To cite just a few of the miracles in nature: did you know that ocean waves come in sets, precisely 18 to the minute, exactly 300 feet apart; or that all beans grow from left to right. If you unravel them and attempt to force them to grow from right to left, they will die within 72 hours; this is the nature of beans. Did you know that birds flying in formation are able to fly at greater velocity with less effort when they do that? You are aware that all life knows instinctively how it is to sustain and propagate itself. There is every reason to be in awe of the many miracles in nature that surround us. There is also ample evidence to convince us that the human creature is no less marvelous. Consider just the body. Look at your hands. Nothing that man has created excels the human hand in dexterity. Did you know that our fingernails grow at exactly the same rate that the earth’s plates move? Some kind of rhythm connection? Have you considered that there are over 5 billion people on this planet and no two fingerprints are alike? Each one is unique. Doesn’t that mean you’re special?

We have a brain that would require a land mass the size of the state of Texas to recreate in its full function. Dr. Wayne Dyer. ) To duplicate just the memory portion would require a computer in excess of the size of the Empire State Building.

An impressive miracle, in my mind, is the simple requirement for this body’s maintenance. No machine can approach its flawless design. When we eat, we put food into one orifice (usually the mouth) and all 260 bones are lubricated. Over 50 different chemicals are replenished. To maintain your automobile you need axle grease for your axle; oil; transmission fluid; windshield wiper fluid; water for the radiator; gas; and anti-freeze where the temperatures drop, but the body, at one stop, gets it all – the digestive juices, the blood, the lymph, the sperm or the egg, the tear drop.

If all 600 of our muscles pulled together in one direction, we could lift as much as 25 tons. Actually, in times of perceived need, men and women have, without stopping to think about whether they could or not, lifted weights far beyond what usually is considered possible.

Every day our blood travels 168 million miles. That’s 6,720 times around the earth’s globe. We have enough carbon for 9,000 lead pencils and sufficient calcium to completely whitewash a chicken coop. Every five days, our whole intestinal lining is renewed. Every eleven days, our respiratory lining is replenished. Every fifteen days, all our white corpuscles are replaced; it takes 120 days for the red corpuscles. Every six months, we have a new bloodstream. Every eleven months, we have a new cell structure, and we get a new set of bones every two years. An entirely new body is recreated every seven years. Without considering any aspect other than our physical bodies, we are splendid creatures.

Common sense tells us there’s no wiser investment than the one you make in yourself. Yet, it’s been estimated that only 2 percent of all people think logically; about 8 percent think when they begin to suffer; and 90% would rather die than think. You may be in that 2 percent since you are still reading this article.

Dr. Lester Breslow, Dean of The School of Public Health at the University of California says you can add as many as 14 years to your life by switching from a bad life-style to a good one. That sounds like a good trade-off, but don’t put it off too long. Yesterday is gone; a canceled check. Tomorrow is a promissory note as good as gold if you make wise use of today – your legal tender.

Studies tell us that old age doesn’t cause illness. Not everybody who gets old, gets sick. By design we’re healthy. How do we lose it? Haven’t we all seen people who sacrificed their health pursuing wealth and overindulging in it’s “accompanying pleasures,” who then turned around and spent their wealth in an attempt to regain their health? Often it’s too late. Have you noticed how even the word ‘healthy’ is formed naturally by your mouth when you say it? Now say, ‘sickly.’ You have to hsss; it’s unnatural.

The scientific community tells us that disease stems from crud in the blood. How did it get there? I say we get it from being drunk with junk. We don’t catch disease; we earn it. A U.S. Surgeon General’s report as far back as 1979 warned that the Standard American Diet (SAD) is dangerous and was related to the deaths of one and a half million Americans that year (that’s over 62%). A ground swell of people have changed their life-styles and eating habits since then. However, the masses are still under the hypnotic influence of advertising and the easy accessibility and increasing variety of processed foods promoted by the great American food industry.

Recently, the FDA decided that makers of bread and grains should add folic acid to all “enriched” products. One small attempt to put back in a little of the nutriment that has been removed from our food. Maybe we haven’t consciously figured it out yet, but the vicious cycle is somewhat familiar to all of us. We take Rolaids for stomach problems, Listerine because the smell of it is coming out of our mouths, Right Guard because it gives our bodies its odor, EX-Lax to get it out of us, and Preparation H to medicate ourselves from the unnatural strain of it. Hundreds of thousands start the day with caffeine and in spite of profuse warnings, many are still dependent on nicotine. Some people can’t relax without alcohol and/or tranquilizers, sleep without sleeping pills, or begin a day without something that fizzes. Those bubbling alkalizers wash away yesterday’s brown tastes just long enough to make room for today’s. So, why do we “do” all this junk? Right off, there are three obstacles that interfere with wiser choices:

1. Convenience. It ‘s quick, it ‘s easy. It’s everywhere and everybody’s doing it.
2. Temptation! It smells good, activates your memory and your taste buds. You gotta have it!
3. Something called WION (that’s Widespread Ignorance On Nutrition). I was the chairman of the board of that group for years.

