Disease - It is not what you think it is. Or - I shoulda listened to my Gramma

My name is Dean Sandoval and I am a Wellness Warrior. My stated objective is to help people in some way live a healthier life. I want to be clear on something. I am not a doctor nor have I ever studied medicine. I am a lay person on a mission. I am not a health nut either. I am a pragmatist. I believe in a practical approach to health and wellness. If I can help one person make positive changes in their life, I have made a difference.


A few weeks ago, a Chiroprator talked about Good Health. He defined it as operating at 100% in body and mind. I would like to add that it is optimal operation in mind, body and spirit. It is a sense of balance in our physical, chemical and emotional selves.

We all know we should exercise – that is the physical. We all know that we should eat healthy foods – That is the chemical. We all know that stress in our lives can lead to illness – that is the emotional. Ironically we all know these things but it is pretty safe to say that almost no one reading this is at 100% in all these areas.

Too often in our culture we go along happily, not thinking about the long term effects of our bad habits. We don’t exercise enough, we eat some pretty awful foods and we stress out on a daily basis.

I want to talk about disease. I would like to call it dis-ease (or lack of ease)



Our health is viewed from the Physical – Chemical – Emotional

Dis-Ease

 Asymptomatic Pathology (deviation from our normal condition)

 Pathology (stress in our system)

 Sickness (some sort of inflamation)   Rx (See the doctor, get a pill, repeat)

All diseases start with an asymptomatic pathology. This, left unchecked will lead to a pathology which will lead to a sickness. In lay terms, all deisease is caused by inflamation.  All inflamation is caused by stress. All stress comes from either the chemical, physical or emotional state of our bodies.

I want ask a question. When do we first see signs of an ulcer? When we have an ulcer. When do we see the symptoms of cancer? When we have cancer. Diabetes? High Blood Pressure? Same thing. Do you see a trend?

What happens is we don’t notice anything until we are at the sickness stage. Then we run to the doctor and demand him or her to fix us. Too often the doctor is more concerned with the symptoms, not the causes, and tries to heal us with drugs (Rx). What do drugs do? They go after the symptoms and most times get good results. But what do all drugs have in common? Side effects.

Joe Public has a very stressful life. He is behind on his bills, he works way too many hours and is having family troubles. But he keeps chugging on and tries to get through life pounding Rolaids for the heartburn until one day he gets an ulcer. The pain is intense so he goes to a doctor. The doctor wants to try out the latest new drug that the pharmaceutical salesman gave him and tells Joe to take them for a couple of weeks. No talk of what led to the ulcer in the first place. But what do all the drug commercials say? “ Side effects may include nausea, diarrhea or chest pain. Do not take this medicine if you have high blood pressure, liver disease or are diabetic.”

The process repeats. Before you know it Joe is on 4 medications and feels like crap most of the time.

I am here to help SHATTER this cycle. If we can get to the step before Asymptomatic, maybe we can start on a path toward optimal health.

My focus today will be on the chemical. The foods we eat. The adage is we are what we eat. But I want to modify the adage we are what we digest or don’t digest. I have two sworn enemies that I am fighting and I need your help. They are high fructose corn syrup and processed white foods, flour and sugar. These are known as dead foods. They are dominant in our culture and we don’t think anything about them. But obesity has reached 30% in this country and diabetes is hitting more people than ever. McDonalds started the use of these foods and it has mushroomed to a state of being ubiquitous in our society. These two foods are processed to a point where their basic chemistry is changed. Our digestive systems cannot process them properly. So the liver is given the task to metabolize them making the liver work overtime. Another side effect of eating over processed foods is the storage of fat in our bodies. But this is not good fat. It cannot simply provide energy when we cut down on calories. So when we go on a diet, we struggle to lose weight. There are two other bad guys in this fight. Artificial sweeteners and vegetable oils. They add to the problem in many of the same ways.

This is a lot of information thrown at you all at once. I created this blog called Wellness Warrior Dean to help people take this information in at a pace where you can absorb it and ponder on it. But here is how you can help. Make a commitment to make one small change in your lives. If you don’t exercise go on long walks. If you are stressed out in your lives, take time to smell the roses and reflect on why you are here. If you are eating too much processed foods, make a promise to yourself to cut way back. It is easy. A chiropractor friend of mine once told me that she suggests her patients shop the perimeter of the store. You miss all those processed foods and you get fresh meats and vegetables. Read labels, educate yourselves. You can start today to living an abundant life free of poisons and chemicals and insure that good ol’ Rx stays out of your life. CLICK HERE for a website that has lots of chemical free and organic products.

Please keep reading my blog and the archives. I touch on quite a few subjects – Like stress, foods, exercise and more. I have had fun writing this and I hope you enjoy reading it.