Our Often Misguided Instincts
Many of our beliefs were created by advertising. A healthy body is the best advertisement. It depicts a healthy life, which is the reality. Beliefs are acquired throughout time, starting when we are very young. We acquire a sweet tooth, and a taste for junk food. We learn most of our behaviors from our culture, including our diet. We must look at our culture—and at our entire species—and determine what effects the diet has, by watching what the diet does. Asian countries have a diet primarily of rice, vegetables and fish, while the Western diet consists mostly of meat, dairy products, bread, cereal, sugar, potatoes and over refined, killer “foods.”
Man is different from animals—animals are instinctively driven to what to eat. For example, a cat, which is a natural carnivore, would starve to death in a garden full of vegetables. Likewise, a grazing animal, such as a wild deer or a cow, would starve without plants and grains to eat, even if large amounts of meat and dairy products were available.
There has been much discussion over what the ideal foods are for human beings. Are we herbivores or carnivores? This query alone is reason enough to warrant individual dietary attention.
Life is for Living, Loving, Laughing and Learning
We must learn what works within our bodies. Some of my patients do well on a low-carbohydrate diet, some do well on a low-fat diet, some will not lose weight on a low-fat diet, and some will gain weight on a low-carbohydrate diet. We must recognize our individuality and adopt a formula that will work within ourselves. It is enjoyable to eat, we should be able to enjoy the foods that we eat.
Many of us have developed destructive thoughts and destructive habits, which originated in our childhoods. As children, we were often scolded for doing something wrong, like eating the wrong food. Since admonitions by authoritarian figures create thoughts, feelings and finally beliefs, I am asking you to put aside your thoughts and your feelings about anything unhealthy or negative and develop positive new beliefs by creating positive images.
Use your imagination. Your imagination is one of the most powerful tools you have to living a healthy, active life. The power of imagination has driven many people to good health. Close your eyes. Picture a lemon. Imagine the sharp, citrus smell. Now, imagine yourself biting into it. Feel the tart, juicy pulp on your tongue. The subconscious power of recall will give the ability to taste something that you literally imagined. Now close your eves. Picture yourself at your ideal weight. Picture yourself with the willpower to exercise. Picture yourself exercising. Picture yourself happy and healthy.
Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “We have nothing to fear but fear itself.” And, in his book, Think and Grow Rich, Napoleon Hill exclaimed, “Confront your fears, and you can make them disappear.” Napoleon Hill, who interviewed Thomas Edison, provided an enlightening perspective of what many of us call failure. Hill asked the great inventor, “Mr. Edison, what have you got to say about the fact that you have failed thousands of times in your attempt to create the light bulb?”
Edison replied, “I beg your pardon, I have never failed even once. I have had thousands of experiments that didn’t work. I had to run through enough learning experiments to find a way that did work.”
I am sure that we have all felt fear or failure sometime in our lives. But these fears or failures should not derail us on our journey toward health, happiness and success.
The human body is a perfect organism. When you understand that the heart beats approximately 72 times per minute, 100,000 times per day, 700,000 times per week and over 35 million times per year, you know it truly takes a licking and keeps on ticking. What’s more, the heart is just one component of the cardiovascular system, which is just one of eleven body systems each of us has. These systems, together with our amazing minds, give us the perfect opportunity to create the perfect homeostatic “machine”. We are self-sustaining thinkers, movers, survivors, achievers and reproducers. Our bodies are the perfect representatives of the miracle of life.
Throughout the body there are well established survival mechanisms designed to maintain a state of good health; and, there is an innate intelligence that is working in our bodies at all times (whether or not we are aware of it), which has the ability to relay signals to and from the brain and spinal chord, tissues, organs and all body systems. We do not have to tell our bodies when to digest food or when to exchange carbon dioxide for oxygen. Nor do we have to tell our hearts how to beat, tell our pancreases how much insulin to release to deal with blood sugar, or tell our sex hormones to make us look like a male or a female. Your body belongs to the union of one—and you are the one.
Your body, in its magnificence, continues to replicate, repair and regenerate itself, so that your life can continue in harmony with nature. Have you ever pondered that neither your nervous system (brain, spinal chord, nerves and sensory receptors) nor any other body system has ever taken time off—not one day, one hour, one minute or even one second of vacation time? Your body works 24/7/365 from the instant of conception until after death. Yes, even after death, parts of the body can continue activity for hours!
Throughout history, people have searched for the elusive fountain of youth or the Holy Grail of eternal health, youth and well-being. We have had to spend many decades and many billions of dollars on potions, elixirs and fad diets to finally realize that today there is a genuine alternative to disease—and it is found in alternative healthcare. The alternative holistic approaches to disease and wellness are sound, based on science, and they work. The alternative roads to travel are natural (nature’s way), as opposed to synthetic (man-made). For example, we now have proof that natural therapies—with no drugs and no surgery—can help reverse cardiovascular disease, cure cancer and slow the onset and progress of Alzhiemer’s disease. We also have learned that the road less traveled is, in fact, an avenue to the alternative healthcare world. Now we must take that avenue.
Why Study Alternative Healthcare?
We are living in perilous times, and we are constantly confronted by a dichotomy of drug care versus healthcare. At this very moment you are probably aware of someone who has had an experience of illness or disease and has gone from one procedure to another or from one doctor to another. Maybe that someone is you. A statement that should guide us in all of our endeavors, especially when our health is concerned, is, “There is only one good—knowledge—and only one evil—ignorance.” Many of us don’t have the slightest idea as to how to maintain good health. When illness strikes, we rely on our doctor (if we have one) to “cure” us.
Often we fail to realize that, “The cure comes from within.” A perfect example is the infinite resource that nature has provided us with in our immune system. It can do a great job all on its own—but it will do an even better job if we are smart enough to help. How? Start by eating intelligently; exercising regularly, avoiding places, people and things that can be sources of disease, toxins or stress; supplementing with purpose, using good quality nutrients, and reducing stress levels. These are basic steps to immune system health and overall wellness, which will also help create the critically important balance in our lives. If this sounds simple to you, that’s good, because it is. The alternative/holistic approach is both basic and simplistic—you can best achieve wellness by using the best natural methods. Our modern lifestyles have gotten us off on the wrong road. We have taken a dangerous detour to fast food, junk food, sedentary lifestyle, obesity, unsafe air and water, alcohol and drug abuse, tobacco, and runaway stress. It’s time to get back on nature’s road to wellness.
If you follow Kaplan’s commandments, you will find they will guide you on your highway to health.
Health does not come for free. There is a price we have to pay. But, this is not a complicated price. This is not an expensive price. It is a price based upon dedication to maintain your wellness. TAC
Dr. Kaplan is the CEO of MBA, Inc., one of the nation’s largest multi-specialty consulting companies. Dr. Kaplan ran and operated five of his own clinics, seeing over 1000 patient visits per week. He is the best-selling author of Dr. Kaplan’s Lifestyles of the Fit and Famous, endorsed by Donald Trump, Norman Vincent Peale and Mark Victor Hansen. He was a recent commencement speaker at New York Chiropractic College and regularly speaks throughout the country. For more information about Dr. Kaplan or MBA, call 561-626-3004.