Search This Blog

Wednesday, August 13, 2014

10 Primary Causes of Disease and Dysfunction by Dr Ben Kim



With few exceptions, disease and dysfunction do not appear
overnight. Disease and dysfunction tend to develop slowly, usually
over many years as subtle and overt signs that mark loss of
health are ignored.

I have found that many people feel that they are fine until they get
diagnosed with a named condition like diabetes or hypertension.
The reality is that degeneration is a fact of life - with each passing
day, we lose some of our health potential. It's the pace at which
our bodies degenerate that we influence through our daily choices.
By understanding the main causes of disease and dysfunction, we
can make dietary and lifestyle choices that promote longevity.

The main causes of acceleration of disease and dysfunction can be
categorized into three groups:

Injury
Toxicity
Deficiency


Let's take a close look at each of these categories of causes of
disease and dysfunction:

Injury

There are four main types of injury that contribute to disease and dysfunction:
Cellular Damage by Unhealthy Foods
Gross or Repetitive Stress Injury
Emotional Injury
Electromagnetic Injury

Cellular Damage by Unhealthy Foods

Some foods - or more accurately, some heavily adulterated foods
and food-like chemicals - are capable of causing direct injury to our
cells. Other highly processed foods cause indirect injury to our cells
 by deteriorating the health of our major organs and blood vessels.

Some of the worst offenders include:
Deep-fried foods like donuts, French fries, and most varieties of
potato chips
Margarine and shortening
Artificial additives like MSG and aspartame
Sugar-laden snacks and beverages
Hot dogs, most varieties of sausage, bacon, and highly processed
luncheon meats that contain nitrites

Gross or Repetitive Stress Injury

A gross physical injury like a strained back or sprained ankle is an
obvious cause of dysfunction. What's not so obvious in such cases
is that if injured joints and muscles are not properly stretched and
conditioned post-injury, the result may be scar tissue formation
and joint dysfunction that may cause problems with mobility and
flexibility over the long term.

Whenever we experience a gross injury to muscles or joints, it's
best to stretch and exercise the injured area as soon as we're able
to without creating intolerable pain. For an example of how to do
this and why it's important, view the following article:

How to Effectively Treat a Sprained Ankle

Examples of repetitive stress injury include back and shoulder pain
from wearing a backpack over only one shoulder, a strained neck
from talking too long on the phone while leaning to one side, and
carpal tunnel syndrome from typing too long with our wrists over
-extended.

The best way to avoid repetitive stress injury is to stay physically
comfortable while doing activities that require the same position or
motions for long stretches of time. Designing an optimal work
environment, taking regular breaks to stretch and rest, and making
 sure that we don't maintain an asymmetrical position while doing
repetitive work are all effective means to avoiding repetitive stress injury. For more guidance on this topic, view:

How to Protect Your Health In The Computer Era

Emotional Injury

Emotional injury refers to cellular damage that is caused by chronic emotional stress. As a direct cause of disease and dysfunction, this category is not given
the attention that it deserves because it's difficult to come up with
standardized treatments that can address every person's personal
sources of anxiety and fear.

My view is that our emotional health status is the single most
important determinant of our overall health, since it's the
foundation from which all of our daily choices are made. Plus, our
emotional health status affects the tone at which our autonomic
nervous system hums day and night. And over many years, the
tone of our autonomic nervous system is a huge determinant of
our overall health status.

For more information on chronic fear and anxiety, including some
suggestions on how to promote peace of mind, view the following
article:

How to Overcome Chronic Fear and Anxiety

Electromagnetic Injury

In an early draft of a report issued in the spring of 1990, the
Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) in the United States
recommended that electromagnetic fields (EMF's) be classified as a
class B carcinogen - a probable human carcinogen. Unfortunately,
by the time that the EPA released the final draft of this report, the
words "class B carcinogen" were deleted.

Despite their change of opinion on electromagnetic fields, the EPA
included the following thoughts on EMF's in their report:

"In conclusion, several studies showing leukemia, lymphoma and
cancer of the nervous system in children exposed to EMF's,
supported by similar findings in adults in several occupational
studies also involving electrical power frequency exposures, show
a consistent pattern of response that suggest a causal link."

There is plenty of evidence in the scientific literature that has me
convinced that electromagnetic fields can be a significant cause of
disease and dysfunction.

X-rays, mammograms, and other forms of ionizing radiation are
also capable of accelerating disease and dysfunction.

Clearly, it's not practical or possible for a lot of us to live off the
grid to dramatically lower exposure to EMF's. But we can take
steps to minimize our exposure to some of the following, most
common threats:

Talking for long stretches of time with a cell phone pressed against
our heads.

Living close to cell phone towers and broadcasting antennas.

Working for many years in a profession that involves being in close
proximity to devices that emit ionizing radiation.
 
Regularly lying in tanning beds.

With each passing year, electronic devices like flat screen TVs and
computer monitors are becoming bigger and more pleasing to the
eyes. While all of these devices are not guaranteed to emit
significant amounts of electromagnetic radiation, common sense
dictates that it's wise to be modest in our choice and use of all
devices that require electricity to run.

