Heredity and Environment

Remember that whole hoopla about "heredity vs. environment"? There was so much debate, for decades, over what the cause of human behavior was -- heredity (i.e. genetics) or environment (i.e. upbringing)? Eventually, everyone agreed that it is both, always both -- an interaction between our heredity and our environment makes us who we are. I believe it is time for a similar consensus about the real cause of chronic illness -- it's not just lifestyle (environment) or just biochemistry (heredity) -- it's both, and more. Who we are and what we do are both important causative factors of illness.

Who we are -- our genes, our personality, our dosha (ayurvedic type), our innate strengths and weaknesses -- interacts with what we do -- where we live, how we eat, how we use our bodies and minds, how we interact with others and our environment. It is the result of this interaction between who we are and what we do that can lead to chronic illness.

A "strong" person -- a person with a strong constitution, a strong will to live, kapha-dosha, resilience, and hardiness -- can withstand a harsh lifestyle -- a stressful environment, say, or an unhealthy diet -- and not get sick. A "weak" person, on the other hand -- timid, sensitive, vata-dosha, prone to self-doubt or inner self-sabotage, perhaps from a long line of malnourished and overworked ancestors -- may succumb to serious illness simply from the stresses of daily life. However, as the stresses of modern life increase, more and stronger individuals will be affected by our common, unhealthy environment.

We cannot change our constitution, or change the past. We can only change our present and future -- reduce stress now and from this day forward, and reduce our probability of becoming or staying ill. But really, it is all a numbers game. Your probability of becoming ill decreases if you reduce stress and live a healthy lifestyle, and it increases if you are under stress or make unhealthy choices.

However, not everything is under our control. All of us are exposed to the toxins that modern Western society has created. Here in Oregon, for example, a recent study found that average Oregonians have all six classes of toxic chemicals in their bodies, including mercury, phthalates, PCBs, PFCs, organophospahte pesticides, and bisphenol A.

The most serious result of pollution is its harmful biological effects on human health and on the food chain of animals, birds, and marine life. Pollution can destroy vegetation that provides food and shelter. It can seriously disrupt the balance of nature, and, in extreme cases, can cause the death of humans -- http://www.tpub.com/content/advancement/14325/css/14325_12.htm

Healthy lifestyle choices can help mediate and reduce the dangerous health effects of stress and pollution. Relaxation exercises such as meditation, yoga, tai chi, and walking can reduce the "stress response" (fight or flight), stimulate the "relaxation response" (parasympathetic dominance), and minimize the impacts of stress on the body.

Healthy dietary choices such as eating fresh, raw or lightly-cooked, organic fruits, vegetables, sprouts, nuts, seeds, whole grains, and lots of filtered water can fortify and cleanse the body to ward off many health threats.

Nutritional supplements can also strengthen and shield the body against disease. For example, omega-3 oils protect the heart and connective tissue, and antioxidant vitamins such as A, C, E, selenium, coQ-10, and quercetin can destroy the pollution-created free-radicals that may lead to cancer and other illnesses. So a healthy lifestyle can help protect you, despite the toxicity of our modern world.

So, if you are ill, make new, healthier choices, and you will increase your odds of healing and reduce your odds of getting or staying ill. But remember, if you still don't get better, it is not necessarily your fault. It may not be your fault at all.

Perhaps you were never breastfed, you were raised on junk food, and like all of us you were and are exposed to thousands of toxic substances. Perhaps as an adult you have been single-parenting or experiencing major work and financial stresses. And maybe now you have a chronic illness that isn't getting better despite all of the supplements and herbs and medications and exercise and broccoli sprouts in the world. Please don't blame yourself. It's not your fault. Just do your best, and let go of the rest.

First, it may take months, years, or even decades of healthy living to heal the injuries of the past. Second, even if healthy-living doesn't "cure" you, it can and will improve your quality of life and prognosis immensely. Third, even if your current illness doesn't disappear or even visibly improve once you've changed your lifestyle, you may be preventing the emergence of other, more severe illnesses or a worsening of your current illness. You new life-changes may not make you better, but will most likely prevent you from getting worse.

Finally, living well is its own reward. By taking care of yourself, you are healing. You are learning to love yourself and live with integrity. You are setting a positive example for your family, your friends, and everyone you know. Your example of holistic living may prevent untold numbers of other people from getting ill. Healing is its own reward.

