By Barbara @ Follow Your Own Rhythm
If you want to adopt a healthy lifestyle or are dealing with a health issue of any kind, then there is something important I want to share with you. I hope that it will motivate and empower you to take control of your health.
The motivation (and urgency) behind this post comes from the recent discovery that someone in my family has been diagnosed with stage 4 terminal cancer.
Totally random and out of the blue.
She is my sister-in-law’s sister, for sake of privacy we’ll call her Jaelyn (meaning Survivor), a 36 year old young mom of 4 children, with a loving husband, with just as much will to live as you and I.
However, according to doctors, she only has a few months to live. They deemed her case hopeless as the cancer has spread throughout her whole body.
News like this is hard to hear.
The whole family is devastated and heart broken.
Yet, she is strong and she is fighting.
Your perspective changes when someone you know no longer has the health and opportunities that you once thought was guaranteed.
It makes you question your own health, makes you examine your own habits, and makes you wonder how she can fight this disease and how you can prevent it from happening to you.
It basically gives you a HUGE reality check.
After crying for the first 3 days, thinking about the surreal-ness of this whole thing and imagining what Jaelyn and her family are going through and will have to face, I had an eye-opening conversation with my brother (the husband of my sister-in-law) and it changed my perspective on this whole thing completely.
What happened was that I remembered the truth. I remembered MY truth. I remembered that life’s not over until it’s over and that healing is possible through natural ways.
I remembered my own reality and why I've adopted a healthy lifestyle… WHY I transformed my eating habits 5 months ago… why I switched to eating organic 5 years ago... and why I started checking ingredient labels and eating consciously 10 years ago.
I remembered all of the research I have done, books I have read, and documentaries I have watched on these topics of healing naturally, and I remembered my own spiritual practices and truths and how they continue to transform my life.
Somehow in the midst of all the crying and sadness, I forgot that there is a world of possibilities and hope.
I got lost in the socially conditioned, limited mindset and actually believed that Jaelyn has no chance.
I forgot that we are powerful beyond measure and that there is hope even when the doctors say there isn’t.
So then, I stopped crying and I researched the heck out of ways to fight cancer, and I sent all of the relevant information to Jaelyn. I wanted to empower her to take matters into her own hands and to give her hope that this doesn’t have to be the end.
This research and experience also motivated me to take MY own health to the next level and to treat my body better.
I got inspired to incorporate vegetable smoothies and hearty salads regularly into my diet, to be more mindful of what I eat overall, to cut down on my sweets and wheat, to do a check up at the doctor, and to get more physically active.
I also got inspired to write this post so that I can share what’s on my heart with anyone who is battling a health issue or just wants to be healthier overall.
Even though cancer is what inspired this post, this post isn’t about cancer.
It’s about the importance of health, nutrition, trusting your intuition, taking responsibility, and thinking outside of the box.
I hope you will be inspired to take YOUR health to the next level! :)
Just for the record, I am not against traditional medicine and I am not against conventional doctors. I respect and appreciate it fully. However, I think that modern medicine, without taking into account the WHOLE person; is rather limited in nature.
Also, disclaimer: I am not a medical doctor or a healthcare professional, so the advice I share is only for informational purposes, and not to be taken as medical advice.
Let's get to it!
12 Tips to EMPOWER You to Take Control of Your Health and Heal Your Body
1. Listen to your body
If you feel pain, discomfort or something unusual, especially if it’s constant, recurring or unbearable, take it seriously. Don’t just put it off and say “it’s no big deal, it’ll go away.” Look into it and make an appointment with a doctor. Pain is a way for our body to communicate to us that there is something wrong. Maybe it’s nothing, but maybe it’s something. It’s better to find out sooner than later.
2. Trust your intuition
For two months before her diagnosis, Jaelyn visited the emergency room many times because she felt excruciating pain in her bones and hips. The doctors put it off as no big deal and gave her pain killers. Actually, even though she would complain about this pain, everyone around her seemed to say that it’s probably nothing and offered remedies such as a hot bath or stretching. (Of course, no one could ever predict the seriousness of her condition…everyone did what they could at the time). However, unfortunately it took for Jaelyn to break her hip to find out on the x-rays that she has cancer all over her bones. My sister-in-law mentioned that Jaelyn felt like there was something MORE wrong than people made it out to be, but due to pressure and disbelief, she too put it off.
The lesson here is to TRUST YOUR GUT when it comes to your body and health. When you feel like there is something wrong, get it checked out. Don’t be afraid to be pushy, investigative or overly cautious when it comes to things like this. The sooner you find out what (if anything) is wrong, the higher the chances you have for healing it!
