From cells beginning to misbehave and attack one another to hormones stubbornly see-sawing their way out of control to arteries shrinking and halting blood circulation – there’s plenty that can go wrong with the human body. The desire to steer clear of both disease and disability, is, therefore, fairly, understandable. Be it preventing a particular disease or managing the symptoms of an already existing ailment – we find consumers turning to the world of medicine, paying hefty bills in exchange for the promise of longevity.
With so many fiendish pharmaceutical companies trying to magnify the potential dangers that come with diseases, consumers have, over time, begun to believe in the dangerous idea that there is indeed, a pill for every bodily problem. While vitamins are great for giving your immunity that occasional boost, and certain medicines can help your organs achieve their bodily functions in case of injury or illness, the truth is, they can never help you fix your problem permanently – unless you make a conscious effort to go one step beyond your symptoms and find out the root cause.
Before we illustrate this with an example, let’s talk a little about the concept of “disease” and if there really is such a thing as that.
Busting The “Disease” Myth
“Disease” Is Our Body’s Way Of Rushing To Our Rescue
Let’s start with the basics. There is really no such thing as “disease.” In fact, if you really think about it, every “disease” is actually your body’s way of trying to fix something that has gone wrong.
Take a common condition called hypertension (high blood pressure) that puts a person at a higher risk of heart problems and stroke, the leading causes of death in America.1
When a doctor observes high blood pressure in his patient on more than three occasions, he confirms that the patient has high blood pressure. Naturally, he then proceeds to prescribe medicines to help stabilize this problem.
This, however, is only a temporary fix that not only doesn’t stop the problem from coming back but also, in the process, can increase the patient’s risk of cancer. Researchers found that angiotensin-receptor blockers (ARBs), a popular class of drugs that is widely used for the treatment of hypertension, heart failure, and cardiovascular risk reduction, significantly increased the risk of fatal cancers in patients receiving the ARB candesartan when compared with a placebo.2
This means that taking blood pressure drugs not only fails to fix the problem permanently but also brings on a whole new set of health complications. All of this could have been avoided, just by taking the time out to actually understand what the root cause of the problem was and focusing on fixing that first.
The Root Cause Is Blocked Arteries, Not High Blood Pressure
Elevated levels of blood pressure don’t automatically mean that the body has made a mistake in calculating how much blood to circulate throughout the body. It means that the arteries, or the main vehicles that transport blood to various parts of the body are blocked.
The body observes this problem and realizes that the blood can no longer be properly circulated to all our organs as it ought to. Therefore, in order to try and bring the blood circulation back to normal so that every organ gets its quota of oxygen-rich blood, the body increases the pressure of the blood in our systems.
In this way, the body tries hard to keep us alive, in spite of a problem within our systems.
The Permanent Solution: Unplug The Arteries First!
Blood pressure drugs may temporarily dilate the arteries to stabilize our blood pressure. Similarly, natural supplements have only been shown to modestly reduce blood pressure levels. If you’ve been diagnosed with high blood pressure, taking vitamins might help only to a certain extent — but they may not lower blood pressure enough on their own.
In some cases, continuous, unsupervised consumption of vitamins, minerals, and supplements may result in disastrous consequences. Some people try ingesting potassium to help them control their blood pressure. Since potassium plays a crucial role in regulating blood pressure, it may seem logical to believe that a potassium deficiency is linked to high blood pressure. To correct this deficiency, people automatically turn to potassium supplements. But according to Harvard Medical School, this isn’t a good idea. It is important to remember that some supplements may even interact with blood pressure medications, such as ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers.3 Therefore, if you’re already on blood pressure medications, remember to speak with your doctor about possible interactions and toxicity warnings before you try a supplement.
The real solution lies in removing the blockage in the arteries that is causing elevated levels of blood pressure in the first place. This way, you can stop the problem from coming back, and you can also stay away from unnecessary drugs coming with a whole range of side effects that can put you in more danger.
What About Other Diseases?
