Putting all the chances of great health on your side

I had two conversations this weekend in which living a healthy lifestyle were the topic. Both were similar in nature in that they dealt with extremely healthy people who got debilitating illnesses. The first conversation was with a man who stated that sometimes genetic predispositions just lead us to cancer, heart disease, or some other disease. His mantra appeared to be, "Well, no matter what you do, you're going to die anyway." We all know the truth in that statement but it's fatalistic and selfish. If we all had that attitude, we would all be living careless lives with little regard for health at all.
The second conversation hit closer to home. My teacher and guru, Dr. David Simon, diagnosed himself with brain cancer in the fall of 2010. Dr. Simon is a neurologist, an Ayurvedic doctor, and an enlightened being. He has dedicated his entire existence to helping others and assisting them in their own healing. He leads a very healthy life. If we were to look at the "why" of his diagnosis, it would leave us all puzzled and quite frankly, downright depressed. If this man who has done everything right got brain cancer, what are in the cards for us?
The truth is we don't know enough about the grander scheme of things to ever have that answer.
In my previous post, I revealed my struggle with cancer as a 28 year old woman. Before that point, I had lived a relatively healthy lifestyle but it was not stellar. I remember telling a vegan friend, "You know, if I ever get cancer, I will become vegan."
What I realized after my experience with cancer was that I got it all backwards.
We live a healthy lifestyle so we can handle disease when and if it occurs. By making our mind, body, soul and spirit at its optimal level we have the strength we need to deal with whatever comes our way.
While I hate to make analogies with national defense, can you imagine if a country with little resources created a policy where they did not spend any money on a defense system? Diplomats of neighboring countries would chastise that country for acting so irresponsibly. The reason being, if the country with no defense system was invaded, it would create a threat for the neighboring countries.
By acting irresponsibly with our own health, we create a threat to our family, loved ones, community, work colleagues, and subscribers to our health insurance. The ripple effect of not taking charge of our own health is endless. Yet, we have a tendency to look at our health as a private affair. We find ourselves saying, "It's my body, I'll do what I want with it." Unfortunately, unless you are a hermit living in a cave, we don't live in a vacuum. We are not only interconnected but interdependent on others to help us when we have ill health.
Living a healthy lifestyle takes consistency and time.
Consistency is important because our bodies are resiliant but most of us are not aware of when the seeds of illness are planted. Think of a really nice car, let's say a BMW. You have paid a lot of money for this nice car. You decide that this nice care was expensive and should work really well. After all, it's a well built vehicle. But the vehicle manual calls for an oil change every 5,000 miles. The first time you go to 10,000 miles, you get the oil changed and nothing happens. The next time you go to 25,000, get the oil changed and nothing happens. You think to yourself, "Wow, the manufacturer just wants me to spend the extra money but the car is fine." So the next time you go to 50,000 miles and the engine burns. Angry, you curse yourself for pushing your expensive car to the limit.
We tend to do the same thing with our bodies. We don't get enough rest, exercise in bursts or go on crash diets and then expect our bodies to perform optimally. Without consistency, our bodies will crash and burn.
Time is important because living a healthy lifestyle takes time in our day. Dedicating 30 minutes to walking, meditation or yoga is time consuming. But realize that doctors appointments, pharmacy lines, x-rays, lab tests, MRIs, emergency room visits also take a lot of time and resources.
For the next week work out this challenge:

"What can I do consistently and dedicate the time for my health and wellbeing?"

Some suggestions might be : learn to meditate, take a yoga class, walk for 20 minutes a day, keep a journal, cook one meal per day with 4 different fresh veggies

How are you going to incorporate a healthy lifestyle into your own life and start taking responsibility for your own health?

Wishing you peace, harmony, laughter and love,

Michelle

What is Ayurveda and Why is it important to me?

