Addition by Subtraction

There seems to be a constant buzz in diet and nutrition circles as health-conscious individuals are always seeking ways to add some superfood into their diets. Kale, flax seeds, chia seeds, coconut oil, omega 3 fatty acids, and many others would all be on that list of having their heyday at some point. In addition to actual foods, many people are looking for the “magic pill” to add to their toolbox; something that will make exercising easier and speed up weight loss or advance them towards some other health goal. While many are looking for that “next thing” to add, sometimes the biggest step someone can take is cutting out a harmful item rather than adding a healthy one.

The human body has amazing systems in place to repair, recover and revitalize, but we often thwart those natural process by ingesting foods or engaging in otherwise unhealthy behaviors that create a great deal more work for our body and reduce the impact of those inherent processes. For example, poor diets and overuse of antibiotics leave the gut devoid of healthy bacteria, allowing the intestinal tract to be left wide open for harmful bacteria, fungi and other intruders to move in and flourish. This also leads to damage within the intestinal wall, permitting proteins and other compounds that need to remain in the intestines to be absorbed directly into the bloodstream and wreak havoc on the immune system. You can take all the vitamin C, echinacea, green tea and other “immune boosters” you’d like, but your immune system will still be greatly compromised until your gut is healthy, as your digestive tract is the gatekeeper to your bloodstream. Ignoring gut health while trying to improve your immune system would be akin to putting bars on all your windows, reinforcing your front door with kick plates, adding extra deadbolts to your locks and buying a state of the art alarm system, but then leaving your garage door open with the alarm code written on the wall. Intruders will find your place a welcoming environment despite the “protective” measures you’ve taken.

Okay, so what does this all have to do with anything? Is this a health blog? The point is this: sometimes we need to cut things out of our lives first before making other changes. Sometimes the addition of “healthy” activities, habits and choices can make an only minimal impact unless the harmful and disruptive areas of our lives are eliminated. The greatest golfers don’t necessarily make the greatest shots, they just have eliminated almost all the bad ones. In the same way, what you remove may be more important than what you add and oftentimes the greatest addition you can make to your quality of life is the elimination of the disruptions.

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