So why is there disease? The very word means that the body is in a state of Diss-Ease. It is certainly not being provided with the optimal conditions that it requires to maintain itself healthily. Unless you provide it with the right conditions, mentally, physically and spiritually, it will not function at its optimum level.

The triangle of MIND, BODY and SPIRIT represents the three inseparable components of our being and wellness. None of these factors can be affected without there being an effect on the others. Similarly, you cannot treat one without considering the others.

It is however fair to say that at a given time it may be appropriate to devote more attention to one area, rather than another. Good health is about good balance, just as homeostasis within the organism is about good balance.

Major Factors Affecting Health:

Stress

Digestion

Absorption

Circulation

Elimination

These processes play a major role in determining the wellness of an individual. They are all intimately related ... an imbalance in one will have an effect on all of the others. These are always the first things to consider when looking at a your own or another person's health.

Five Basic Considerations For Health

Good nutrition is fundamental to good physical health. You cannot expect to have a healthy body if you choose to run it on junk.

Much of the energy that we draw from our food is actually channelled back to service for digestion, absorption, circulation and elimination. The rest of our body energy is used in the processes of thinking, working and playing,

Unfortunately, in modern society, there is another factor which is a crippling drain on bodily resources - this is STRESS. Our cells are the smallest living units of our bodies, and each cell is like a tiny factory. Each cell must be nourished completely and constantly, and the waste efficiently eliminated. If this is not done, the cell will either function inefficiently or it will die.

Health begins and ends at the cellular level and it is here where we must focus our attention. Stress is crippling at all levels.

Let's look at the other four components of our model. Our cells must be fed and cleansed if they are to function efficiently. The first stage in meeting the nutritional requirements of each cell is digestion. Inefficient digestion, which is the breaking down of food into its tiniest components, spells immediate problems.

Similarly, if the absorption of these digested foods is not occurring, then nutrients cannot get to the cells. We rely on our blood to carry absorbed nutrients from the digestive system to each cell. If circulation is impaired this will not happen. Finally, elimination.

If the cells are bathed in their own wastes, they cannot function therefore the elimination via the kidneys, skin and bowel is of paramount importance.

The Cost of Processed Foods

When we eat processed, low quality foods, we not only do not provide our body with sufficient nutrients, but we also burden it further with the more difficult task of ELIMINATING them. From this very simple example, you can see how poor quality foods sap our vital energy.

There is only so much to go around. Vital energy used in the process of digesting and detoxifying valueless food, and then eliminating in heavy, fibreless waste leaves much less energy available for the good things in life. There is also much less energy available for our IMMUNE SYSTEM and other vital functions. This all contributes to a corresponding reduction in health.

An Ongoing Commitment To Wellness

Another important concept to consider is that we all should be actively involved in maintaining our health. It is an ongoing process and we must always be increasing our commitment to it. Most people take good health for granted - something we are given and don't have to take care of. This is a ridiculous notion, but it is convenient. By turning a blind eye to our health we have more time for the supposedly important things like making lots of money.

That money of course is worthless if we don't have the good health to enjoy it. It is very convenient to hand our wealth over to somebody else with the demand "you fix me". This is further acknowledgement that we don't want to be responsible about our own health and this further perpetuates the fantasy of "mystery illness" - germs that strike you down at random.

The Bible has an interesting comment on this. It states that "the curse causeless, shall not come". Simply put, this means that no disease happens by accident. So, the sooner we accept responsibility for our health and get on with "healing ourselves", the sooner we will be able to help others with their own healing process.

At present orthodox medicine is based on an entirely incorrect premise - that illness and disease are separate from you, and that you have no control over these misfortunes. This does not recognise the role of the body's immune system and the powerful self-regenerating capacity of the body. Fortunately, this incorrect thinking is changing. Similarly the popular view of health and illness is that you are either one or the other. That is you are either sick or you are well.

The fact is that we are all in varying stages of wellness or unwellness, depending on which way you look at it. Illness is the last stage of the problem. You have already ignored the early warning signals of tiredness, falling energy, mental confusion, irritability, indigestion ... whatever.

You haven't been looking after yourself and your body was unable to defend itself against an invader. Or your body has been allowed to slip into a chronic degenerative state. At this point, there is little use in trying to attack the invader. Your state of illness is a sign that your body is run down and not coping. It is virtually waving a red flag and saying "Please look at me, I'm not coping".

The run down state is the CAUSE of the problem, and the disease is the EFFECT.

If you only treat the effect, the problem will occur again either in this form or another. You have to identify the problem and provide the body with the right conditions for it to get on with its own defence and healing.

Consider what takes place if you break your leg. A doctor sets it and it heals. But who does the healing? Not the doctor. But he did provide the body with the right conditions for it to heal itself. If you were also provided with good food and the appropriate additional nutrients, the task of healing would have been completed even more quickly and efficiently.

You would have provided the optimal conditions to rebuild the break. These points are fundamental to natural healing philosophy. Indeed, this is the only true healing.

Wholeness

Health can be defined as "wholeness". This means living fully and rhythmically with every part of our being. In ancient times this concept of wholeness was called "holiness", and it is the real root meaning of the word.

Anyone who lives in only part of his or her being becomes unwhole or unholy : in short unhealthy. The more we are out of resonance with nature, the more we suffer disease and pain.

Dee is a Doctor of Reflexology, Homeopathic Practitioner, Certified Aromatherapist, and Reiki Master. Her site is AkobiAromas.com - a source of quality aromatherapy, herbal and reflexology information and products.