PSN No.4: Optimum Health

Well simply put, you can’t achieve something that you don’t understand, believe in or even know exists. So what is Optimum health? That’s the first question we should ask. What is this thing called Health?

My own definition of health is as follows, “Health is a state of complete spiritual, metaphysical, emotional, mental, physical, sexual, financial and social well-being. It’s an optimum state of balance and quality. Optimum health provides us with the insight necessary to define our goals and the motivation required to achieve them. When we are truly well, we are able to adapt to change and stress without significant damage.”

I think that last line really sums it up. If we are truly well we can adapt and not perish. I like the saying, “Adapt, migrate or die”. And so it is with optimum health. If we are well, we should be able to cope with change, with disappointment, with betrayal and with loss. Our attitude towards misfortune changes. In fact our perception of everything is different because we know the futility of wanting what we cannot have, or seeking what cannot be found.

We can cope because we are secure within ourselves. We have self-esteem, self-worth and self-respect. We are self-reliant and accountable first and foremost to ourselves, because we ourselves possess standards of health, nutrition and fitness that the world doesn’t understand.

We love ourselves because we are glorious and magnificent, and we love ourselves because of our uniqueness, our beauty and our individuality.

I mean come on. Let’s get real! Optimum health is what it’s all about! That’s the objective, the goal, the target and our purpose. To think, eat, sleep, drink and live in a certain way ordained by the guru each of us has inside. Everything we do and say ultimately relates to our purpose in mind which is to achieve and maintain optimum health. This defines a health centered consciousness.

I also really like how Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, who discovered vitamin C and the flavonoids and was awarded the Nobel prize for Medicine in 1937, defines health: “I think we must call ‘perfect health’ not the absence of scurvy or other disease, but a condition of the body in which it is capable of the highest performances, in which it shows the greatest resistance against all noxious influences, physical, chemical and biological.” Isn’t that cool?

Or how about Dr. Emanuel Cheraskin, best known for his research and writing in the areas of dental health, nutrition and the role of vitamins and minerals in the maintenance of good health. He was the man who urged me to attend Clayton College and pursue a career as a naturopath. He said, "Go for it Cory. You have what it takes!” He described health as “the ability to achieve what you need to do and what you want to do, with energy and enthusiasm.”

Do you have energy and enthusiasm? Are you doing what you need to do and what you want to do? The answers to these questions are revealed in the reality of our life experience.

Now we’ve got to assume that most people don’t know what optimum health is. They think it’s the absence of disease or they think they’re healthy because they feel OK right now in the moment, but optimum health is so much more than that.

Health is a continuum that involves many complex variables. It’s emotional, multidimensional and it means different things to different people.

But here’s what I know for sure. Optimum health is not what I see in the people living around me here in Canada or pretty much anywhere in North America. What I see is catastrophe and devastation. What I see is a massive number of people, young and old, rich and poor, all struggling to stay alive and find purpose. It’s sad really, but what can you do? Can we save the world? Is that our purpose? Is that why you were born?

So what is optimum health to you? How do you achieve and sustain it? Are you doing what it takes to satisfy the equation? That is actually the first essay question I ask students on their final exam for the principles of sports nutrition course.

Here are some of their answers.

One student writes, “My personal definition of optimum health is boundless energy, being driven by love not fear, balance in all aspects of my life, including physical, mental, spiritual, metaphysical, social, sexual, intimacy, financial and achieving harmony within.”

I like the fact that this student is driven by love and not fear. Fear is such a destroyer, and the most bizarre part of fear is that essentially, it’s almost always self-made and created from our “perception” of reality and not reality itself. The two of course are more often than not two distinct and entirely different things.

Have you ever heard the acronym for FEAR. F-E-A-R. False Evidence Appearing Real which for the most part pretty much sums it up. Fear is a figment of our imagination and rarely has anything to do with living a positive purpose filled life. Yes fear can be useful in the moment and can protect us from harm, but more often than not it cripples our ability to live and accomplish the potential that lies within us.

Another student writes, “Optimum health is about total wellness of mind, body and spirit. It’s about functionality in life.”

We know that health is the presence of function and we know that function can be tested, so we need to remain objective and rational. It’s not just how we feel; it’s also about what’s going on inside our blood, urine and cells. It’s what we discover through hair analysis, a fitness assessment, a chiropractic exam and through consultation with a trusted advisor. Objectivity and subjectivity must be viewed as two sides of the same coin. Allow one to dominate and you will certainly get into trouble.

Most people agree that health is wealth and that health is more important than anything else, but you would never know that judging by how they look, feel or live. Enter the true POWER and MIGHT of sports nutrition.

Sports nutrition is a science that brings us closer to the truth. We discover through research, study and longing for the truth what we need to do to yield the outcome of optimum health in our flesh. We test everything. We always ask why. We accept nothing without evidence. Now there’s a key word in life. EVIDENCE. It’s amazing how many people accept what they believe by blind faith alone. Imagine if everyone demanded evidence to substantiate their lifestyle and actions? Wow!

So how do you know you’re well? How do you know you have what you say you have? Simple. You YOURSELF are living proof, the evidence for the all the doubters and naysayers to pick apart, condemn, criticize and investigate to no end. Let them. You see when you’re well you don’t care, and you’re not in a rush. You have nothing to prove or push on anyone. You’re in the health game for one reason, and one reason only. FOR YOURSELF. Health is its own reward.

That’s the virtue of selfish benevolence and the true science of sports nutrition revealed. You get what optimum health is, how to achieve it, and perhaps more importantly, you are doing what needs to done to attain it, keep it and make it last. YOU are the evidence the world so desperately needs. You are the evidence that will save innocence from a life behind bars. You are the incorruptible, the light that shines from within. So be well my friends and never look back...

“Only a rationally selfish person, a person of self-esteem, is capable of love – because he or she is the only person capable of holding firm, consistent, uncompromising, unbetrayed values. The person who does not value him or herself, cannot value anything or anyone.” ~ Ayn Rand

PSN No.4: Optimum Health - Clinical Review (Audio Tutorial) SNU V10N1a

As always...stay well and live free.

Dr.C