Blood pressure is only one example of a so-called “disease” which, in reality, is just your body’s way of fighting for survival. Whatever “disease” you look at, you will always find that they are merely symptoms that end up being treated while the main problem is left unsolved. For example:
Osteoporosis: Osteoporosis, defined as the loss of bone and mineral density, is actually caused by our bodies trying to correct a very crucial biochemical imbalance called fast oxidation. In fast oxidation, the body excretes out excessive amounts of minerals like calcium, zinc, and magnesium in order to enhance the brain’s response to a fight-flight reaction. This fight-flight reaction is usually normal and healthy, but if it keeps recurring, it can cause the mineral reserves in our bodies to get depleted. This results in the body drawing these minerals from our bone, which in turn, causes osteoporosis.
Diabetes: Diabetes is neither a disease of the blood sugar, nor of the hormone insulin. It is developed over time due to an eating disorder, where consuming large amounts of foods with sugar (like refined carbs) results in the pancreas exhausting their insulin reserves, thus elevating the blood glucose levels.
Cancer: Researchers are of the opinion that cancer is nothing but a condition where our cells take on an ancestral trait that was passed down throughout the evolutionary years when faced with dangerous situations. Millions of years ago, during the era of the single-celled organism, cells were “immortal”, for they had the ability to proliferate unchecked, just as cancer does. With the evolution of these organisms into their complex multi-cellular counterparts, this “immortality” was outsourced to the eggs and sperm, as those that weren’t involved in reproduction no longer needed this function. However, when a cell is faced with an environmental condition that is a threat to its health, such as radiation or a lifestyle factor, these cells, on a misguided attempt to survive, can switch on their dormant ability to proliferate ruthlessly, which in turn, causes cancer.4
Of course, one may think that a deficiency in calcium is directly linked to a higher risk of osteoporosis, or that a deficiency of antioxidants resulted in cancer. While this may be true, loading up on calcium vitamins and antioxidants will do very little to make these problems go away if you continue to eat a poor diet and get little to zero exercise.
In fact, you’re better off following some long term lifestyle choices. For instance, reducing one’s levels of stress is one of the natural remedies of reversing osteoporosis while controlling one’s diet can help stabilize blood sugar levels to help manage diabetes. In the case of cancer, abstaining from lifestyle choices or habits that could “frighten” your cells such as sun exposure, taking certain medications, and smoking can naturally help bring down one’s risk of cancer.
So Why Even Take Supplements?
While you’ll always want to check with your doctor first, adding vitamins and supplements like fish oil or turmeric to your daily routine can be beneficial to your health. But it really does need to be part of an overall healthy lifestyle.
Cramming our systems with drugs and supplements only temporarily solves the symptoms and stops your body from trying to solve the problem. When that happens, we think we’ve made the problem go away. Since we haven’t tried to do away with the root cause, the condition is bound to return, and then we revert to the same pills we took before.
We live during times when our busy schedule leaves us with very little time to take care of our health. Supplements and vitamins can help give you a boost whenever you feel a little out of it, but that doesn’t mean we don’t correct the unhealthy lifestyle choices we’re making.
The good news? You don’t necessarily need to make drastic changes! Even as little as 20 minutes of exercise is enough to reduce your body’s inflammatory process, and adding whole, organic foods like lentils, fruits, vegetables, grains, and healthy oils can greatly strengthen your immune system against infection.
Bottomline? Find The Root Cause And Fix It!
With the resulting vicious cycle and the chain of potential health problems that arise due to various side effects of these drugs, it is needless to say, this is not a sustainable way to stay healthy in the long run. The real solution, instead, lies in recognizing what your body is trying to fix and focusing on correcting that problem.
Your body is pretty much your best friend, who alerts you the moment it senses something off. Instead of silencing its warnings with the help of pills, take a moment to listen to what it’s trying to tell you. Therein lies the key to a happy life that’s filled with longer, healthier years, free of damaging and recurring health problems.
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