Healing from Within

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Engaging Your Inner Self for Healthy Living

• September 27, 2021
• Dr. Dayna Lee Baggley
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Thank you for joining us on “Healing From Within” with your host Sheryl Glick author of The Living Spirit and her newly released book A New Life Awaits Spirit Guided Insights to Support Global Awakening which share stories of an intuitive spiritual path to know life in its soul and physical potential so we may evolve and in so doing create our best lives and improve the planet. Today I welcome Dr. Dayna Lee Bagley author of Healthy Habits Suck who will offer a plan to regenerate your energy and health.

As listeners of “Healing From Within” are well aware Sheryl and her guests seek ways to know our dual nature as spiritual beings having a physical life who can discover new ways to appreciate life, perceive things in a clearer more purposeful way, while conquering fear and creating health and prosperity as well as happiness.

In today’s episode of “Healing From Within” Dr. Dayna Lee Bagley will show us ways to be healthy and to overcome our instincts which encourage us to take the easy way to pleasure. We will learn some good reasons for wanting to be healthy eating better and get an overview of Global Health.

When we ask the question “How healthy are North Americans in your view?” we learn

• Despite spending twice the amount per capita on health care, the United States ranks last in health and mortality analysis of 17 developed nations
• Americans are near the bottom in nine key areas of health, including low birth weight; injuries and homicides; teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections; HIV and AIDS; drug-related deaths; obesity and diabetes; heart disease; chronic lung disease; and general disability
• At 75.6 years, American men have the lowest life expectancy among the countries reviewed, and American women ranked second-to-last at 80.7 years. The infant mortality rate in the US is equally abysmal, with 32.7 deaths per 100,000, while most others range between 15 and 25 deaths per 100,000
• The authors of the report "GMO Myths and Truths" took a science-based approach to evaluating the available research, arriving at the conclusion that most of the scientific evidence regarding safety and increased yield potential do not at all support the claims. The evidence demonstrates the claims for genetically engineered foods are not just wildly overblown – they simply aren't true. GE foods have been shown to be less nutritious than non-GE foods, and pose distinct health risks and are inadequately regulated
• While failing to pin-point the source(s) of Americans’ failure to thrive, the answers are not hard to deduce: adhering to government-sponsored health and dietary guidance has led Americans astray

Dr. Bagley tells us why she wrote this book and selected the title she did. A staggering two-thirds of American adults are overweight, and more than one-quarter of adults fall into the obese category. One in four Americans is pre-diabetic or diabetic. It should be obvious that diet and exercise are critical factors here. The National Institutes of Health even states that four of the six leading causes of death in the United States are linked to unhealthy diets.

The question is why are so many people unable to regulate their weight and insulin sensitivity? The following points are well worthy of careful consideration when pondering this issue:

• The top two crops grown in the U.S. are corn and soy. High fructose corn syrup and hydrogenated soybean oil are two of the most popular ingredients made from these crops.2 High fructose corn syrup (HFCS) has repeatedly been shown to be a driving factor behind being overweight and having poor health outcomes. HFCS is pervasive and in many processed food items some individuals would never expect, including so called diet foods and 'enhanced' water products. Even most infant formulas contain the sugar equivalent of one can of Coca-Cola.
  
  Furthermore, soybean oil is another common unhealthy ingredient in many processed foods and soybeans can be severely and systemically contaminated with high amounts of the potent herbicide
  
  Additionally, over 85 percent of all corn grown in the US is genetically engineered (GE)3, which further increases the risk of high glyphosate contamination. The safety of either of these items has never been proven. According to a recent report by the Environmental Working Group (EWG)4, Americans are eating their weight and more in GE foods each and every year.
• Thirty-three percent of American adults are also completely sedentary, and more than half of adults over the age of 18 never engage in any vigorous leisure-time physical activity lasting 10 minutes or more per week.
• According to a study by the EWG5, blood samples from newborns contained an average of 287 toxins, including mercury, fire retardants, pesticides, and chemicals from non stick products. Of the 287 chemicals EWG detected in umbilical cord blood, it's known that 180 cause cancer in humans or animals; 217 are toxic to your brain and nervous system; and 208 cause birth defects or abnormal development in animal tests. Clearly, when babies are born loaded with toxic chemicals, it's a sign that toxic exposure is too high.
• While there are many types and routes of toxic exposure, one would be remiss to overlook Americans use of pharmaceutical drugs, as drugs have, on average, 70 different potential side effects, and are responsible for the premature death of at least 106,000 Americans per year, when taken as prescribed. Americans pop the most pills of any other nation, and that includes children. Americans also receive the most amount of vaccinations.