Ayurveda is a 5,000-year old medical system from India. It is a holistic medical system which is all-inclusive. Ayurveda respects the elements in nature and healing comes from lifestyle, nutrition, detoxification, yoga, meditation, herbal medicine and if needed surgery. The focus of Ayurveda is on prevention by keeping the body, mind and spirit in balance. According to Ayurveda, when imbalances occur and are maintained over a period of time, disease has the opportunity to manifest. Once an Ayurvedic patient learns how to detect imbalances, he can correct them through lifestyle changes before disease has a chance to grow.
The all-inclusive nature of Ayurveda means the Hippocratic oath that doctors must take upon graduating; “First do no harm.” In Ayurveda, we gently urge the body back to health. However, if methods of allopathic or Western medicine are needed, Ayurveda recognizes the complementary nature of these methods.
My discovery of Ayurveda came as a serendipitous event. When I was 28 years old, I was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. My daughter was 5 at the time and my son was 18 months. Just hearing the word “cancer” devastated my life. After, two surgeries and radioactive iodine treatment, I was left without a thyroid, on synthetic thyroid medication and finding myself with a host of symptoms I had never experienced before. I had anxiety, panic attacks and depression. Convinced that these symptoms were directly linked to a thyroid imbalance, I saw doctor after doctor who assured me that the symptoms were “all in my head” since my thyroid levels all come back normal. Finally I found a doctor who believed me and he changed my medication to natural porcine thyroid hormone and put me on supplements. In addition, his nurse practitioner, a saint in my eyes, did Gestalt therapy and meditation with me. Little by little I was returning to normal.
On my road to recovery, a friend gave me a copy of Dr. Chopra’s Perfect Health to read. It is a description of Ayurveda and Ayurvedic lifestyle and it made perfect sense to me. Once I began implementing principles from Ayurvedic lifestyle, I began to feel better. Between the time of my surgery and my discovery of Ayurveda, three years had gone by, three years of my youth wasted on feeling horrible most of the time. I knew that if I were to feel good for the rest of my life, I was going to have to heal my body, mind, soul and spirit in every aspect and stick with it.
My journey into teaching Ayurveda came in about 2006 when my father-in-law at the time was diagnosed with failing kidneys. His toxicity level was so poor that the doctors told him in under 6 months he would be on dialysis. My husband came to me begging me to talk with his father about Ayurveda and to create a plan for him. I reluctantly did. I was reluctant because I did not feel I was an expert in any way. Nevertheless, I firmly believed and still do the power in lifestyle changes. So I talked with him and created a plan. The results were amazing. Within a month, he lost 35 pounds, was walking daily and his kidney levels improved.
I thought of how many people suffer on a daily basis because allopathic medicine does not have all the answers. I thus began my quest to help others heal with Ayurveda. It became not only a personal quest but my dharma or purpose in life. To end suffering is to enjoy life. And in enjoying life, each and every one of us can live our dharma. In living our dharma, we help others and bring joy to the world.

Michelle Fondin is the author of The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda: An Easy Guide to a Healthy Lifestyle  and Help! I Think My Loved One Is an Alcoholic: A Survival Guide for Lovers, Family, & Friends. 

How is a 5,000-year old science pertinent in the U.S.?

     Change sometimes happens by mistake. Change sometimes happens as a result of innovation, technological advances or discovery. And many times, change happens because it is necessary. I believe we are, in the U.S., at a point in which change in our healthcare is, without a doubt, necessary.

     I don't follow politics closely enough to make an argument about healthcare from a political point of view, but from a medical and commonsense point of view my argument lies below.

     While we, as Westerners, benefit from longevity and modern medical technology, we as a people are growing sicker and sicker with each passing year. It seems almost absurd that the richest nation in the world, in funds and resources, has a population who cannot combat the most basic human need of physical, mental and psychological health. And it is said that this generation of American children, for the first time in recent history, will have a shorter life span than their parents due to the outbreak of childhood obesity and the related diseases. Absurd may not even be the appropriate word here. Better words that come to mind are troubling or worrisome.

     Yes, change is necessary if we want to survive as a people and if we care to live full lives.

Part of that change does come from legislation and making sure the American population has affordable health insurance. The other part comes from each and every one of us. The onus is on us to take responsibility for our own health.

     As Americans, we haven't been terribly successful in knowing exactly how to do this. Sure, we have gym memberships, go jogging in parks and follow the latest dietary fads. But because of the strong solidarity between doctors, pharmaceutical companies, and insurance companies, we have been told throughout the years to give responsibility of our own health over to someone else. And when this "someone else" has no solution for why we are feeling ill, we are supposed to just go home and suck it up.

     Taking responsibility for our own health may seem like an enormous burden but I look at it as liberation. We can stop giving the destiny of our health and well being over to another "professional" and learn how to actually take care of ourselves.

     That being said, I am completely for the medical community for certain ailments and if it weren't for doctors and pharmaceutical companies, I may not be alive today but allopathic medicine is only a portion of the complete picture.

     And this is where Ayurveda steps in.

     The practice of an Ayurvedic lifestyle helps to complete the picture and gives us practical and scientifically proven ways to regain control over our health.

     As I post, I will share my journey that led me to an Ayurvedic practice as well as shedding light on what it means to incorporate an Ayurvedic lifestyle into a crazy, hectic American life.

Wishing you peace, harmony, laughter and love,
Michelle

Michelle Fondin is the author of The Wheel of Healing with Ayurveda: An Easy Guide to a Healthy Lifestyle  and Help! I Think My Loved One Is an Alcoholic: A Survival Guide for Lovers, Family, & Friends.