PJ's Pointers for the Journey

       Degenerative diseases kill more people in the USA than all other causes combined.  Degenerative diseases are often called “chronic” diseases and are the “lifestyle” diseases that we choose by the way we live and eat.  These diseases are not caused by a germ such as a bacteria or virus.  They are diseases of bodily deterioration that, most of the time, we choose because of a long-term lack of maintenance of our bodies. 

          Most of us take better care of our cars than we do our own bodies.  When the “Check Engine Soon” light catches our eye, we don’t put a sticky note over it and ignore it until the engine decides to quit.  But that is exactly what most of us do to our bodies.  We ignore the warning lights—the symptoms—until we are faced with a “health crisis” and then it may be too late, if too much degeneration has taken place.  Our #1 enemy is not a germ, it is us.  Some people may say “Well, you only go around once in life, and you’re going to die anyway so why not live like you want?”  I don’t know about you, but I’m not as concerned about death as I am about living with a dreaded disease or disability added to another, and another, and another.  We can do a lot toward choosing our quality of life.  Whatever life I have left, I want it to be full of energy and health instead of pain, depression, disease, loss of ability to care for myself, and becoming a burden to my family and society.  How about you…isn’t that what you also want?

          Degenerative diseases include such conditions as cancer, heart disease and stroke, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, arthritis, autoimmune diseases, etc., etc.  The list goes on and on.  These conditions are, for the most part, preventable and even reversible.  Yet it takes a lot of self-education to know how to do this and self-discipline to actually do it.  According to the Center for Disease Control (CDC) “Chronic diseases are among the most prevalent, costly, and preventable of all health problems.”  Have you ever noticed that people degenerate much more severely as they reach “old age” than do the animals?  They are doing something right that we, who are supposed to be so much more intelligent, just don’t get.

          So, HOW do we keep our bodies from deteriorating into a diseased state?

The answer is simple.  All you have to understand is “There is only ONE disease and TWO causes”.  Look for answers in my next blog. 

Until our paths cross again,

PJ