INTRODUCTION
What is health? Toward one extreme, health can conjure up thoughts of a sterile doctor’s office or hospital, scary medical words and labels, diagnoses such as diabetes and cancer that sound so final, surgery and open-in-the-back gowns, and strange-sounding pharmaceutical drugs. Visiting the other extreme of alternative health, we picture all things natural, tofu sandwiches, endless vitamins and supplements, yoga and spandex, hugging trees and being one with the earth, visiting a shamanic energy healer, and pouring out our feelings for catharsis. Do either of these camps sound like they describe real health to you?
We often turn to outside sources, both through health care systems and in the mainstream media, to have the ultimate say about our health. We figure that these sources know a whole lot more than we do about how to live a long and healthy life. Yet despite the recommendations, health doesn’t always improve like we hope it will. At some point, it’s helpful to ask who is the ultimate authority on your health .
Does a doctor know what health is simply because they are a doctor? Does the answer lie inside a bottle of medication or supplements? Perhaps a vegan diet regimen, CrossFit workout, or yoga philosophy? A health website, blog, or magazine? “The Dr. Oz Show,” or “The Biggest Loser”? Wait, don’t forget that 20/20 piece on health that gave you nightmares. Then there are all those research papers and self-help books out there!
Talk about dizzying amounts of information overload. In reality, health is simpler than that. It can be tempting to search for the answers to health outside yourself. Sure, the sources mentioned above can be useful tools if they’re relevant to your health and who you are. But what is the number one and greatest source for living a long and healthy life?
It’s YOU. That’s right—you have the #1 authority on your health by being the only person who lives in your body, is going through your life, and is facing your own unique challenges. Along the way, you may encounter useful tools in the form of a treatment plan offered by a trusted health care provider, a new diet and exercise routine, or a cool blog post that inspires you to pay more attention to your health. But even these tools will only be useful for the long-term if you develop a real connection with your health, your lifestyle, and what you’re going through .
Health is an art . Think about all the functions the body performs for us on a daily basis without us being consciously aware of them. The body works in a naturally sophisticated and artful way and if we support what it’s already doing for us, we can spark health that best fits who we are as individuals. Each person’s life is a unique expression of art too. The best way to practice the art of health is by staying true to who you are throughout it.
I’ve been practicing naturopathic medicine for six years. In practice, I treat chronic difficult-to-treat conditions in large part by teaching the keys to artful health I talk about here in this book. Though I treat a variety of chronic complaints from insomnia to digestive issues, my specialties are women’s health, natural hormone balancing, dermatology, homeopathy, and autoimmune conditions.
Throughout appointments and when coming up with treatment plans, I try and help patients pay more attention to what they’re going through and encourage them to take more charge of their health. I know I’ve done my job when someone feels more confident in how they’re approaching health and how they take care of themselves. When a patient can make connections between their health and lifestyle and see the artfulness inherent in their health care, they have real tools they can use for the long-term .
My interest in health started from a young age—I wanted to enter the health care field one day, but I also had a vested interest in my own health. I saw from early visits to my pediatrician that doctors’ offices only went so far in helping to support health. The main lessons in health seemed to be alive at home, in how I approached my life and how I treated myself as a person. I wondered about the best ways to keep the body and mind healthy, but I also started seeing that no two people’s health was alike. Health seemed just as unique as each person, and because of that, strict formulas didn’t seem to be the keys to a long and healthy life. What were the keys?
My studies throughout high school and college were heavily focused on science, and pre-medicine specifically, but even in my courses I wasn’t seeing what really made people’s health tick. There was so much knowledge in my text books, but a key element to health always seemed to be missing. It was the human element, as well as the reality that life and health aren’t static or processed inside a laboratory.
No matter how much had been expertly written or researched, these medical concepts didn’t seem to explain everything about the human body and how it functioned. My classes taught me what technically and theoretically happened in the body, but it appeared to me from everyday observation that each person’s real health extended from unique life experiences and who they were. A topic such as personality, which never showed up in text books, seemed to play a big part in how people approached their health. Over time, something became clearer to me. Health really was an art!
Once I entered naturopathic medical school, I paid close attention for four years to see if I could learn more about how people’s health was tied closely to who they were as individuals. I did learn a lot in medical school, but much of it had to do with which treatments were specific to each symptom and condition. The emphasis again seemed to be on the information coming out of a text book, from lab tests, or from a diagnosis. During clinical rotations, however, I got the opportunity to start learning from patients themselves.
I noticed that patients already knew a lot about their health and if just given a chance to discuss what they were going through, they could learn lessons on self care that went far beyond specific treatments or labs. I also saw that it took courage for people to talk about what they were going through, as this practice isn’t usually encouraged in our society.
People wanted to learn more about connections in their health, and they wanted to support who they were through health care. I was starting to realize that each individual has a natural ability to support the health of his or her body and lifestyle in a unique and personalized way. In my private practice the last six years, I’ve gotten to expand even more on what I started learning during those clinical rotations.