I was sick, fat, poor, and miserable for half of my life. When I was told that I’d die by thirty I got scared. I wasn’t ready. There are things I wanted to do. I resolved to do them. At forty, I got my first trophy in a triathlon and I left poverty to begin to share with others what I’d learned.

If you’re tired of the brown taste and are ready for a new start in life, you need to know the importance of the following:

A – Attitude

Go for what you want in life. Don’t sweat the small stuff, and it’s all small stuff. When you can’t fight and you can’t flee, then flow, says Dr. Robert Eliot, author and director of the Institute of Stress Medicine in Denver. Become aware of the connection between your own values and interactions with others, and feeling good about yourself. Forgive yourself when you don’t measure up and forgive others when they need it. The ability to find the humor in the human situation is a definite plus. Hearty laughter gives a sense of deep relaxation, and tends to soften your perspective on problems. It also eases pain.

N – Nutrition

Your body was uniquely designed to employ a series of four processes to make use of the food you eat for its maintenance. Junk foods will not serve this purpose. Overeating is further abuse of the body which renders food indigestible and unusable to the body’s needs. Combining foods improperly can create an overload of work for the body also. The latter three items are unnecessary stress we place on the body which deplete our energy.

E – Exercise

Action is fundamental to our well-being. Our bodies were made for it. Everybody knows about the feel-good endorphins released by the brain during physical exercise. There is more. The energy producing part of the cell, mitochondria, expands during exercise. Because of this expansion, you have more energy during exercise. I recommend walking a fifteen minute mile, which adds up to 4 miles in one hour. Exercise stimulates the immune system, increases muscular strength and flexibility, and expands cardiovascular reserves. It also acts as an emotional and psychological defuser.

W – Water

Drink clean water. Dr. Melvin Beltz, a medical professor and cardiovascular surgeon for many years, believes distilled water is best. Fluids are essential, meaning eight glasses, including fruit and vegetable Juices and water.

S – Sunshine

Sunshine assists the body in detoxifying, revitalizes it and “is a nutritive ‘substance’ of great importance (to it), ” said the late Herbert Shelton, a Natural Hygienist. Avoid it in the hottest hours (between 10:00 am and 2:00 p.m.), but don’t underestimate its benefits.

T – Trust

That’s the opposite of worry. Trust your own intuitive wisdom, says research psychologist Lewis M. Andrews, who comes down hard on value-free psychiatry. If you are true to yourself (your own heartfelt values of honesty and tolerance), the two will reinforce each other. You may call the Source of this wisdom a Higher Power. The “T” could be a reminder to be thankful for all the gifts of your life.

A – Air

It is essential that we have fresh, clean air to breathe. That we have open windows whenever possible, especially at night. We need to guard against becoming shallow breathers, especially when feeling stressed.

R – Rest

Rest is the defuser for each day. Without it, we would all be insane. Studies show that the dream stage of sleep, REM, helps people permanently remember skills they learned 3ust hours earlier. When it is interrupted, they had trouble remembering. I take an hour nap every day, which has the rejuvenating factor of two extra hours of sleep each night. Various mental exercises, such as the “relaxation response” proposed by Dr. Herbert Benson, author of several books on the subject, offer similar ways to relax body and mind.

T – Temperance

Balance in everything is the key. Work. Play. Rest. Exercise. Your intuitive wisdom (again), if it’s tuned, will help you to avoid or correct imbalances.

Since we are magnificent creatures, a lot might be expected of us. Yet, according to former Secretary of Health and Human Services, Otis R. Bowen, (USA Today, Oct. 15, 1993) almost half of the country’s hundreds of thousands of death result from irresponsible or self-destructive behavior. AIDS is relatively new, he says, but added that cardiovascular disease, lung cancer and alcoholism are all primarily the result of behavior.

Some people don’t learn early enough that the best thing in life isn’t a thing. It’s life. The 24 hours – 86,400 seconds that we have every day. We can play the game and we can win. Win! – that stands for: What’s Important Now? What’s important now is to understand that our bodies are not garbage dumps. We are marvels of design with purpose. Treat yourself right. You’re special! You deserve to be healthy!