When it comes to solving any health challenge, I’ve found it useful to begin by taking a big step back to the basics: what does good health really mean?
People tend to think of health as black and white. Binary. You’re either healthy or you’re sick. You’re okay until you develop serious symptoms or receive a diagnosis.
But this is not the way it really works, my friends.
Rather, health exists on a spectrum. We tend to begin in a state of good health, and as systems supporting our body lose their optimal functioning, the number and severity of symptoms may arise.
“…as systems supporting our body lose their optimal functioning, the number and severity of symptoms may arise.”
This statement is worth digging into to get an idea of what is really at play in any health challenge. There’s a more technical article where I dive into this concept of health over here, on Your Health, Reprogrammed. I think it’s worth the read, especially if you’re serious about taking control of your health (which, I sincerely hope we all are).
As for the rest of this article, let’s talk through what this statement means for us as we go about living our lives.
To begin, we have to understand that we are human beings, and as such, we are complex, biological systems.
We can dive into what exactly this means (which, once again, I do over here on Your Health, Reprogrammed), but without doing so, we can still step back and appreciate this fact: the human body is supported by systems that have been designed over millions of years to perform specific functions.
Despite what diet culture has programmed in us, the human body doesn’t need our micro-managing in order to function well. Rather, it really just needs our help ensuring that it receives the resources it needs to function (e.g. food and water) without being over-burdened by stress, toxins, or other factors that impair each sub-system.
Unfortunately, the modern human body faces a significant problem: the modern world is not set up to support it; rather, modern foods typically lack nutrients and bombard the body with dense energy while the body is chronically stressed mentally while often under-stressed physically.
To better understand how we can apply this understanding to making healthy decisions, we can ask the following question: How does each sub-system supporting the human body function, and to what precise purpose?
Frustratingly, that’s a task that we can only begin to understand. I mean that literally. The complexity of the human body goes beyond the complexity that we can measure and understand at this point in time.
How complex is the human body? Well, it’s complexity goes beyond any other system I could name.
I also mean that quite literally. We could talk of the workings of launching a rocket ship into space, landing safely on another planet, delivering humans safely, and later on, returning them back here.
Want to understand all the mechanisms at play there? Want to understand how each piece of the rocket ship needs needs to be designed and put together, and how each person and piece of equipment here on Earth needs to function to help navigate this space ship?
I can’t explain these to you, but I can tell you that if you found the right people, they could. This is because we humans designed the rocket ships. We understand the mechanics of launching machines into space well enough that we’ve actually accomplished the task.
On the other hand, when it comes to the biology of the human body – sure, we know a lot. But could you go find enough people to explain to you all of the mechanisms of each function of the human body?
Nope. It can’t be done, because the human body is so complex that we simply cannot understand all of its mechanisms at this point in time.
We can give a solid effort, and in doing so, we are able to accomplish pretty incredible feats. We can open people up, take out their heart, fix a piece of that heart, put it back in the person, sew them back up, and put them through rehab that enables them to return to life (as just one remarkable feat of medicine).
But, if we take a step back and look at the overall state of things as it relates to the health of our population, we see a very clear picture that our approach to addressing health problems are failing us.
As I write this, it’s the end of 2020, a year characterized by pandemic.
Note this though – that pre-2020, we were already facing a healthcare crisis. Not that we liked to acknowledge it, but it existed:
- 1/3 of the population is obese
- An estimated half of the population is insulin resistant (diabetic or pre-diabetic)
- 3/5 of adults have a chronic disease (2/5 have 2+)
Now, this was pre-covid.
On top of this, this year we’ve now faced a viral infection that is deadly to those with underlying conditions (everyone in the groups I called out above).
Now, I know that reading these statistics aren’t going to do anything to create change. Our brains aren’t really designed to read numbers and register a need to take serious action.
But, if anything, I hope these numbers can do this: signify a need to change the way we approach poor health and disease. Our current methods are not working to effectively address the problems at play.
Fortunately, we have other methods that do work. We have the knowledge to avoid (or even reverse) most (no, not all) of chronic disease.
The challenge isn’t necessarily in taking on these other methods, but in shifting our perspective from the highly precise and reductionist science and medicine that we have been programmed to trust completely, and to open up to alternative solutions.
Alternative solutions – that sounds like a road to quackery.
Not this time. I’m coming to you as a biomedical engineer, with roots grounded in science and engineering. I’m coming to you as someone who has spent the last decade studying what it means to conduct valid science and to develop healthcare solutions based on engineering principles.
The short version: we have the data to support alternative solutions, and we have practices that many have put into place that create results that matter.
What we don’t have is systems in place that support these solutions at the level that is needed.
More importantly, what we don’t have is the mindset that these other solutions require.
What’s that mindset?
Ah, here we get back to the crux of the story. Shall we return to it?
The human body is a complex, biological system. When it comes to addressing problems with it, we simply do not have the knowledge nor ability to define the precise workings at play and take corrective action.
Each individual has their own health story. We all come into this world with a unique sequence of DNA, and on top of this, we come into this world with a unique expression of this DNA (epigenetics – how the code that is our DNA expresses as form and function that is the human body).
On top of this, we all have a unique history that has altered the expression of our genes throughout our lifetime. Our parents chose different diets and lifestyle patterns for us early on. Later in life, we moved into our own chosen diets and lifestyle patterns.
