A common refrain heard in the health community is that it is expensive to be healthy. Supplements can range in the hundreds of dollars for one purchase, impacting the wallets of hard working individuals seeking to feel better. Ideally, supplemental use ought to be a stepping stone towards better eating and lifestyle habits rather than a dependency. Genetics play a role as well; determining individual greater or lesser needs for certain nutrients. Seeing the money link is easy from a personal perspective, but how deep does the money trail go in modern health politics?
Research is crucial and costly. Resources are often limited. Trust cannot be purchased yet we desire to buy from the companies that we trust. When companies are bought out, it can feel like a betrayal. Sometimes a product is recalled due to a bad batch creating distrust to the same product with different lot numbers. Headlines read can seem to negate beliefs and what the friendly person at the health food store said. A long-time friend reveals a state of values that differs greatly from your own and it twists your intestinal track in discomfort. Dealing with politics is rarely easy. We have our daily roles and opinions. We read the news with varying degrees of dismay and horror, wondering how the world can heal and feeling the compulsion to either stuff down emotions with food or avoid eating altogether.
Dealing with politics takes skill and self-care. We can start with our own politics. By honestly expressing ourselves we relieve the pressure of believing we have to be something that we are not. We can present our budget and request that it be respected in the purchase of supplements. We can seek out a lifestyle that minimizes convenience. We can close our eyes and breathe when faced with differing opinions, allowing each breath to push the diaphragm down and massage our intestines, releasing tension. The more we seek to educate ourselves, the greater the disparity seems to grow –yet we cannot block out the world. As our mind grows, so must our emotional capacity along with the application of principles.
We need acuity to sort through what is simply a great sales pitch and what is political quackery. Our belief systems do have a physiological component. Generally, people will seek out what promotes a sense of unity; belonging and community, or at times power and justice can be the compelling force. These ‘feelings’ are a compound of peptides that correspond to distinct emotions. The more an idea flourishes a ‘good’ feeling, the more it is endeared to the believer.
Our emotions are not etheric in nature. Rather what we feel derives from a shift and flow in the production and reception of peptides. These proteins are responsible for the sensations we experience and correlate with the peptides that form our thoughts that are involved in the electrical charges that govern our body; our pH levels. Adjusting our pH levels through our food choices affects the body as a whole: including our physical sense of wellbeing, but also our mental and emotional states as well.
We attend and belong to organizations because a sense of acceptance, love and empathy allows us to feel good. The integrity of safety comes with a common focus of selflessness, and this can be found when we volunteer and help one another or even by asking for and accepting help; exemplifying goodwill and purpose towards unity. In this way, we create harmony and we can feel this reflected in our mood, our food choices, our energy levels and our sense of self-worth within our own body and within the world.
Call Lifestyle Naturopathy to learn more about how you can heal holistically.
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