So.... let's think... What could possibly be the root of Americans' failure to thrive? The Atlantic6, reporting on the findings writes:

"In presenting their findings... the authors seemed to be urging the U.S. to do some soul searching. Our culture 'cherishes independence' and 'wants to limit the intrusion of government in our personal lives,' said Steven Woolf, director of the Center for Human Needs at Virginia Commonwealth University, the panel chairman.

While those values serve us in some ways, he said, our resistance to regulation 'may work against our ability to achieve optimal health outcomes.'"

Aha! So it's Americans' striving for independence and freedom of choice that is to blame for such poor dietary choices and health outcomes?! They mean to tell us that we're all so inept at making healthy choices, we need to abandon our independent spirits and embrace more nanny state regulations that might finally whip us into shape. Honestly, I feel like I'm reading something out of The Onion... It's all so backwards.

We do need to rethink some good reasons and bad reasons for wanting to be healthy,

Top 10: Reasons to Want to be Healthy

Everyone has spurts of wanting to be healthy. But often, our reasons for it can be focused on the short-term and centered around looking good. The truth is there are a lot of great long-term reasons to want to be healthy…all of which have nothing to do with how we look. Here are some of my personal favorite reasons for being healthy and why I believe staying that way will pay off:

1. To Feel Young and Energetic. When we are young, it is easier to ‘get over’ little sleep, too much bad food and a few skipped days of exercise. As we get older, it gets harder for our bodies to bounce back. Having a lifestyle that is full of activity and a healthy diet keeps you moving, feeling energetic and feeling young, at every age.
2. To Ward Off Disease and Health Problems. When we abuse or don’t take care of our bodies, it can manifest in disease and health problems as we get older. Taking good care of yourself can help you to ward off diseases such as diabetes and heart problems, giving you an overall better quality of life.
3. To Be Pain and Injury Free. Being active and maintaining an exercise regimen keeps your body strong, lowering your risk of injuries to your joints and chronic pain as you age. Further, incorporating strength training keeps our bones strong, warding off osteoporosis and arthritis, while stretching keeps your body flexible and limber, preventing sprains and muscle damage.
4. To Travel and See the World. Personally, I love to travel and hope to continue seeing the world, even when I’m 80! Being mobile and healthy makes it a lot easier to fly, walk, get on and off trains and deal with some of the small inconveniences that go along with travel. That said, the rewards of seeing the world make it all worth it!
5. To Have Low Medical Bills. Chances are, the healthier you are the less likely you will have to go to the Doctor’s office, even for the minor things. This tends to be exponentially true as we get older. Our habits today truly impact how we will feel and look 20 years from now.
6. To Dance the Night Away. I love to dance and the idea of dancing the night away when I’m 75 or 80 makes me smile.
7. To Feel Good about Yourself. Taking care of ourselves allows us to have a healthy mental state just as much as a healthy physical state. Being healthy often means feeling good, both inside and out, which helps our self-confidence and self-esteem.
8. To Do Things You Love. Age should never be an excuse or stop us from doing the things we love. Taking care of ourselves allows us to continue the activities that we enjoy and that keep us young!
9. To Play with Children and Grandchildren. At almost 35, I still have yet to have children. But, when I do I want to be able to play with them just as if I was 25. Further, if and when grandchildren come into the picture, I’d like to enjoy playing with them as well.
10. It is Natural Prevention. If we take care of our bodies, we’ll never need to resort to quick fixes that are unhealthy, costly or dangerous, to make us better. Staying healthy is the best form of prevention in the process of aging.

If you are overweight, losing just 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can positively affect your health, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. However, you need to do so in a healthy way, since starvation diets and diet pills can have unwanted side effects and even damage your health. Aim to lose 1 to 2 pounds per week through a combination of diet and exercise for the most health benefits.