Patients often schedule an initial naturopathic appointment with me by describing their main complaint as: “I just haven’t been feeling like myself.” It takes courage and honesty for someone to admit to themselves that they’re feeling this way, let alone tell a health care provider. There are plenty of external and societal pressures to “feel great” and perfect each day despite how you’re really feeling. The idea is to fake it until you make it. But you can’t fake good health.
When someone says that they don’t feel like themselves, they’re admitting that they don’t want to ignore unbalanced health and everyday chronic symptoms anymore. They want to bring health more into the forefront of life and make it a priority. They want to feel like themselves again and experience increased energy and vitality in life.
Most of all, they start shifting into the mentality that health can’t be found in a pill or any “magic” treatment and that only by paying attention to their bodies and how they’re feeling, can they make real strides toward getting healthier. This is the philosophy that drew me to natural medicine in the first place, both in my own health and as a profession. Developing a real connection with your body and its health sparks noticeable benefits both in how you look and how you feel.
Picture the following scenario: Waking up tired and without motivation to get up and start the day. Soreness and tightness in the muscles and/or joints, particularly in the neck, upper back, and shoulders. An upset digestive system that brings on sluggishness after meals rather than energy and desire for action. Bloating. Mind fog and difficulty concentrating. Mood swings or irritability. Continuous and heavy fatigue. Cravings for sugary foods or drinks, caffeine, or nicotine to get through the day. Allergies with itching and sneezing.
Wait—there’s more. Signs of hormone imbalance. Chronic skin issues such as acne or eczema. Anxiety or depression that lingers all day. Unrelenting stress that seems to keep piling on. Less enjoyment of activities or hobbies that used to be fun. Difficulty maintaining healthy weight, especially around the midsection. Trouble winding down toward the evening. Feeling disconnected from yourself. Trouble falling asleep, or interrupted sleep during the night. Regular under-sleeping or over-sleeping. Dreading the next day. Then, press repeat.
Does that picture feel familiar to you? The scenario describes common chronic symptoms that many people experience on a daily basis. It shows the modern day health dilemma , one that often can’t be described by a single medical diagnosis or fixed with one treatment. People don’t tend to experience just one or two of these symptoms. They often experience a cluster of them together. Most of the symptoms are related to each other and are riding on a wave of accumulated stress, an overtaxed body and mind, unsupportive lifestyle habits, suppressed thoughts and emotions, unrealistic pressures and expectations on self, unhealthy distractions, and a lack of attention to taking care of the body and mind.
The truth is, it can become easy to get used to that picture and tolerate it day after day . To stop questioning it altogether and just accept it as the norm. After all, for most people it’s still possible to be successful at work while feeling this way, get through school, attend to family, fulfill daily responsibilities and obligations, meet up with friends, celebrate the holidays, and so on.
We can convince ourselves that life is way too full and busy to do anything about it. Besides, who’s asking us to? Thoughts can flood in about the countless list of things that must be done instead. Work is important, and so are bills. There are a bunch of family members and friends to get in touch with, or people that need our help. Family duties, household chores, business matters, finances, a parking ticket, social media, school work,...the list goes on.
The question isn’t just what is health . It’s what is health to you? If health is important to you, you can bring more of it into your life. If it remains at the back of the line behind other more important things to do, that’s where it’ll stay. It’s up to you, and it’s a natural ability we all have and can take advantage of, to take care of our health and support the innate healing potential of the body.
What makes health a true art form? You . You’re an artist who holds a paint brush in your hand that creates the unique picture of your health. You naturally have the insight, wisdom, and ability to take care of yourself and bring health into your life using that paint brush. If you want to change the picture to be more in line with who you are and how you’d like to feel in your health, you can do it. And like all art, it takes practice.
Does the chronic symptom picture described above support living life and doing what you want with it? Not really. In truth, unbalanced health blocks life and energy from flowing in the body. We all deal with the challenge of maintaining health in the face of life’s challenges. After all, we experience ups and downs and health can’t be attained in a separate and perfect bubble outside of that.
That’s okay, though. The moment we come to terms with this reality, we can start to pay attention to what’s really going on in our bodies throughout life’s ever-changing terrain. We can then support our health in a way that fits who we are and the stressors we face. Even though the study of medicine fits into concrete textbooks, we as human beings don’t. For real life health, it’s up to each individual to have a connection with his or her body and its functioning and to consider this a priority.
The reason why symptoms tend to occur in clusters is because the different systems and processes in the body are closely connected and affect each other. In this book, we’ll focus a lot on mind-body connections as well as inter-system connections in health that can often be overlooked when it comes to chronic symptoms. Let’s look at a couple of examples.
