Warning lights

My friend, let's call her Anne, had a new teenage driver in the house. This teenage driver took out the family van to cruise the town. This teenage driver didn't really know all that much about vehicles being that he was new to the situation. He didn't know that when a warning light came on in the vehicle, it should be paid attention to. This teenage driver came home, and drove it again later. Same light on. When the light was finally paid attention to, it was too late. The engine was unrepairable. The damage was done. A simple repair was now a very costly replacement. Teenager learned a lesson. (perhaps).

What is our lesson here? We all have our warning lights. I can think of very few diseases in life that do not come with some precursory warning lights. The problem is, most of us don't pay attention until we are totally broken down. Until it requires an urgent trip to the Dr. or until medication is almost necessary. The teenager in each of us would rather just cruise the town in a borrowed car without looking at the warning lights. Unfortunately, by not paying attention to the little warnings, we may end up broken and diseased.

Our bodies have an amazing way of letting us know what is working for it and what is not. Too bad most of us don't listen. Usually it begins as a whisper.

"Hey, I don't really feel good when you eat ice cream, can we stop with the dairy...please?"

or, "Those headaches you have regularly are not normal, a Tylenol is not the solution."

Those are the whispers. They become shouts like:

"Hey, I think you have Colitis from a continuous intake of that dairy you were warned about! Keep it up and we are going to loose an intestine!"

or, "That over consumption of Tylenol has now destroyed your liver! And...you still have headaches, thanks for listening."

If we all just stop and listen to our bodies, we can prevent so much disease, so much heartache for our families. Think about how you feel when you eat something. Maybe even something that is even relatively on the healthy side. Different things trigger responses in different people. Disease begins after repetitive infractions. If it is stopped, chances are, the disease can be stopped.

What things should we be listening for?

Stomach upset. What foods make you react?

Stool. Are you regularly constipated? Have diarrhea?

Headaches. Do you suffer from regular headaches or only occasional?

Skin. Do you have eczema, acne, dermatitis?

Immune system. Do you easily catch a cold, flu, sinusitis?

Allergies. Do you have multiple allergies? Reactions?

Fingernails. Do they look smooth and of normal color or discolored and malformed?

Weight. Do you have too much weight around the middle?

Fatigue. Are you general out of energy? Crash at midday?

If we were cars, we would get regular maintenance check ups. We don't want our cars to break down leading us to costly repairs so we go in for preventative maintenance. We all need to go through the checklist. Ask yourself the questions above. See how you really feel instead of just covering them up. Start to journal your responses to try to figure out triggers. If you have regular headaches, write it down. Try to figure out why. Did you eat something that triggered it? Did you chew gum before getting a headache? Go without water for too long of a period? If you have skin problems like eczema, chart down when you get a flare up and what may have contributed. Listen to your stomach. By repeatedly offending your stomach, you will pay. Guaranteed. An offense now and then will not really cause a long term effect. The day to day will.

It is not normal to have a continual runny nose. That is a warning sign. It is not normal to have headaches. It is not normal to get a stomach ache. It is not normal to have eczema. All things that people just live with or just medicate for.

LISTEN. PAY ATTENTION. FIGURE OUT A SOLUTION. PREVENT DISEASE.

IF NOT, THE DAMAGE MAY BE IRREPARABLE. YOU DON'T GET A NEW ENGINE. ONE PER CUSTOMER. TAKE CARE. HEED THE WARNINGS.