Why is it so hard to create and maintain good health? Why is it important that we do?

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We can agree there’s a lot of uncertainty in the world today. With environmental, political, and financial turmoil, now more than ever we need personal wellness and resilience if we want to make a difference in the world.

Did you know that the World Health Organization defines health as:

A state of complete physical, mental and social well being and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity?

This definition has remained unchanged for decades and I remember learning it in my first year of naturopathic medical college in 2003.

That first year was a review of my undergraduate kinesiology degree, which meant that I hardly needed to study and still did well academically. But in the 2nd year when the material was new and I continued my first year habits, I failed three midterms.

In Google Chat, I typed my dad the bad news. I waited with my hands spread over my eyes like I was watching a scary part of a horror movie - not wanting to look but needing to see.

He typed back 10 words that changed how I see myself, how I take care of myself, and how I’ve taught thousands to take care of themselves over the past 17 years as a naturopathic doctor.

He typed:

“Are you getting enough exercise? It’s all about balance, Sweetie.”

I’ve supported people through both acute and chronic health concerns. I’ve seen incredible recoveries and also cases that stayed stuck.

That confused and frustrated me.

Why would some people get better so easily and others continue to struggle with disease and discomfort?

Especially since our bodies know how to heal and can. What was blocking these people from taking care of themselves so that their bodies could return to balance?

These questions led me to create a straightforward blueprint for health. Like my dad said, it is all about balance.

SIMPLY Health is the balance of the nutrients we let into our system, and the wastes and toxins we let out.

Nutrients in. Wastes out.

That’s it.

This is how we can figure out the root cause of any symptom or disease.

What are they not getting enough of that they need more of? NUTRIFY

And what are they getting too much of that they need less of? DETOXIFY

Then we adjust these specific and individual variables and their systems reliably get out of disease mode and go back into healing mode.

Biochemically we need nutrients like vitamins, minerals, fatty acids, amino acids, sugars, and oxygen. Our mitochondria take in these nutrients to produce our body’s energetic currency - ATP and releases carbon dioxide as a waste product.

Physically we need nutrients like nutritious food, rest, activity, nature, and adequate hydration. We release what we don’t need through our elimination organs.

Remember health is a state of complete physical, mental and social well being. It’s exciting that this approach can also be applied to two other key levels of the body.

FIRST Our health outcomes improve when we apply this to the emotional level.

Emotional toxins include anger, fear, sadness, hurt, guilt, shame. While there is nothing wrong with these feelings when they’re appropriate and warranted, psychoneuroimmunology tells us they impede our physical health when they are prolonged in the body.

Nutritional emotions that benefit us include love, connection, joy, gratitude, and forgiveness. This is what extends our personal healing beyond ourselves and into the world at large.

SECOND Our wellness outcomes get better when we apply this formula to the mental level of our thoughts.

Recently while scanning thousands of patient charts I tallied the number of people that believed their illness was caused by stress. It was 87%.

We know that stress chemicals hinder healing when we’re exposed to them in a long-term way. It’s commonly understood that cortisol is a potent immunosuppressant which is why it's given to patients with autoimmune disease.

We also know that stress decreases digestive capacity, and ability to absorb nutrients.

Even if we had zero medical evidence that stress plays a role in illness, for these 87% of my patients, stress IS causing their illness.

WHY? Because they believe it is.

Our thoughts have incredible power to hamper or help our healing. We hamper our healing when we have a negative expectation about an intervention. This is called the nocebo effect.

We need less of that. And yet because of our negativity bias, we’re very good at it. It helps us survive.

One day my dog came home after wandering our rural neighbourhood with a fish hook pierced through her upper eyelid.

After composing myself, I started telling her that she was going to be okay; that her intelligent system knew exactly how to heal and it could and would do so quickly.

I gave her a placebo pep talk and I realized… we need more of that.

Nutritious thoughts we can leverage to thrive.

Pharmaceutical companies must prove that their medication is more effective than placebo because they know the BELIEF that something will work is effective and strong medicine in and of itself.

What if you believed that your body was designed to be well? That it was capable of healing? How would that change things for you?

I would often chuckle to myself when patients would return and say, “I don’t know if it’s a placebo or not but I’m feeling better.”

With a smile I’d tell them that the changes they’d made were biochemically active (aka not a placebo), and I was glad they were doing better. I’d often add, “And if it was placebo, Awesome, I’m glad you’re doing better.”

Here's hot to give yourself a nutritional, placebo pep talk. I call it CARE:

C - catch your toxic thoughts

A - ask what else you can focus on

R - replace with a more nutritious thought

E - exercise the new thought.

An example of this could look like:

Tonia, you’re focusing on this pain and worrying you’ll never recover. What could you focus on instead that would be more helpful, kind, productive? Even though things feel uncomfortable right now, I know my body can heal; I trust my body wants me to be well. Maybe there’s a message here for me and I’m curious what I need more of or less of.

My dog was prescribed a short course of antibiotics. Everytime I gave Achilles the medication - smothered in butter - I assured her that her body was going to use it for her highest and quickest healing good. At our follow up the vet said, “Wow! I’m shocked this healed so quickly.”

“Oh?" I said feigning surprise.

Nutrients in. Wastes out.

This is the path out of illness and into health and it applies biochemically, physically, emotionally, mentally. This is the transformation in thinking we need individually and globally because how we talk to ourselves and others matters.

When he could have chosen anything else my dad chose kindness, curiosity, compassion when he said to me:

It’s all about balance sweetie.

Essentially he chose LOVE - the biggest nutrient of all.

My dad passed away in 2022 and I’m so grateful that he gave me a powerful understanding of how it all fits together.

Through the CARE model, we can placebo pep talk ourselves and find the resilience to allow our bodies, hearts, and communities to heal.

And that’s exactly what I do. I help people get well on all four levels, turning their unconscious mind into a powerful healing force, better than placebo! All so they can go back into healing mode.

I'm letting you know I'm here to help.

There are two simple ways to work together.

1️⃣FIRST if you haven’t grab yourself a copy of:

BREAK THROUGH THE INSOMNIA CYCLE: HOW TO SLEEP DEEPLY, WAKE RESTED, AND ENJOY HAPPY, ENERGIZED DAYS

2️⃣ SECOND: So if you’re needing any support to create new filters and new self care habits to help you reach your most desired goals... then I invite you to consider mind-body healing breakthrough.

This is where you’ll release the painful imprints of the past and go back into healing mode, easily able to create new habits and positive results in your health and life, then book a discovery call with me or my team.

We’ll spend 30 minutes helping you get very clear on what loops you’re wanting to close and where you’re wanting to go. If it’s a match I might invite you to enroll in a breakthrough and I’ll provide the easiest way to do that when we chat.

CLICK HERE TO BOOK YOUR CALL

3️⃣ THIRD. If you're curious to learn more about OTHER ways of working together, Click the image below.

I very much look forward to connecting and in the meantime...

🧠💗💫May you choose to make all your dreams come true!