Signs of a Proper Life

It is all well and good to want to be healthier.  Everyone wants to be healthier and we all have a vague idea of what healthier is but how can we be sure that we are making progress.  Health indicators are imperfect signals and often take a while to see improvement.  I have discovered several indications that show you are on the correct path.

The first sign is attitude and mental outlook.  Contentedness and joyousness are signs that the body is well nourished and functioning properly.  Life should be enjoyed.  Even though this world is a sinful place with lots of suffering, it was still made by God.  If we live in the way that God intended, we will be happy in spite of our difficulties.  In a discussion I had with Richard Morris, who lost over 150 pounds on the diet advocated by the Weston A. Price Foundation, he mentioned that he first started feeling better both physically and mentally two weeks after he changed his diet.  The mind and body are not separate entities, so studying ones emotions gives the best insight into the health of ones body.

Another sign that you are living a healthy lifestyle is that you do not fit in.  Most people in the US are not healthy.  Cancer and obesity rates are skyrocketing.  Most people need to see their doctors and dentists frequently to prevent their bodies from falling apart.  If you start noticing that you do things differently from everyone else, it is a sign that you are on the right path.  Not all changes may be beneficial, but if you are doing everything the same as everyone else, you can expect the same results.

In Honest Money Gary North lists some fundamental principals of God-fearing social order.  The list struck me because it applies to building body and life as well as building a healthy country or economy.  Gary North’s principals are as follows

1.    Self-discipline under God’s revealed law
2.    Avoiding the centralization of power (localism)
3.    Service as the principle of dominion
4.    Personal responsibility for one’s actions
5.    The family as the primary agency of welfare
6.    Salvation by grace-not knowledge, or power, or law
7.    Compound growth over long periods of time (anti-revolution)
8.    Neither individualism nor collectivism—covenantalism instead

Not all of the points are applicable for our purposed, but most are.

1.  Self-discipline is important.  In today’s world becoming healthy will require breaking your addiction to refined sugar and artificial sweeteners.  This will not be easy.  Once you have broken the addiction you will still be surrounded by these sweets begging you to eat them.  You will feel healthier without the sugar, but you will still crave it.

2.  Instead of a centrally planned medical system, a localized medical system based upon the doctor-patient relationship provides the best health care.  Instead of forcing the body to do what you want using chemicals and surgery, you want to give your body the space and materials it needs to heal itself.

4.  I become angry when I think about the prohibitions against selling raw milk and other healthy foods.  When I am forced to subsidize unhealthy foods and poorly conducted medical studies with my tax dollars, it sickens me.  Nevertheless, one must not let these injustices break our spirit.  We each have the ability to influence our circle of acquaintances and to control our personal actions.  Take personal responsibility for your health–don’t delegate it to the government or HMO.

5.  The mental, moral, and physical are all interconnected, so it is not surprising that families in America are falling apart at the same time that the health of America’s people is failing.  Relationships play a big role in our mental health which plays a large role in our physical health.  Home cooked meals eaten together as a family are the best nourishment available because they combine lovingly prepared food with wonderful conversation.

7.  You may see drastic improvements when you first make a change, but becoming healthy is a long process.  Cleansing pollutants from your body can happen quickly, but rebuilding the body is a long term process.  You will not achieve perfect healthy immediately or make your dietary deficiencies in a week.  Some parts of your health may never be completely cured.  Your facial structure will not change after your early years in life although your face will probably become more beautiful on a healthy diet.