By Dietitian Jill Place
I wrote this article, “Awakening Your Health Mind”, last year when the COVID pandemic was still raging strong. But I thought I’d share it with you again today as it’s just as pertinent … and poignant … as it was then. Eat it UP!
What’s your healer mind? Well … it’s not sitting in full lotus … sniffing incense … eating rabbit food … and meditating for hours. That works for some but not for most of us. Even me …
Instead … [click_to_tweet tweet=”your healer mind is about taking responsibility for your own healing.” quote=”your healer mind is about taking responsibility for your own healing.” theme=”style2″]
Not eliminating doctors altogether. But having the fortitude … and courage … to boldly question whether they are doing the best for your health …
And being able to look beyond the medical model which … and it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to figure this out … isn’t solving a lot of problems today. Especially the growing amount of and people with autoimmune diseases (over 50 million to date) today.
Autoimmune diseases can’t be cured with medicine only. And … healing for autoimmune disease takes … sometimes … radical lifestyle diet and supplement changes. Also … autoimmune diseases usually have some sort of root cause … like leaky gut … that needs to be addressed and treated with these changes for you to ultimately get well.
Most people don’t think of these alternatives. Most people “live lives of quiet (closet-terrified of illness) desperation”. Waiting to be sick so physicians can divinate their doctor-priest powers over them and heal them.
Healthcare as We Know it Isn’t Working …
Sorry to say it’s not working. Especially in this age of COVID. Growing studies point to the fact that leaky gut may play a part in severe COVID infections … I outlined reasons in my article, Poor Gut Health Means Worse COVID-19.
And it’s even more important now … Mississippi announced just today that ITS HOSPITAL SYSTEM COULD FAIL IN 5 TO 10 DAYS!
So it’s time … it’s time to awaken your OWN healer mind … however you define it. Things are getting bad … we need to do something.
Here are some healer-mind qualities you might consider. Do you have any of them? Are you someone who …
Takes Responsibility for Your Own Health?
It seems like, during this pandemic, we’re waiting … waiting for a vaccine … waiting for some medical professional to save us … living life of not-so- “quiet desperation” waiting for a miracle …
Why are we doing that? [click_to_tweet tweet=”We’re a species that has persevered despite floods, famines, pandemics, and holocausts … we have survived. We’ve survived because we had to step up. So it’s time to step up now again and take responsibility for our humanity. This time it’s our health.” quote=”We’re a species that has persevered despite floods, famines, pandemics, and holocausts … we have survived. We’ve survived because we had to step up. So it’s time to step up now again and take responsibility for our humanity. This time it’s our health.” theme=”style2″]
And … if this whole experience has taught us anything … it’s about not only protecting ourselves. It’s about protecting others.
Considers Others?
So it’s time to take responsibility not only for your own health but that of others. If we do this together we can beat this thing. Just like we’ve always done.
And that means getting sane, looking at what’s really going on, and taking steps to protect yourself and others. To me … since a healthy immune system comes from a healthy gut … and most of us don’t have one … that’s where we need to start.
I started fixing my own gut (with diet and supplements) and boosting my own immunity (with more supplements) way back a year and a half ago. I still stand by my Dietitian Jill’s Immune Tonic … a blend of 4 powerful immune-boosting tinctures as something that’s helped me get through all this.
I was one of the first to get the vaccine (I felt it was the only responsible thing to do because I was a healthcare professional), have never tested positive (and am now back to testing weekly), and have functioned on the front lines since the beginning. And am technically in a high-risk group at 76 working 60 to 70 hours a week.
So I take responsibility, eat well, exercise, and take protective measures … not only medical but physical and soul-ful (as experts say … and time has borne this out … the second pandemic is about our mental health). And I invite you to also … to find out what you can … not from propaganda but from science. Are you one who …
Considers Different Health Models?
Years ago, when I was a Los Angeles elementary school teacher, I helped write the proposal for alternative schools (now there are tons of different kinds … including my beloved performing arts magnets).