If we goggled how to be healthy what would it say? It might give us 15 Ways to be Healthier

1. Think positive focus on gratitude as research shows a healthy positive attitude builds a healthier immune system and boosts overall health
2. Eat your vegetables
3. Set a five meal idea
4. Exercise daily
5. Get a good night’s sleep
6. Check your food “tude”
7. Eat like a kid
8. Be a picky eater and so on.

The US government subsidizes the very crops identified as being the most harmful to human health and the environment; the top three being corn, wheat, and soybeans. And nearly all of the corn and soybeans grown are genetically engineered varieties.

By subsidizing these, the US government is actively supporting a diet that consists of these grains in their processed form, namely high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), hydrogenated soybean oil, and meats loaded with antibiotics – all of which are now well-known contributors to obesity and chronic disease. These junk-food subsidies make it much cheaper to buy a burger, fries and soda from a fast-food restaurant than it is to buy grass-fed beef and veggies. It's not that these foods necessarily cost more to grow or produce; rather the prices for the junk foods are being artificially reduced by the government.

The US further promotes use of HFCS in food manufacturing by imposing import tariffs on foreign sugar, raising the price of sucrose above those in other countries.

In general based on science why are long term healthy habits hard to maintain? Why are resolutions so easy to create, but difficult to even start, much less maintain?

Especially when it comes to eating well and taking care of yourself, change can feel hard in the beginning. Yet you know that investing in your wellness and well-being repays dividends down the road.

Sometimes you get a little push to make that change. Maybe your blood work came back and your doctor gave you a stern warning to clean-up your diet and lifestyle. Perhaps you got on the bathroom scale and winced as the number went up.

You might be tempted to make drastic changes when you learn such things. You resolve to only eat salads for the next three weeks or go to the gym for one hour every day, five days a week. Stay on the Health Track with Concrete Goals

While lofty ambitions are applaudable, they oftentimes collapse because they lack the small, steady, sustainable goals that help you stay on the course towards better health.

Instead of making herculean changes that crash and burn over time, researchers find goal setting helps initiate and maintain health behavior over time. Small, cumulative lifestyle changes — including weight loss and exercise — could be easier to achieve and sustain than larger changes.

Studies show goal setting helps specific behaviors including significantly increasing fiber intake, being more consistent with exercise, and keeping on track rather than dropping out.

Committing to healthy behaviors is one of the most meaningful gifts you can give to yourself, as well as to those around you. By taking care of your health, you are able to serve as a role model to your family, friends and co-workers. Following is a handy list of 10 habits that will help you maintain your health and wellness:

Build your plate around healthy choices. Start by filling half your plate with fruits and vegetables. Fill in the rest of your meal with a selection of proteins, whole grains and dairy. ChooseMyPlate.gov makes it simple by offering suggestions of food serving sizes, health benefits, and tips for each food group.

Stay Hydrated. Water, clear non-caffeinated beverages, and food all count toward your daily fluid intake. Avoid sports drinks or sodas with high sugar content and select water-rich fruits and vegetables for snacks. Begin each morning by drinking a full glass of water and continue the trend throughout the day, including at mealtimes. Men should aim to drink at least twelve, 8-ounce glasses of water per day; women should aim to drink at least nine, 8-ounce glasses of water per day. Drinking fluids throughout the day versus all at once will help your body cells absorb the water gradually without adding stress to your kidneys.

Limit alcohol intake. If you drink alcoholic beverages, the Dietary Guidelines for Americans suggest you do so in moderation―no more than one drink per day for women and no more than two drinks per day for men. That equates to 12-ounces of beer; 8-ounces of malt liquor; 5-ounces of wine; or 1.5-ounces of a shot of 80-proof distilled spirits or liquor (e.g., gin, rum, vodka or whiskey). Excessive or binge drinking leads to numerous immediate and long-term health risks.

Avoid/quit tobacco usage. No list would be complete without acknowledging the innumerable reasons why the use of tobacco is unhealthy. If you are a smoker, it’s likely you will find this habit one of the hardest to change. Talk with your company about tobacco cessation programs. Additionally, seek out resources and support from the American Lung Association. Learn about our BeneQUIT Tobacco Cessation Program. Walk more. Opportunities to walk are everywhere we turn―whether that means taking a 10-minute walking break at the office or choosing stairs over elevators. These short increments of activity can increase blood flow; releasing hormones that help us manage stress, increase alertness and burn calories.

