Science “vs.” Spirituality

Usually starts with something that catches my eye— BC, it was in bookstores or suggested further reading on Amazon; the last few years, YT or websites already identified.

Right now. Dr. Eric Berg on thyroid, pre-diabetes, metabolic syndrome,and the many faces  of thiamine deficiency.

My explorations are more remedial than most. I was exempted from  the usual health classes in school because I was a Christian Scientist. This means that I have less UN-learning to do, as well as having catch up to do about terminology and the basics.

For instance I am just now learning that beriberi is not an obscure disease of poor white Southerners wiped out by more adequate diet in the early 20th century. I never knew what the symptoms were, but now discover that we now call them fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, neuropathy, diabetes, and more — because thiamine deficiency affects pretty much the entire body, so its signs show up variously.

Simultaneously, I have been reading a book called Super Gut by William Davis, MD.
I am not discriminating against “pop science”presentations in favor of more “objective,” statistical, chart and graph heavy papers by experts. Might not suit everyone, but I have experienced the callous bullying of experts enough to reflexively avoid it. And I don’t remember charts and graphs and expert jargon well enough for it to be useful to me.

I’m trying to cut on red wine as it causes heartburn for me. Now eating more organic sour cabbage (naturally fermented). Also drinking shots of ginger and turmeric with honey from our own hives. My partner made a nice batch of it. 

Im a hopeless meat eater and now my partner forces more fish my way. At least for lunch. 

But I do have issues with knees and shoulders. Also heartburn and maybe even irritable stomach. 
Recently had fungi in my throat. Not sure if they have disappeared. I did use medicine for a whole month, 4 times each day. Will need to check it again as I can still feel that “dry” spot on the right side of the throat. 

I take daily multi vitamins, D vitamin and Omega oil. 

When I suffered from PTSD not even once did doctors ask or suggest diet changes or vitamin supplements!

Only SSRI meds and talk therapy.
But mostly SSRI meds. 

This alone tells us about our medical system , doesn’t it  

Just for fun, here's my exploration of physical/metabolic therapies. 

Chronic Back Pain/Injury:
Foundation Training: focus on posterior chain, big world of training but it starts here:  Basic Foundation Training - YouTube
AthleneX and Squat Therapy, triage and physical therapy:  How to Fix a Bulging Disc (NO SURGERY!) - YouTube   Fixing Back Pain From Disc Bulge (Real Patient Story) - YouTube and   Rebuilding Milo Official Trailer - YouTube
Knees over Toes, full body integration focusing on weak links:  Knee Ability Zero: Patrick, Ben: 9798985135800: Amazon.com: Books   and 
ATG For Life: Patrick, Ben, Williams, Derek: 9798985135817: Amazon.com: Books
 

I have to do this in many separate posts because I'm getting a "too many links" error.

Very gentle yoga, self massage:
Uphill Athlete Recovery Yoga:  Uphill Athlete Yoga | Uphill Athlete
Roll Model:  Home - The Roll Model

Training all-day stamina instead of 1 hour high-intensity:
Theory: very eye opening when I discovered it...   Aerobic Deficiency | Uphill Athlete  and  Death by (Anaerobic) Threshold | Uphill Athlete  
Basics:  The MAF 180 Formula: Heart-rate monitoring for real aerobic training. - Dr. Phil Maffetone  

Gut/Metabolism:
Fixing sour stomach/acid reflux:  How to Cure GERD without Medication | Chris Kresser
Basic diet and sneaky gut diseases and supplements:  Perfect Health Diet - A diet for healing chronic disease, restoring youthful vitality, and achieving long life | Perfect Health Diet
Carbohydrate Intolerance:  Carbohydrate Intolerance and the Two-Week Test - Dr. Phil Maffetone  and  Carbohydrate Intolerance: How I Developed the Two-Week Test - Dr. Phil Maffetone
Fat adaption:  Nutrition and Fat Adaptation | Uphill Athlete

I've been really focused on basic basic basic ideas about health and nutrition these days, my goal is now "no weak links" instead of "max performance"... and this means recovery and diet/metabolism is very important.

Hope this is interesting to somebody.

Oooh, one more:  9 Exercises to Make Your Big Toe Work Better - Outside Online

I suppose if I had to prioritize, I would say metabolism is more important than anything. Sleep, diet, digestion, (and detox). Movement comes next (walking, bending at waist and picking things up). POSTURE comes next --- and this is a very deep subject that balances strength and mobility. For most people it means "strengthen muscles on the backside, stretch muscles on the front side, and build whole body strength within perfect form". Lastly comes endurance/stamina -- which requires all the previous and more time spent in training.

It really boils down to "if you could change one thing right now, what would it be?" and following that where it leads. Be observant and obsessive about determining what the weak link for one's quality of life is. And be wary of the instinct to be lazy and mask symptoms instead of address root causes.

Over time, it's possible to work on maintaining several trainings at the same time, but it's nearly impossible to LEARN several trainings at the same time. Learn one thing at a time.

(That list has been 10 years in the making for me. Definitely not something I discovered/learned/put into practice all at once.)

I would be very very very very very very very very wary of calling anything genetic. So much of the time, families have their own diet, exercise, and psychological habits that almost force a given biological outcome. Is diabetes really genetic or do some families eat crap for food? Is depression really genetic or does a family have historical trauma and poor coping skills, etc etc

We're all doing to die of something and some level of fatalism is actually psychologically healthy. But it is very curious to focus on one family member and think "that's probably going to happen to me"... but is it? Do I say my dad had heart disease and I will, or do I say my uncle was an alcoholic and I will be, or do I say my uncle lost his hair so I will ---- how do I choose? does it make sense to choose?

I know I had some strong beliefs about genetics for a while and then said -- wait, there are plenty of counter examples here, too. How can I really know what will kill me? all I can do is fix whatever weak links I have and let destiny decide.

p.s. for people who are basically healthy, I would say the postural work is the biggest yield from a cost-benefit analysis. Something like this would greatly improve general wellbeing but not require too much time:  ATG For Life: Patrick, Ben, Williams, Derek: 9798985135817: Amazon.com: Books