3. Take your health into your own hands
Don’t believe or take at face value everything the doctors tell you. Conventional doctors are in a large way limited in what therapies they can prescribe to you. Legally, they can prescribe drugs, surgery, and for cancer, chemotherapy and radiation. However, they cannot legally prescribe natural therapies. Therefore, when you ONLY consult with a conventional doctor, you are closing yourself off from a world of possibilities.
This is where you have to take matters into your own hands and find alternate ways to heal your ailment. In this case, Google and YouTube can become your best friend. If it’s a non-life-threatening health issue, research what lifestyle, diet and mindset changes you can make to heal your ailment. If it IS a life threatening disease, as in cancer, find an INTEGRATIVE ONCOLOGIST, a functional medicine practitioner, or a homeopathic doctor. Be open to the fact that nature heals, food is medicine, and your mind is powerful beyond belief.
4. Question everything you know about HEALTH
Your health is not a matter of luck. In a large part, it is determined by the lifestyle that you live, the food you eat, and the thoughts you think. Research shows that the cause of most cancer is only about 10% genetic, and about 90% environmental and lifestyle based. This shows that your health is something that you have A LOT of control over. However, when we do not take care of our bodies and our health, our body goes out of balance and gets dis-eased. Energy is no longer flowing properly and we get sick. We HAVE to make the connection between what we eat, what we think, and the lifestyle we live AND the ailments, problems, sicknesses, and diseases we develop. There is a direct correlation.
5. Get to the root of your ailment
What most doctors do nowadays is prescribe drugs to treat symptoms, instead of get to the root cause of why the symptoms are there in the first place. If we focused on getting to the root cause and healing the body at its most fundamental level, then the symptoms would naturally go away. This is why I am a strong advocate for HOLISTIC medicine…because it focuses on healing the WHOLE person, rather than just treating physical symptoms.
6. Eat an organic, mostly whole food and plant-based diet!
Wow. How many success stories have I seen and read about where people cured their cancer or disease by changing their diet. And how much research have I done that confirms that eating a whole food, mainly plant-based diet, prevents disease and makes your body happy and healthy. I can also testify to this as I personally have been eating healthy and shopping mindfully for several years now.
The key with eating this way is to focus mainly on whole and living foods, keep it organic, and make sure it’s highly nutritious with lots of vegetables, fruit, nuts, spices, and high quality fish, and avoid added sugars, fake ingredients, highly processed foods, refined foods, and genetically modified foods. Personally, I also cut out grains, gluten, dairy, and most meats, and so far this way of eating seems to really be meeting my body’s needs.
There is plenty of research showing that the Standard American Diet, which is high in sugar, bad fats, unhealthy oils, meat, cheese, processed, refined, and junk foods, which by the way are loaded with genetically modified ingredients, preservatives, artificial flavors, and chemicals, leads to obesity, heart disease, cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and other common health problems.
This isn’t common knowledge as the food, healthcare, and pharmaceutical industries make sure to keep it hush hush... after all, using cheap ingredients yield big profits, and sadly, there's a lot of money to be made from people being sick. And innocent people who don't know any better are the ones paying for it.
I urge you to take matters into your own hands and stop believing everything you’re told by so called experts. Veer away from mainstream knowledge, and find your own truth.
7. Get educated about your ailment, illness or disease
If you have a problem, do research on it. Become your own expert and doctor. You shouldn’t just leave it up to the doctors to tell you about your disease. You should become knowledgeable about it too by doing outside research.
For example, if you get diagnosed with breast cancer, learn about the body, do research on how cancer works and how tumors form, and overall, try to understand the nature of the disease. This way, you will feel more empowered to find ways to treat it or heal it. And then of course, continue your research with finding homeopathic and holistic therapies and solutions.
8. View your body as a sacred temple
When trying to stay healthy, it helps to shift your perspective about your body and view it as sacred, innocent, all loving and pure. Your beautiful body’s purpose is to maintain homeostasis. So when it gets thrown off balance, such as by exposing it to a whole bunch of toxins, it fights extremely hard to get back to balance, and eventually, after repeated abuse, it starts to fail and then eventually shuts down.
So if you shift your body paradigm and view it as a precious, sacred temple that you, or a.k.a. your soul, lives in, then you would probably feel more empowered to treat it with more respect and love.
Your body; your home; this perfectly designed machine, is doing everything it can to keep you healthy, day after day. Why make its job harder? Why not give back to your body by treating it well? Why not have a symbiotic relationship with it? Why not develop a more spiritual connection to your body and make peace and not war with it? The more you respect your body, the happier you will be, and the longer and healthier you will live.
9. Get spiritual
For me, this means to be able to connect to a deeper, all loving, divine energy and then developing a daily spiritual practice, especially when there is something that needs to be healed. You can do this by praying, meditating, taking a walk in nature, reading a positive and inspirational book, or any other way that you can calm your mind and connect to Divine energy.
