Increasingly more and more of the population are deficient in at least one nutrient in their diet. We live in times that rely heavily on convenience or manufactured foods that do not support good health. Many people do not eat nearly enough fresh fruit and vegetables, and consume an extremely high amount of fat, animal products, and refined carbohydrates such as flour and of course, sugar. These dietary habits cause the body to become both depleted of essential nutrients required for its proper function, and overloaded with unwanted toxic substances. If you eat like most of the population, you are undoubtedly depleted and toxic, leaving your body struggling with daily functions and more prone to illness.
2. Sedentary Lifestyle
The human body is designed to be active most of the time. Instead, the average person watches about 6 hours of television per day, has a sedentary job, and does not find time to exercise on a regular basis. The entire nation is more overweight than at any time in history; Two-thirds of us are either overweight or obese and one in four of our children are classified as obese and these figures are rising. Physical movement and exercise are not only necessary to control our weight but is crucial for the lymphatic system to operate. Cells live in a “sea” of lymph, a clear-to-white fluid through which nutrients are delivered to the cells and into which cells off-laod their metabolic waste. One of the functions of the lymphatic system is to be the body’s “sewer system”, drawing toxins from the cells and dumping them into the blood. The lymphatic system cannot circulate around the body by itself, instead it requires us to ‘pump’ it through the movement of our body. Therefore, metabolic waste products cannot be completely cleared unless you are physically active. A second important reason for exercise is perspiration. The skin is a major outlet for waste products; when you perspire, you are disposing of waste products through the skin, via the sweat glands. A third benefit of an active lifestyle is that you retain muscle mass. Your muscle cells are where fat is burned. The more muscle cells you have and the stronger they are, the more fat they burn. This is why exercise is essential for weight control.
3. Chronic Stress
Stress occurs when your body has a “fight or flight” response to any situation. Most of the time, you are not even aware of it. Stress can come from anywhere at any time. Many people become so accustomed to being ‘stressed’ that they don’t even know that they are stressed – but the body does! When the body is continually in a state of stress it is called chronic stress, this seriously depletes your body of energy and its vital reserves. It produces hormones which have a long-term weakening effect on the body, this can accelerate the aging process and leads to chronic degenerative diseases. Stress does not only come in the form of mental/emotional stress, your body will have a very similar stress response to a variety of physical factors, including infection, physical trauma, and chemical pollution.
4. Destructive Habits
Smoking, drinking excessive amounts of alcohol, especially binge drinking and using recreational drugs, ruins your chances of good health and their effects can last for many years after you stop these habits. In some cases, the damage is irreversible.
5. External Pollution
The most threatening form of pollution today is chemical pollution. The amount of chemical pollution today is unprecedented in human history. We dump nearly 6,000,000,000 pounds of chemicals into our environment every year. The World Wildlife Foundation ( WWF) visited 13 locations in England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales in the summer of 2003 and took blood samples from 155 volunteers. Some of the key findings were: Every person tested was contaminated by a cocktail of known highly toxic chemicals, some of which were banned from use in the UK during the 1970s and continue to pose unknown health risks. They found 90 per cent of the 78 chemicals that were looked for in the survey. The highest number of chemicals found in any one person was 49- nearly two thirds (63 per cent) of the chemicals that they were looking for.
Environmental pollution is real and affects everyone, including you! It is in your immediate environment; your home, your car, your office, your neighbourhood, your city. You are exposed to chemicals from the air that you breathe, the water you drink, and the food you eat. It is a fact that everyday you are surrounded by chemicals that are either toxic or have unknown health consequences. A large amount of scientific evidence supports the idea that these accumulated chemicals are a factor in the majority of today’s growing number of degenerative diseases. The effects of environmental toxicity include decreased immune function, nervous system problems, depression, irritability, fatigue, and memory loss. Your own home could be a major source of environmental pollution. New carpets, cabinets, and furniture are notorious for releasing toxic chemical gases. So are paints and solvents. Any plastic product or packaging may also release undesirable chemicals. You may have even sprayed your garden or lawn with pesticides or herbicides. Most shocking of all is that your personal care products such as deodorants, shampoo, and cosmetics may contain materials that are unhealthy. As a rule of thumb, if you wouldn’t put it in your mouth, don’t put it on your body. If you were to have a professional count the number of potentially unhealthy chemicals in or around your home, you would be shocked. Chemical and other kinds of pollution are a serious threat to your health.
6. Internal Pollution
Although your body is always trying to do the best it can at any one time, sometimes things go wrong; usually due to the way we have been treating our bodies. Internal pollution occurs as a result of processes within your body. These can be in the form of allergies, candida and leaky gut syndrome. The most significant cause of internal toxicity is from constipation. When you are constipated your body cannot remove its toxic waste in its normal manner and as a result the body reabsorbs some of this toxic matter back into your blood causing ill health. This internal pollution is a very important, but all too often overlooked, cause of poor health.
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Are you trying to improve your health?
People are quick to ignore the warning signs from their own bodies. They carry on regardless or just pop a pill to mask their pain and discomfort. If there was a warning light flashing on your car then you would stop and correct the problem and if your car indicated that it was low on fuel then you would not hesitate in filling it up. You would do this, as you would be sure of the consequences of your inaction. Yet we do not give our own bodies this much thought, as even our cars get serviced regularly. As with our cars, it is best practise to prevent a problem rather than fixing something when it has already broken. As such it is best to treat any disease by preventing it from developing in the first place. Many people are just not aware that complementary therapies can help to prevent illness and create healthier lifestyles. If illness has developed, corrective measures will need to be taken in order to get the body back to balance so that it can become healthy again. If you have developed a chronic disease it may take longer for this to happen as much more of your body will have become damaged. If you take no action at all then your quality of life will also continue to diminish, if not the length of your life.
What can we do for you at the Kaniker Natural Health Centre?
The aim of everyone working at the centre is to provide you with the very best and most effective natural health care that we can. Kaniker Natural Health Centre was established to provide you with a natural approach to health care where the emphasis is on the whole person offering you individual attention tailored to suit your exact needs. It is a great place to relax and unwind and find sanctuary from today’s hectic lifestyle. Your health and well-being will always be our primary concern. All practitioners are qualified and have considerable experience in their fields, offering you the very best in complementary health. Kaniker Natural Health Centre will provide you with a place to access information that will help you to enhance your health and make informed choices, somewhere that you can enjoy a cup of tea and share your experiences in a comfortable, relaxed and friendly environment. People of all ages are welcome to enjoy the unique experience that Kaniker Natural Health Centre has to offer. To start you on the path of improved health and well-being make yourself an appointment for a free consultation with our practice manager, Rebecca Alliker at the Kaniker Natural Health Centre. The purpose of this free consultation is to help you to understand what services we offer and what would be the most appropriate course of action for you to take, that best suits your needs and aspirations. It gives you the chance to look around the centre and ask any questions that you may have.
Call: Stoke on Trent, 01782 396467 to arrange your appt.