Toxicity

There are two main types of toxicity that contribute to disease and
dysfunction:

Exogenous Toxicity
Endogenous Toxicity

Exogenous Toxicity

Exogenous toxins are chemicals that are made outside of our
bodies that can harm our cells if they are ingested, inhaled, or
absorbed into your bloodstream.

While it's unrealistic to live and work in an environment that is
completely free of exogenous toxins, we can minimize our
exposure to exogenous toxins by being aware of the
most common household toxins.

Over-the-counter, prescription, and recreational drugs are all
exogenous toxins.

Endogenous Toxicity

Endogenous toxins are toxins that are produced inside of the
digestive tract by microorganisms. While some endogenous toxins
are eliminated as gas, some make their way into our bloodstream
by traveling through our intestinal walls, and once they make it
into our bloodstream, they can access our cells and contribute to
toxic burden.

The best ways to minimize the amount of endogenous toxins that
are produced in our digestive tracts are to chew our foods well, eat
mainly fresh, minimally processed foods, and ensure exposure to
friendly bacteria.

Deficiency

Disease and dysfunction are accelerated when we are deficient in
any of the following:

Nutrients
Physical and Emotional Rest
Sunlight and Fresh Air
Love and Life Purpose

Nutrients

To be optimally healthy, our cells need enough energy (calories) to
carry out everyday metabolic activities - these calories are
obtained by burning one or more of the following macronutrients:
protein, fat, and carbohydrates.

Our cells also require a steady supply of the following
micronutrients: vitamins, minerals, and enzymes. And to be
optimally healthy, we require adequate intake of water, fiber, and
phytonutrients. Phytonutrients are organic components of plants
that are not essential to health, but are needed to experience
optimal health; examples of phytonutrients include flavonoids
(found in citrus and acerola cherries), carotenoids (found in carrots
and spinach), and indoles (found in Cruciferous vegetables like
broccoli, cabbage, and cauliflower).

The best way to ensure optimal nourishment of our cells is to eat
nutrient-dense foods - these are foods that are highly concentrated
in vitamins, minerals, enzymes, and phytochemicals. Nutrient-rich
foods include fresh vegetables, legumes, fruits, whole grains, nuts,
and seeds. Organic eggs and wild fish are also healthy,
micronutrient-rich foods that are well tolerated by many people.

A good way to become deficient in the micronutrients that we need
to prevent disease and premature aging is to eat highly processed
foods that fill us up but don't provide us with substantial amounts of
natural micronutrients - soda and foods that are made with white
flour belong in this category.

If we regularly eat micronutrient-rich foods but want extra
insurance against developing nutritional deficiencies, we can
include nutritional supplements made with whole foods in our diets.

Physical and Emotional Rest

Adequate physical rest is critical to preventing premature disease
and dysfunction, as the endocrine system relies heavily on
restful sleep to function properly.

Adequate emotional rest goes hand in hand with the section above
on emotional trauma. Taking time to rest the mind and nervous
system via meditation, prayer, journaling, or any other activities
that help us feel calm can promote optimal autonomic nervous
system tone, which is an essential requirement for getting and
staying well.

Sunlight and Fresh Air

Promoting optimal vitamin D status by exposing skin to sunlight
without getting burned has been receiving tremendous support
from the research community over the past several years. Vitamin
D supports several major organ systems, including our nervous,
immune, and skeletal, and cardiovascular systems.

Optimal health also requires optimally oxygenated blood, which is
only possible when we have regular access to fresh air. We must not
overlook the importance of sleeping in the presence of fresh air.

Love and Life Purpose

Consistently feeling loved and cared about is essential to
preventing disease and dysfunction as we age. If you can't accept
this without a long list of footnotes of studies that support this
notion, have a look at Dean Ornish's book, Love and Survival.

As discussed in the section on emotional trauma, making healthy
choices is easiest when we have a foundation of good emotional
health, which includes a sense of purpose for our lives. Our unique
life purposes don't have to involve anything on a global level, or
even a small rural town level; the idea is to feel content with our
daily efforts to be kind and helpful people.

Where do our genes fit into our risk of developing disease and
dysfunctional cells? Like our emotional health status, our genetics
serve as a type of foundation that all of our daily choices build upon
 or tear down. In the vast majority of cases, genetic predispositions
 for specific health challenges like breast cancer, endometriosis,
prostate cancer, colo-rectal cancer, and other conditions that are
 often described as having strong genetic components can stay
dormant if we minimize our exposure to the major causes of
disease discussed in this article, and if we consistently make
health-promoting choices.

So now that you know the major causes of disease and dysfunction,
how about some guidelines for making positive choices? This part
is simple.
Regularly include the foods mentioned in the
Full Body Cleanse Diet in your daily regimen, and adopt some or
all of the lifestyle suggestions found here:
Full Body Cleanse Lifestyle.

Not all of us may make it to 120 years of age, but by understanding
 the main causes of disease and dysfunction, working on staying
emotionally balanced, and making sensible choices each day, we
can have peace of mind in knowing that we are maximizing our
health potential.