You also have to remember that your mind is a powerful tool that you can use to heal yourself. You can literally program your mind to heal your ailments. You can rewire your belief system. You can imagine yourself being and feeling healthy, and see and feel yourself healing your body. You can do this through meditation, hypnosis, visualization, and repeating positive affirmations.
Hypnosis has been proven to be VERY effective with reprogramming the subconscious mind to work FOR you. Meditation, visualization and affirmations are also extremely powerful just be sure to feel and believe what you are saying and imagining so that your emotions are vibrating at the same frequency as your desired outcome. And then get into the habit of doing this every day.
Meditation, or some form of mindfulness practice where your mind and breathing is calmed and you feel connected and at peace, actually gives your blood stream immune boosting chemicals which helps fight disease and improves well-being.
10. Move your body
Based on my research in the past few weeks, exercising is essential for cancer patients. The benefits of exercise to heal cancer made me think of just how valuable exercising is, PERIOD, with or without cancer.
So just as a reminder, exercise reduces inflammation, gets your blood flowing, builds muscle and flexibility, boosts your immune system, gives you energy, helps with digestion and bowel movements, reduces stress, helps you sleep better, makes you happier, lowers your risk of disease, helps you loose weight, along with many more benefits! I recently started practicing yoga as I’ve never been able to stick to traditional exercise, and so far I’m loving it!
11. Do not believe doctors when they give you an ultimatum
When doctors say “you have a chronic disease, there is nothing we can do to get rid of it” or "you have an irreversible mental disorder" or “the cancer has spread everywhere, you have 3 months to live,” DO NOT BELIEVE WHAT THEY SAY.
I am not saying to be in denial, I am saying to not feed into this mindset. Your first reaction should be: “ok, thanks for telling me my diagnosis” and second should be, “I’m going to figure out a way to heal.” And then also, find another doctor, someone who has hope and believes that you can heal, and can offer you alternative solutions.
WHAT YOU BELIEVE CREATES YOUR REALITY.
Can you imagine what it does to someone’s psyche, mental state, and emotional well-being when a doctor tells them that they have no chance? And can you imagine this person believing the doctor? And then can you imagine this person going for regular checkups to this same doctor to constantly be reminded of how hopeless their situation is? Would you want that negative energy to be a part of your healing? I sure wouldn’t.
And I know that those people whose stories I read and listened to who cured their cancer, didn’t believe their doctors or their prognosis. Obviously, because they’re still alive. This mindset can be applied to small ailments or life threatening diseases. Never settle, never give up hope, never stop fighting, and never stop believing that you can heal.
12. Stay open and empowered!!!
The moment we stop asking questions and close ourselves off from new ideas, information, wisdom, lifestyles, diets, therapies, solutions, or ways of thinking, we deny our full potential. Always keep an open mind!
Also, take responsibility for yourself and always remain determined to solve your problems. Most of the time, in one way or another, we are the ones who create, contribute to, or escalate the problems we have, through unhealthy habits and unconscious choices, so in a large part, we also have the power to solve them.
Remember, you are not a victim, you are not powerless, hopeless, and helpless, and you are not a slave to your ailment or to mainstream practices. You are a powerful being, so stay empowered my friend!
There’s nothing more disheartening than to see people give up their inherent power to an external source be it a system, an institution, an authority figure, an idea, an addiction, a possession, or a social norm. It hurts to see people fall for the notion that they have no choice; that they are powerless in how their life unfolds.
It is my hope that you will take this message seriously, that you take your health seriously, and if you’re sick, that you stay open to all types of healing.
My heart goes out to anyone who has a painful, chronic or life threatening ailment or disease, and I pray for your recovery and healing.
Update on Jaelyn: I have to share the very sad, heartbreaking and unfortunate news that Jaelyn passed away May 17, 2018. Please keep her family and 4 children in your hearts. Thank you for your support.
Please share this article to get this message out there!
If you're seeking some truth, here is a very eye-opening video about the cancer industry and why the holistic approach isn’t advertised. (Short, 10 minute video).
Also, here is an excellent documentary that you can watch for free on Netflix called “Heal” about healing the body and chronic illnesses through the power of your mind (by changing your thoughts, beliefs, and emotions). Check out the trailer below.
Here are some other helpful resources you might like:
Radical Remission: Taken from real people who have beat their cancer against all odds, Dr. Turner highlights the 9 key factors that made it possible.
Crazy Sexy Diet: Very easy to understand info about nutrition, what to eat for your health, recipes and cancer prevention tips.
Note: These are NOT affiliate links. I’m just very passionate about spreading the truth and helping you on your journey.
If you have any helpful tips to share, I’d love to hear them in the comments below!
Thanks for your support and stay healthy!!!
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