  You'll think, I could have prevented this if I could have just stuck to my health strategy.  And you will be right.  You need to find a super simple strategy that you can stick to.