Choose physical activities you enjoy. Experts suggest adults should set a goal of at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity activity each day of the week—whether that means 30 minutes at a time or broken into 10-minute intervals three times per day. Find an activity that you enjoy doing, and you will look forward to exercising.

Wash your hands. The number one way to minimize the spread of germs is by thoroughly washing your hands. It’s the simplest step toward limiting infection to you and to others. Using soap and water remains the most effective method of hand washing. When soap and water aren’t readily available, an alcohol-based hand sanitizer (with at least 60% alcohol) is the recommended back-up plan.

Develop healthy sleep habits. Adhering to a sleep schedule or bedtime rituals can reinforce your body’s “sleep-wake” cycle, such as consistently going to bed and getting up at the same time every day. The addition of relaxing rituals, such as reading a book or listening to music, also allow your body to wind down at the end of the day.

See your primary care physician regularly. A primary care physician will help you stay healthy, manage illness and prevent disease. Ask your doctor for a list of general health screening recommendations to prioritize the need for scheduling an appointment. Set goals and work toward achieving them. Use S.M.A.R.T. criteria when setting your goals in order to provide specific direction and achieve measurable results. These are the kind of goals that you are more likely to adopt as part of a long-term commitment to better health and wellness.

An overview of Global health by the numbers is below. You say in a broad scale humans are not living a healthy lifestyle.

• Despite spending twice the amount per capita on health care, the United States ranks last in health and mortality analysis of 17 developed nations
• Americans are near the bottom in nine key areas of health, including low birth weight; injuries and homicides; teen pregnancy and sexually transmitted infections; HIV and AIDS; drug-related deaths; obesity and diabetes; heart disease; chronic lung disease; and general disability
• At 75.6 years, American men have the lowest life expectancy among the countries reviewed, and American women ranked second-to-last at 80.7 years. The infant mortality rate in the US is equally abysmal, with 32.7 deaths per 100,000, while most others range between 15 and 25 deaths per 100,000
• The authors of the report "GMO Myths and Truths" took a science-based approach to evaluating the available research, arriving at the conclusion that most of the scientific evidence regarding safety and increased yield potential do not at all support the claims. The evidence demonstrates the claims for genetically engineered foods are not just wildly overblown – they simply aren't true. GE foods have been shown to be less nutritious than non-GE foods, and pose distinct health risks and are inadequately regulated
• While failing to pin-point the source(s) of Americans’ failure to thrive, the answers are not hard to deduce: adhering to government-sponsored health and dietary guidance has led Americans astray

We discuss how our brain reacts to fatty, sugary, salty foods and other stimulants.Almost everything you choose to consume will directly or indirectly affect your brain. Obviously, some things we consume affect us more than others. I'm going to assume that spices, plants, animal parts, drugs of any kind, coffee, tea, nicotine and chocolate are all just food and define food as anything we take into our bodies whether it's nutritious or not. In order to better understand how foods affect the brain it will be helpful to divide them into three categories.

First, those foods we consume in high doses with acute dosing: for example, coffee, sugar, heroin, alcohol, nicotine, marijuana, some spices and a few psychoactive plants and mushrooms. Their effects are almost immediate and depend upon how much reaches the brain. In this class, the most important consideration is getting enough of the chemical from within the food to its site of action in our brain to actually produce some kind of effect that we can notice and associate with consuming that particular food. Most of the time, this simply does not happen. For example, consider nutmeg: low doses will be on pies next month and most of us will not notice that it contains two chemicals that our bodies convert into the popular street drug Ecstasy. Yet, if we consumed the entire canister of the spice our guts will notice (with a terrible diarrhea) and there is a good chance that we will hallucinate for about 48 hours! According to my students, the experience is quite unpleasant.