Be well, or die trying. That may sound morbid, but the joy is in the journey. We may never "get healthy" (as in, "get perfect"), but we can live healthy, and enjoy what life we have, with self-love and integrity. Rachel Naomi Remen says it best in her Kitchen Table Wisdom essay "Life is for the Well":

What she thought was that you had to be without symptoms to enjoy life, to go to the theater, to have children, to love. It was as if life was only lived by well people, could only be lived by well people....She has stopped pursuing the perfect health she once had, and does what she can to strengthen her body in simple, natural ways....Laughingly, she says that she has made a substitution in the cross-stitched sampler that hangs on the walls of her inner life. It used to say, "Life is only for the well." Now it says, "Anything worth doing is worth doing half-assed."

Live Well Now for a Bright Future

By Anita Perkins

It's How You Do It

It's not what you do, but how you do it, that matters. Acrobatic yoga poses, for example, can strengthen the ego along with the body, OR they can liberate you from self-imposed limitations and stretch you into fearlessness. It’s all HOW you do it. Even charitable giving, of one's time and energy or one's money -- even into the millions of dollars -- can be motivated by selflessness or by self-interest. Is it really charity, or just a public-relations tax write-off? It's all how you do it.

Living one's life can bring you into deeper bondage, or total liberation, depending on how it's done, and why. Intention is the key. Surrender all you do to your Higher Power. Live to grow and love and serve, and not to feed your limited ego, and you will fly.

See the Big Picture

Doing what's expedient in the short-term may have dire long-term consequences. Eating fast-food may seem quick and convenient, allowing you to be more productive today, but add up too many fast-food days, and by next year you'll be overweight with clogged arteries, and in ten years you might be too sick to work at all! (The movie Super Size Me and the book Diet for a New America are great resources about the evils of Fast Food.)

Feeding your toddler sugary treats may be expedient today, promoting good behavior through bribery or reward, but by next year obesity and cavities may be the undesired consequences, and in ten years your sweet-toothed toddler might be a troubled teen with ADHD.

So do your future self and your family a big favor -- don't just do what's quick-and-easy today. Do what's best for all your tomorrows.

Providing wisdom to its people and the inspiration for the United States Constitution, the Gayaneshakgowa (the Iroquois Constitution) urges us to:

"Look and listen for the welfare of the whole people and have always in view not only the present but also the coming generations, even those whose faces are yet beneath the surface of the ground -- the unborn of the future Nation."

As a society, we all need to be thinking, planning, and acting for the benefit of ourselves, our children, and our grandchildren into the future. See the big picture. Today's easy way out is tomorrow's major headache. Take it from me -- after being a sickly child raised on McDonald's and Poptarts, I am now lovingly cooking brown rice and organic vegetables for myself and my family, and I am finally feeling better. And you will, too! You can live well now and create a bright future of health and happiness.

Healing vs. Symptom Relief

Healing vs. Symptom Relief

It is important to admit you may need symptom relief – at least temporarily – to cope, to fulfill your family obligations, or to get back on your feet. But please don’t lean on that crutch forever. Symptom-relieving medication fools you into believing you’re well, when you’re actually just drugged. And when the pills wear off, you may be worse off than when you began, with side effects and a drug-addiction to boot. Take the drugs, if and when you really need them, get the shots, have the surgery, do what you need to do, get the best treatment your money can buy, for now. If you need it, it’s okay.

When I was 24, I gave birth to a son, and 6 weeks later my newborn’s son walked out on us. I coped the best I could, received public assistance briefly, got help from my family, but by the following winter, I felt very overburdened and alone. I developed a severe case of arthritis, and felt like an 80-year-old. I was in severe pain in my knees and wrists, and could not open a jar or sit on the floor to play with my crawling baby. The Rheumatologist ran tests and determined I had joint inflammation, with no known cause. Well, whatever the cause, I was unable to function. Tylenol, advil, naproxen, nothing helped. The doctor recommended prednisone, a steroid. I was vegetarian yoga practitioner who had just proudly had a natural childbirth, and the last thing I wanted was to be on such a strong drug.

I made the difficult choice to take the prednisone, temporarily, so I could feel better, and in the meantime, to learn everything I could about arthritis and natural healing. I coped with the drug’s side effects, and went to work researching and reading -- before the convenience of Google and Yahoo. I found the groundbreaking book, You Can Heal Your Life, by Louise Hay, which helped me to transform my health and my life. Hay taught me about affirmations, and how each illness has a psycho-emotional source. The source of arthritis is “feeling unloved, criticism, resentment.” Well, that made a lot of sense, considering my recent abandonment by my baby’s father.