The integration of all of this creates our state of health, today. So, when you go to a doctor with your own story, how is that doctor supposed to create a precise solution for you in a 7-minute visit?
It simply can’t be done, not at the rate that is needed to address the problem in billions of individuals (yes, billions – remember, this poor health crisis is the norm in our world, impacting most individuals).
And to that, we added a viral pandemic.
It’s quite the mess.
So, about those other solutions? Maybe we’re ready to try some of them out?
No, I’m not talking about those far-fetched ideas that come with some promise that they will work to help you, while the data is meh.
I’m talking about the well-established solutions that have been scientifically validated to support the health of the human body: nourishing your body with real food, moving your body regularly, and practicing a balance of stress and rest.
Note that these are the things that most of us understand to be healthy. The work, thus, is not necessarily doing a bunch of research to understand what is healthy and what is not, but rather, how we actually get ourselves to take these actions (although, there might be a bit of straightening out to do when it comes to some of the not-so-valid ideas we’ve been sold on).
That’s what I’m going to help walk you through here on this platform – taking action aligned with the knowledge we have regarding making healthier decisions.
This is also what I do in much greater depth on my health coaching platform over at Your Health, Reprogrammed.
To wrap things up for today and before we jump into that world, let’s understand some fundamental ideas regarding the health of our bodies.
Step 1: Understand that your body is a complex, biological system. Each of us arises from our own unique DNA sequence, which expresses as the form and function which is each of us based on how the environment has interacted with our DNA.
Keep in mind, your DNA is just a string of code – it does not define who and what you are (including your state of health). What defines your state of health is this DNA sequence within each of your cells, combined with how each cell’s environment has signaled to this DNA to express as protein (to create form and function).
Finally, add to this your recent lifestyle choices: what nutrients have you been providing to your cells? What patterns of movement have been a part of your day to support the structural and functional integrity of your bodily systems? What load of stress (physical, cognitive, chemical, etc.) have you put on your body?
Now, with that we got a bit technical, so if that went over your head, just understand this: we each have our own story that defines the complex system that is our own body. Depending on our own genome and epigenome that we came into this world with, and depending on our own lifestyle history, our current state of health is going to exist as its own, unique patterns.
As for addressing any problems we may have…
Step 2: Understand that each of us requires our own health solutions based on our own genome, epigenome, lifestyle history, and current lifestyle.
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again, and I will keep saying it as often as it needs to be heard…
When it comes to health solutions (whether its exercise programs, diets, or medicine), we tend to live in a cookie cutter paradigm. But we don’t fit into any one specific shape.
When any particular symptom arises (whether it’s a pain, low energy, or other debilitating factor), the specific cause (and in turn, treatment) is going to be based on your own body and experiences.
Sometimes it’s simple: you may find that you have a headache because you drank too much last night or hit your head on an open cabinet. Or, maybe you’ve been stress eating for the last several months and now you’ve gained 10 pounds.
Simple: don’t drink alcohol, keep your cabinet doors closed, and stop buying bags of chips.
However, when it comes to addressing health problems that seemingly arise out of nowwhere, the challenge becomes much more difficult. If you are unable to identify a specific cause that created a specific symptom, then you are left at the beginning of a complex problem.
- Each day I’ve woken up this week I’ve had this extreme brain fog…
- There’s this pain in my stomach that won’t go away and I can’t figure it out…
- My doctor is telling me I’m at risk for cardiovascular disease because my LDL-C is high, but I thought I was eating healthy and exercising regularly…
- I don’t know how it happened, but I’ve been steadily gaining weight over the past 6 months and now I’m up 15 pounds…
Every single one of us is going to come across challenges such as these. And, when we do, the common action is to go to a friend or the internet (or directly to a health professional), find (or receive) a specific course of action:
- just go on this diet, it worked for this person
- just get a gym membership and go 3-4 times a week
- just take this pill
- just…
And, does it work?
Sometimes, yes, it does. Sometimes, we find the correct solution and our problem goes away. Hallelujah.
But, other times (most of the time) – it doesn’t work. Or, maybe we see a few results, but the entire problem isn’t solved, or maybe the results are just temporary.
When this is the case – as it so often is – what are we do do?
That is, given that we can expect to come across health challenges unique to our own bodies and own life experiences, how do we go about the process that is overcoming the problem?
Do we jump from one idea to the next until we find the one that works?
- I’ll try this diet my friend suggested because it worked for her
- I’ll buy this exercise equipment I saw on that commercial – that actor was jacked!
Nope, not anymore. It’s time we face our health challenges with a strategic approach. No more bouncing around with mixed results. This not only leaves us lacking the results we need, but also adds a load of stress to our lives that is going to further any underlying poor health.
Now that we’ve taken two steps towards understanding the situation, let’s get to work.
Step 3: Understand that as a species, we share much of what tends to make each of us healthy, which serves as a good starting place for healthy decisions
What is the unique combinations of choices you need to make to overcome your particular health challenge(s)?
I can’t tell you that, but what I can do is give you a good place to begin your journey to finding out.
I arrived at this starting place by going back to the basics: how is the human body designed to function based on:
- our evolutionary history and
- our current pool of valid scientific data
My process was not: How can I cherry pick data to fit current dogma that others have told me is a good idea.
Nope, I scrapped all my pre-conceived notions about what the healthiest diet or lifestyle patterns may be, and I looked at the clear story the data told.
And, what did I find?
You can continue reading on about it over here.
