7 Steps to Better Health

In my Biological Dental practice, I focus on the oral cavity as well as the overall health of the rest of the body. I do this because they are intricately connected to each other. The illness of one affects the other. Over 200 patients have shared their success stories with me that vividly show this relationship from their personal experiences.

Balanced body chemistry. This is the key to good health in your teeth, gums and body. How do you achieve this? The keys are nutritional support and lifestyle habits.

The following steps are the beginning to guide your body towards that optimal goal of health and wellness.

1. Personal responsibility. Are you ready to make some lifestyle changes for yourself? The first step is to make the commitment. The second step is to educate yourself on the differences between healthy and unhealthy eating habits. You'll understand the difference as you read this article.

Although you may struggle at first, the benefits of doing something positive for yourself now, will far outweigh the uncertainties that may adversely affect your health in the years to come. You are the only one who can change how you feel. Become an expert on your own health. Take responsibility. Be proactive rather that reactive!

2. Become aware. Become aware of the different types of foods and liquids that you are currently eating and drinking. Are they mostly processed, refined, or enriched foods such as white rice, white flour, and foods containing chemical additives and preservatives (canned, frozen or packaged), or fast foods? Do you consume a lot of salt and sugar in your diet? How much coffee and sodas do you drink in a day?

To move to a healthy diet, keep a journal for one or two weeks of your total dietary intake. Include every food and liquid along with the quantities of each. Include everything – all meals and snacks. Do you see any unhealthy patterns that you can change in the future?

3. Introduce and Reduce. During the next 30 days, gradually reduce the intake of processed foods that you would normally eat. What's an example of processed foods? The simple answer: If it has a label.

Introduce more fruits and vegetables into your daily diet. Increase your intake of white meats (turkey and chicken). Reduce your consumption of red meats (beef and pork).

In other words, eat real, natural, organic, whole, fresh foods. Eat free range chicken eggs. Eat grass fed, hormone free meats. These animals have less stress and more healthy diets which have been shown to produce higher nutritional quality foods.

Follow this protocol for two more months. By the end of 90 days, you should be pleasantly surprised by your gradual, "painless" conversion to a healthier diet. I bet you'll also begin to feel better.

The very "Standard American Diet" (the SAD diet) includes a high percentage of acid-forming foods. These create electrolyte deficiencies. When this happens your bile becomes too acidic. Your body can not digest foods efficiently. This diet consists of about 80{b840c448f2ba0d1da81191bf384efbec59d8dc3645ab82560e21066a4c6e0003} processed foods (acid-forming) and only 20{b840c448f2ba0d1da81191bf384efbec59d8dc3645ab82560e21066a4c6e0003} natural foods (alkaline-forming). Our goal is to gradually reverse these percentages. This is accomplished by changing your diet.

One of the easiest ways to implement this process is to STOP buying "junk" food that's normally found in the kitchen. When that "hunger-craving-psycho" takes over your body during weak moments at home, have healthy foods in your kitchen. By eating foods closer to nature, ie with less processing, you'll regain the life force presently within you.

Reach for a glass of water when these cravings hit. Wait 5 -10 minutes and your hunger will diminish. Each time you succeed in making a better selection, make a mental note to yourself that you're winning the battle as you slowly convert to a healthier lifestyle.

4. Do not overeat. Only eat until you are satisfied and no more. Overeating places an enormous burden on your digestive system, liver, and detoxification pathways. Do not feel like you have to clean your plate every time you sit down for a meal.

While making this change, eat without any distractions. Pay attention only to how "full" you feel. Feel the feeling of "fullness." Mentally note when your stomach feels "full." Then pay attention to when you stop eating. You may very well find that you stop eating long after your stomach actually feels full. If this is true, then you are overeating.

5. Shop on the "outer wall. " Have you ever noticed where the healthier, natural foods are located in your grocery store? That's right, on the outer wall. All the fruits, vegetables, dairy, fish, poultry and meats are found on the outside and all the processed cans, bags, boxes and other packaged goods are located in the middle isles. The next time you're at the checkout counter, look in your cart. Take note of the percentage of groceries from the "outer wall."

6. Buy organic if possible. By eating organic, you eliminate the chemicals, antibiotics, preservatives, pesticides, fungicides, herbicides, hormones, and other additives that are found in our agricultural and livestock products. This reduces your internal exposure to these harmful irritants and toxins. Eating organic reduces the stress on your liver which is the major detoxifying organ in the body.

We'd like to believe that we could achieve all the nutritional support that we need from our food. Unfortunately, as you've read above, this is not possible. Even eating organic foods we still do not get enough nutrition to counter all the toxic bombardments from our environment. Therefore, nutritional supplementation is almost mandatory to support good health.

7. Take time to enjoy eating at least one good meal per day. Dedicate 30 minutes (breakfast, lunch or dinner) every day to eat a healthy meal. It may take effort in the beginning. However, these new habits will soon become a regular routine in a short period of time. Your digestive system will thank you for taking the time to slow down and provide it with nutritional, alkaline, supportive food that makes its job easier.

Our bodies are bombarded by a combination of nutritionally depleted foods, resulting from synthetic farming and processed foods, with toxic overload from chemicals in our food, air, and water. This causes an incredible challenge to our ability to stay healthy. The steps above make it easier for your body to support good health for your whole life.