What instantly sold the proposal was the idea that kids learned in many ways … that there was only one way available to them at that time … and that kids had a human right to learn in the way that was best for them.
I feel now that I’m in the same fight for alternative healthcare. We only now have one kind … the medical model … available to us. And funded by insurance.
We have a human right to … like the kids did (and a government agency agreed) … to alternative ways to healing. Are you one who …
Reveres Root Causes over Diagnoses?
I get emails every day shouting (yes … I can almost hear the shrillness while reading them) … I have (name of diagnosis) … I’m sure I have (another name of diagnosis). We’re SO BRAINWASHED TO THINK THAT WE HAVE TO SMACK A NAME ON A HEALTH PROBLEM to prescribe … as Jane Fonda says … “there’s always a pill (to cure it) …”
No … no … NOOOO! It would be so great if that were so. It worked for a period of time. But it’s outdated. We know more about the human body (and still have more to know) than ever … and need to incorporate this new knowledge in the ways we think about our health.
The reality is that our bodies (and our immune systems) these days are overwhelmed with more and more environmental toxins. And then we stuff it with more chemicals from processed foods. And seem to be duck-taped to our couches.
Is it any wonder we’re sick? And … on top of that … burdened with an aging medical model that doesn’t address our current health problems.
There IS a root cause for what’s ailing us. That’s mostly about an underlying leaky gut that activates your immune system that causes inflammation that causes just about every health problem you can think of.
But bodies are also complex. And manifest problems depending upon genetic predispositions to ailments in addition to other issues you may be having.
So it couldn’t be a better time to consider the question … “WHAT’S CAUSING THIS?” instead of smacking a diagnosis (and smashing a pill) on your health issues. And … if your doctor can’t answer … find someone who can. Someone who understands that …
Not All Healing is Linear AKA You Might Fell Worse Before You Get Better
I have to laugh every time I read a post from one of my alternative practitioners asking for help about someone who began some sort of healing program and got WORSE! Because there is NO straight line to health!
I think that’s just wishful thinking. And [click_to_tweet tweet=”clinging to the medical model concept of if you can just label the thing and throw a pill (or vaccine) at it all will be well. DOESN’T WORK THESE DAYS!” quote=”clinging to the medical model concept of if you can just label the thing and throw a pill (or vaccine) at it all will be well. DOESN’T WORK THESE DAYS!” theme=”style2″]
I used to check myself into a fasting center in Northern California and water fast for seven to ten days. I’d start the morning-of my check-in date … driving north from Carmel about an hour to the center. By late afternoon, I was throwing up.
You might think that it was a gross reason to never do fasting again. I saw it differently … I took it as a sign that my body was throwing off stuff that needed to go and eventually I would be better.
Water fasting is hard for me. Last time, I threw up for two days. I had brain fog and could only lie around and leaf through magazines. Day seven I had a healing crisis (I’m medically monitored daily … and wouldn’t have it any other way) and couldn’t stop fasting until I was through it.
And … looking back … I realize that I then had faith in my body (and still do) to heal if I gave it the right conditions to do so. A far cry from the current medical model.
No … I don’t expect you to fast. But can you consider cultivating a Healer Mind that …
Has these These Personal Qualities?
- you’re curious
- you’re teachable
- you’re brave … you aren’t afraid to explore and embrace new health ideas that might serve you and realize that some others just don’t
- you honor the intelligence of the body
- you explore a path to your soul and spirituality however you define it
- you take responsibility for your own health and …
- you consider the health of your community too!
I think that about says it all. Or maybe these inspirations too …
Healing is embracing what is most feared; healing is opening what has been closed, softening what has hardened into obstruction, healing is learning to trust life. ~ Jeanne Achterberg
The place of true healing is a fierce place. It’s a giant place. It’s a place of monstrous beauty and endless dark and glimmering light. And you have to work really, really, really hard to get there, but you can do it. ~ Cheryl Strayed
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