Monday, April 19, 2010

fight the good fight

This ongoing battle against Jeremy's eczema is giving me an even greater awareness of and desire to discover natural, effective remedies for our everyday ailments. I am more convinced than ever that what you put into your body is directly related to the status of your health and overall well being. You are what you eat...

Someone told me once that it didn't really matter what you ate, if you skip a meal and eat a candy bar instead, that the body turns it all into vitamins anway. FALSE! This could not be more wrong. Especially in this day and age where EVERYTHING is mass produced and laden with sugars, acids, dyes and things I cannot pronounce, nevermind spell. Our bodies were not designed to take garbage and turn it into the vitamins and minerals our bodies need for our health and well being. It's just not true.

While I agree that our bodies can be resillient to occasional poor food choices, of which I am guilty of like most everyone else, believing that you can substitute fruits, vegetables, complex carbs and proteins with laffy taffy and lollipops is absurd. Refined sugars, trans fats and vegetable oils are just some of the culprits found in foods that create inflammation in our bodies. Inflammation = bad.

My son, Jeremy struggles greatly with eczema. Part of the chronic allergy issue he has I believe is directly related to his diet. I am working daily to make sure he consumes foods that will have a positive affect on his health - however, he is a tough patient. And because I am not always with him to control his food choices...I feel like I am constantly spinning my wheels. Leaving both of us aggravated and feeling hopeless. The inflammatory foods that I know are contributing to his allergies and eczema are the foods he chooses the most. He would rather eat macaroni and cheese and bread than fruits and vegetables. I have to supplement his diet daily while I am fighting the fight of taking away the foods he loves to eat and pushing the foods he would rather starve to death than eat. Sometimes, Jeremy does go hungry for a few hours because of it. This is a constant battle.

Why am I so concerned about inflammation? A few reasons...


chronic pain
arthritis
fibromyalgia
chronic fatigue syndrome
dysmenorrhea
endometriosis
Alzheimer's disease
Parkinson's disease
multiple sclerosis
cancer
heart disease
osteoporosis
hypertension (high blood pressure)
depression
insulin resistance syndrome (pre-diabetes)
diabetes

Our genetic code is not that different from our predecessors but our food definitely is. After grains were adopted as a staple food that replace animal proteins a number of negative health outcomes occurred including the following:

Increased infant mortality
Increased number of dental cavities and enamel defects
Reduced lifespan
Increased infection diseases
Increased osteoporosisi, osteomalacia and other bone mineral disorders
Incease in iron deficiency anemia

It's easy to consume foods that are pro-inflammatory - they are convenience foods and also just the regular everyday grain based foods we have become accustomed to. But it is just as easy to eat anti-inflammatory foods. They are just as readily available and good tasting. It's a decision to create a change of habit when it comes to the foods we eat. I know it's not always the easy choice - but in my opinion, it's the best choice for our health. It's a fight worth taking on.

For more information - visit http://www.anaboliclabs.com/ and www.nhlbisupport.com/bmi to check out your Body Mass Index.

(reference data is from booklet produced by Anabolic Laboratories).

Peace.

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