The adrenal system, which deals with stress, can affect the immune system. That’s why a tired and stressed body, with depleted levels of the stress hormone called cortisol, is more susceptible to colds and allergies. Stress can affect the immune system in other ways too, such as in triggering a hyperactive immune response and autoimmune illness. We’ll talk more in depth about the effects stress can have on the immune system in later chapters .
Stress and emotions are also connected to the digestive system. Did you know that a part of the nervous system actually lives in the digestive tract? People sometimes feel anxiety first in their gut, showing us how thoughts and emotions are quickly communicated to the digestion. Chronic stress and suppressed emotions can derail the smooth functioning of the digestive organs, creating symptoms like heartburn, bloating, constipation, and irritable bowel.
There are countless other examples. As you will see, nothing is isolated and existing on its own island in the body. Chemical messengers in the body called hormones and neurotransmitters make sure that the different systems can communicate effectively. This is a good thing, so that the body can make adjustments in response to external and internal factors. The body’s internal dialogue also makes it possible for you to adapt as an individual to changing circumstances.
It also means that we’re not off the hook when we stop taking care of ourselves and ignoring our stress levels and emotions. Becoming familiar with the body’s connections helps us to better support them for improved health, increased energy, and more “umph” in life. This support is important for preventive health, so that future illness can be potentially avoided, but it can also help improve any existing symptoms and conditions. Hard to treat conditions such as fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, and Lyme disease can all benefit from this approach. In addition, common conditions such as hypertension, diabetes, thyroid dysfunction, high cholesterol, and even anxiety and depression that are typically treated with pharmaceuticals can show vast improvement from a supportive lifestyle and connection to one’s own health.
So, when to start? Now. It’s too easy to put it off until tomorrow, and then repeat this habit day after day. After observing my own health habits, those of my patients, and those of people I know—I’ve seen that when it comes to paying more attention to health, either you do it or you don’t. No one is going to make you do it, not even your doctor. It has to matter to you. If you start now, you can experience the benefits of increased energy, looking and feeling better, reduced or completely resolved symptoms, and more vitality—that much sooner.
Let’s get started. This book:
Most importantly, this book can help spark curiosity and the desire to keep learning about your health so that getting healthy can be enjoyable rather than a chore. It encourages you to think about your health on a deeper level, one that resonates with you as an individual. Health is a process and you never know what you’ll learn about yourself as you take better care of yourself and your body. Developing a true connection with your health helps you take full advantage of this learning process.
It takes some selfishness to find health again. “Selfish” is usually seen as a bad word, but without selfishness, it becomes difficult to make the space and time available that’s needed to attend to your health. You may end up feeling like you have to be there for others more than for yourself. You may consistently put other tasks ahead of your health. Sure, there are unhealthy sides to selfishness that can involve self-absorption and hurting others. But there is also a separate and useful side of selfishness that helps us prioritize our health and be there for ourselves. Selfishness is an essential part of regaining balance in health. Being “selfish” is really just another way of saying “taking care of your self .”
Remember that it takes time, patience, and practice to regain balance in health. Doctors have practices where they see patients, but each of us as individuals have our own health practices too. They’re made up of the things we do on a regular basis to take care of ourselves, both body and mind. The more we see health as a practice rather than as a problem to fix, the more we encourage the body’s natural potential to be healthy .
Outside of the formulaic approach of the medical system, we can each focus on more of our health than is possible during a typical health visit. We can take a look not just at how we live in terms of diet, sleep, and exercise, but also the way we live . The way we live involves how we choose to face unique challenges, deal with stress and disappointments, go after what we want in life, and value ourselves and our health. The typical image of “success” and “making it” in society encourages us to value many things above ourselves and our health. In your own health practice, you get a chance to look closely at these ideals and decide whether they are allowing health to thrive or blocking it. If there are things that are more important to you in life, you can re-prioritize and better support them.
The goal of this book isn’t to fix digestion, sleep, stress levels, energy, and hormone balance overnight by making 50 lifestyle changes all at once. What is more effective is to learn to pay better attention to your body and to make health a real priority. If you feel inspired to make healthy lifestyle changes, try and pick one or two accessible ones. Accessible means that the change complements you as a person and your lifestyle. Also, think small steps. Introducing something small into your life on a consistent basis is often more effective than taking a large step only a few times. When it comes to health, the simpler the better!
We’re almost ready to start painting the art of health, but before we do I’ll point out that this isn’t your typical health-related book. There are no magic solutions in these chapters toward feeling and looking better. I also don’t have any quick fixes or in-the-moment health fads to offer. I believe that there is medicine far more powerful and long-lasting than that, and it lies in you as a unique individual and how you choose to live. Are you going to let health be a part of your journey through life?
In making this book, I’d like to thank the patients I’ve seen for giving me the opportunity to continuously learn about the art of health. A huge thanks to my editor and sounding board for all things real in health, Jason Petersen, N.D. And thank you, the reader, for turning these pages and thereby being open to seeing health in a new way.
Now, let’s talk about roots.