I began reciting affirmations daily, and clearing my emotional blocks to health. I found part-time child care so I could have some time to nurture my own needs and feel less resentful. And I found an arthritis diet that eliminates all nightshade vegetables (tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, and red and green peppers), that alleviated my joint pains. (See the research link here.) I was able to wean myself off of the steroids, and I haven’t needed them since.

Taking symptom-relieving drugs is a tool to give you back the strength you need to heal yourself. You may need medications at times, especially as you embark on the journey towards wellness, or when you have bad days, unexpected life-stresses, or setbacks. That is okay. Just remember that symptom-relieving medications DO NOT HEAL YOU. Only you can heal yourself.

While you’re feeling able to cope, thanks to the miracles of modern medicine, take advantage of your temporary lack of symptoms and invest your energy in creating a long-term wellness plan. Read, research, and reach out for support, guidance, and assistance. And most of all, reach IN, inside yourself. Don’t give your power away to any doctor or author or expert. Only you know what you need to heal. Befriend yourself, love yourself, get to know yourself and your illness. Get to know the who, what, why, where, when and how of yourself and your illness, follow the steps to healing, and don’t give up. You can do this.

Pharmaceutical Corporate Greed: Beware

The drug companies want you to think you need them, and so do many (not all) doctors and insurance companies. Face it. Everyone and their uncle are making tons of money off you being sick. If you get well, they all lose their payroll. If we all eat healthily, exercise moderately, rest, reduce stress, and raise our stress thresholds with nutrients and lifestyle changes, we all get well. It is a sad and frightening truth that there are several gigantic multinational corporations who are in the business of insidiously ensuring that we never get well, that instead we continue to increase their profits by more and more of us getting sicker and sicker.

Link to Michael Moore's video, SICKO

It’s not so much that corporations are out to get you – I don’t personally believe in any organized, malicious corporate conspiracy – it’s just that they care entirely for their own profits and not at all for your well-being. There was a study done recently that analyzed an average corporation psychologically, and found that, by nature, corporations are sociopaths. Do you really want a sociopath telling you what to buy, what to eat, and how to live?

Link to The Corporation, such a powerful documentary!

For example, look at the billions of dollars spent on advertising, not just for pharmaceutical drugs, but to encourage us to buy and use the items which most clearly violate Ahimsa (non-harming). An unbelieveable amount of money is spent to persuade us to want, crave and buy things that we know are no good for us, such as junk foods and fast food (unhealthy diet), TV shows and new cars (sedentary lifestyle), and all the material things we don’t really need which cost money (forcing us to overwork to pay for it all).

Corporations see us as “consumers,” as purchasing units. Well, you and I know we are humans. And that we cannot, try as we might, buy health – only, perhaps, symptom relief. The only health comes from a healthy lifestyle – from changing your life, not from changing your meds, and certainly not from buying garbage you don’t need. The only healing comes from within. The only voices telling you otherwise are from those who intend to profit from misleading you, to profit, in fact, from your ill health, from your suffering. Lets put those greedy goons out of business, shall we? Let’s all get together and get well.

Symptom Relief can Help:

Some reasons you may need or want to take symptom-relieving medication:

1) Pain
Pain greatly decreases your mobility and your quality of life. Pain-relieving medications can allow you to function.

2) Sleep Disorders
Disrupted sleep disrupts your life, and can worsen your prognosis. A non-addictive, occasionally-used sleep remedy can be a life-saver.

3) Illness Progression
A progressive disease such as Multiple Sclerosis requires medications to slow its progress. Natural therapies and self-healing can be used as an adjunct to medications to improve quality of life and outcome.

You are Brave and Resilient:

Sometimes we have to make the difficult choice between dealing with medications that we hate, or dealing with symptoms that we hate. We may have to swallow a bitter pill, both literally and figuratively, and make major sacrifices in order to just get through the day. Being ill isn’t pretty. It is a Tantric path, the path of the Warrior. You are walking the tightrope between Liberation and Despair. All around you lay the pitfalls of self-doubt and self-sabotage. Give yourself credit for all your hard work. You are struggling against tremendous odds. You are brave and resilient. You will get through this. Just getting out of bed each day is a victory. Bravo!