What is health?
I used to think that being healthy meant that I was healthy until I got a cold or the flu.
Then I was sick.
Once the cold went away, I was healthy again.
Sure, things went wrong with my body, but I just looked at those things as something I could go to the doctor and get them fixed. Not big deal, I’d get a pill or a shot or a surgery and then the problem would go away and I’d be healthy again.
Even if I was taking a prescription every day, I felt good, so I was healthy.
And I really thought this way until a member of my family had something go wrong that couldn’t be fixed.
Once we had a diagnosis and some advice that included making dietary changes, I start to research.
And research.
And research.
I found a whole world that I hadn’t known before.
I learned that we weren’t eating as well as I thought.
I learned that the shampoo and conditioner and body lotion we used had some pretty terrible chemicals in them.
I learned to read labels and I eventually learned what it truly means to be healthy.
I want to share what I’ve found. (That’s kind of the whole point of this website)
The Definition of Health
Well, there are a ton of definitions out there.
The WHO has one.
The National Library of Medicine has one.
Minnesota State University at Mankato has a nice definition, too.
Then, we start getting in to alternative health models -
Ayurveda , a thousands year old medical system that originated in India, has a definition of health.
Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) ha s thousands year old definition.
The Wellness Way, founded by Dr. Patrick Flynn, has their definition, too.
They define health as “A condition of wholeness in which all the organs are functioning 100% of the time.
I like that.
I think that optimal, ideal health is when every part of you - your body, your mind, and your soul - all work together and function at 100%, as you were created to.
The thing is - health is complicated. It’s not something that you have or don’t have. It’s something that operates on a continuum throughout your whole life.
Sometimes you will have a lot of good health and little bits of poor health.
Sometimes it’s the other way around.
It can be overwhelming and confusing and depressing, trying to deal with things and figure out what to do.
That’s where The Joy in Health comes in.
Obviously, no one person can know everything there is to know about every aspect of health and well being. I certainly don’t claim to.
I’m a regular person who has come up against health problems and been let down by mainstream medical. I’ve learned not to trust automatically just because there’s an MD behind their name.
I learned to find the information for myself.
I learned to ask questions.
I learned to read labels.
I learned to do more research and ask more questions.
I’ve put what I have learned here. I will keep adding more information as I learn more things. It’s a wonderful, wonderful world and there is so much to explore and see and learn. Thank you for reading. Please come back and read more and ask any questions.