Secondly are those foods that affect our brain slowly over a period of a few days to weeks. This is usually called "precursor-loading" and would include many different amino acids (tryptophan and lysine are good examples), carbohydrates that have a high glycemic index such as potatoes, bagels and rice, fava beans, some minerals (iron and magnesium in particular), lecithin-containing products such as donuts, eggs and cakes, chocolate and the water-soluble vitamins. Their purpose is to bias the function of a specific transmitter system; usually to enhance its function in the brain. For example, scientists once thought that drinking a glass of warm milk before bed or eating a large meal of protein made us drowsy because of tryptophan loading - the current evidence does not support this but the claim makes my major point: we must get enough of any particular nutrient/chemical to the right place and at the right dose in our brain in order for us to notice any effects. Unfortunately, tryptophan has difficulty getting across the blood-brain barrier into our brain.

So, what's the scientific evidence for considering the cognitive effects of these foods? Mostly, it's related to what happens when we do not get enough of them. For example, studies have shown that consuming too little tryptophan makes us depressed and angry and has been blamed for multiple wars and acts of cannibalism. Too little sugar or water-soluble vitamins (the B's and C) will induce changes in brain function that we will notice after a few days of deprivation. Many authors jump to the conclusion that giving high doses of such nutrients will rapidly improve our mood or thinking: sadly, this is rarely the case. Ordinarily the foods in this category require far more time to affect our brains than do those foods in the first category.

You can see that depending upon how you frame the question about foods and the brain you get a different list of foods and a different reason for consuming them. If you wish to alter your current brain function or slow your brain's aging you need to consume foods that target specific chemical processes. In truth, no one ever considers these distinctions when eating - we just eat what tastes good. Sadly, our brains powerfully reward us when we eat sugar, fat and salt; thus there is an oncoming epidemic of obesity-related illnesses. Food has both negative and positive effects and it all depends upon what you consume, how much you consume and for how long.

You wrote that millions of years of evolution have shaped humans to avoid pain, seek pleasure, take the path of least resistance and live for today.

People always describe doing something instinctively as something automatic that clicks and you can't really control it. But I've found myself in several situations where I felt it almost kick in, then quickly thought of how illogical it would be. Such as a time where I spilled burning soup on my hand, and felt the immediate urge to drop the soup, and instead thought "But I want the soup" so instead of instinctively dropping it, I careful put it on the counter and then rushed to clean up. Another situation was when I was playing with my cat and she latched onto my hand. While I felt the sudden urge to pull back, I thought "I don't want to hurt myself more" and directed her attention to a toy and pulling back at the first opportunity. Many situations like this, or similar to them, make me wonder if instinct is possible to control with logic, but I'm unsure if that's true. If people are hurt or put in a dangerous situation where everything in their body is telling them to get away, but they know that doing so could make things worse, which thought process would be followed?

Our survival instinct, which has served us so well since we climbed out of the primordial muck eons ago may now be failing us. Why? Because the fight-or-flight reaction that arises in response to a threat to our lives is often no longer effective in a world that is far more complex, unpredictable, and uncontrollable than that of our primitive ancestors’ from which the survival instinct arose. In this article, I want to explore this disconnect between our survival instinct and what kind of new survival instinct might work better today.

At the heart of fight-or-flight are what I call the “Big Three” crisis reactions : fear, gloom, and panic.

We thank Dr. Dayna Lee-Bagley who exercises regularly and rarely enjoys it but recognizes that it is a choice she has made to be as active as possible in doing what ultimately is recognized as best for conquering many of the illnesses of modern day life.

In summarizing today’s episode of Healing From Within we have discussed a topic which is important to all citizens young or old: ways to learn more about our bodies, the nutrients supplements foods activities and energy work that provide a way to maximize the proper functioning of our mind body and spirit so we may better enjoy our physical life avoiding some of the pains and health issues that a poor quality of life decisions ultimately create for us.

It is in finding a plan that is unique and in some way satisfying to your growing concept of self both as a spiritual and physical being that you may incorporate healthy habits slowly over time so they become part of your daily routine much like waking and sleeping eating and exercising loving and learning all part of the human life experience.

Dayna and I would have you remember the way you were as a child…you ate when you were hungry and you ate what appealed to your senses as your body allowed you to select what you needed to exist…you played read and engaged with others exploring your relationship to all things…start to do that now as an adult…slow down pay attention and act in moderation to all emotions and instincts and you will find balance and a healthy way of life.