Excerpt from Steve Seater's newsletter

By Steve Seater, MA, CN, CNC, CPT
Total Wellness: What is it? How do you get it?

Have heart burn? Maybe you are low on Prilosec. Your cholesterol is high. Well it's probably because you aren't on a statin drug like Lipitor or Mevacor. But the truth is if you aren't feeling well or if you are showing signs of having health problems it very likely has nothing at all to do with a lack of pharmaceuticals and everything to do with the lifestyle you've chosen.

Actually our bodies have a tremendous capacity to heal and to maintain an optimal state of health without taking powerful prescription drugs. This is not to say that pharmaceuticals are not effective in treating disease, but rather that they are used far too much and often do not get at the real causes of disease conditions, not to mention the fact that they can be quite dangerous. For instance, an article in the Journal of the American Medical Association revealed that between 100,000 and 125,000 people die annually from reactions to properly prescribed FDA approved drugs. This is about four times the number of Americans who died in the Vietnam War.

The health care practiced in the US today is actually symptom relief medicine when it should really be preventive or wellness medicine. Most physicians actually practice sick care, which is fine for those of us who are sick. Our aim, however, should be not to get sick.

...A diet of whole foods such as raw vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds, whole grain breads and cereals that is low in sweets, and products made from white flour such as pasta is best. Red meat and poultry should be kept to a minimum, unless it is free ranging and organic, and fish should replace them as much as possible. Alcohol must be kept to about an ounce and a half per day if one must drink at all and smoking should be avoided completely.

An hour of vigorous exercise a day is about right for most people. Exercise should be mostly aerobic in nature and can be as simple as a brisk walk.

Stress can elevate corticosteroid and epinephrine levels which often lead to an immunosuppressed state, leaving a person susceptible to disease. Exercise is one good way to cope with high stress levels.

Relaxation techniques such as yoga and meditation are other ways to deal with stress. ...
It has also been shown that people who feel a sense of accomplishment through the work they do are also healthier and more likely to have long lives than those who hate their work and feel that what they do is futile.

www.totalwellnessconcepts.com
steve_seater@yahoo.com
Steve Seater, CPT, CNC, CN, is a life long fitness enthusiast with a strong interest in holistic nutrition and wellness. He is a certified nutritionist (CN), and a certified nutrition consultant (CNC), a certified personal trainer (CPT) and a certified spinning instructor.