When we speak about creating good health, we understand there are four important pillars that one should focus on – nutrition, physically being active, good sleep and emotional health. When all these four pillars are taken good care of and well aligned, we see patients capable of creating good health and reverse their illness. Over the last five years, I have spoken and had a detailed conversation with thousands of patients. During this journey, I have learned important lessons on what drives long term change and success for our patients and individuals in general.
Today, on the occasion of World Health Day, I wish to share 5 key lessons that stand out in those who have created good health in the face of adversity.
1. Mindset matters: We have been extensively working with patients who were diagnosed or suffering from lifestyle diseases like diabetes, high BP, fatty liver, elevated cholesterol, thyroid and many more. And those who were able to reverse these issues completely were the ones who had realised that all such diseases were not lifelong but lifestyle diseases. Such a mindset helped their focus shift from management of the disease to reversal.
Today unfortunately, we all have been told that once we start medications for all such illnesses, we will have to continue for lifelong which is absolutely not true. And the ones who understand this are the ones who change their mindset and eventually their state of health.
2. Habits rather than diets: Although right food and nutrition was central to the reversal stories of our patients, none of them who have reversed their lifestyle diseases thought they were following any diets. Rather they perceived their food plan as a change in habits; choosing healthier options over unhealthy ones. They did eat out and enjoyed once in a while but they always focused on building good habits every single day. Eventually, it was their habits of eating right, getting proper sleep and having a healthy lifestyle that helped them achieve and sustain good health over a longer period of time.
3. Living in gratitude: As human beings we only have two options – firstly, to live in hormones of stress, fear and anxiety while second is to live in the hormones of love, happiness, and gratitude. One significant shift that we see in people who have reversed their disease and created good health is that they started by being conscious about their emotional health. And once they became conscious about their thoughts and feelings, they started becoming more thankful and happy rather than being stressful and dissatisfied in life.
They started focusing on things on what they have rather than what they lack. Improving their state of emotional health helped them in healing faster and recover from the lifestyle diseases they were suffering from.
4. Being physically active: Majority of the patients were leading a sedentary lifestyle before they took charge of their health. And probably all of them in their journey towards getting healthier realised that ‘’being active’’ was a very important habit to be inculcated in their day-to-day life. Be it thyroid, weight loss, diabetes or high BP, regularly walking or being active has greatly contributed to the reversal of these diseases. Important was not their number of steps but their consistency of doing that every single day.
5. Giving up addictions: From diabetes, fatty liver to kidney issues and cancers, many patients of such diseases were addicted to bad habits like tobacco or smoking. And none of them who did reverse their disease or created good health gave an excuse of being addicted to their addictions. They chose to be greater than their addictions. It might have taken them some time but they all eventually did give up and sacrificed for something better and meaningful.
It has always been inspiring to learn from real transformations because if someone could do it, we all can. We have seen these 5 common things over and over again in all those patients who indeed reversed their diseases and created good health.
(Karan Kakkad is a Disease Reversal expert based in India. He is the Founder & CEO of Reverse Factor. To know more call: 8100550660, or visit www.reversefactor.in)
