When approaching matters of health it is essential to build a good foundation. If we keep a good foundation, then we can keep ourselves healthy and avoid becoming sick. To do this, Chinese health philosophy believes that a person must pay constant attention to their physical and mental condition. Many people do not agree with this. They think, "l'm in perfect health. I eat right, sleep right, and exercise. Why should I take additional care of my health?" This approach is called survival maintenance. It is very much like taking good care of your car - putting quality gasoline in it, changing the oil regularly, driving carefully - but never doing anything else for it. Sure, your car will run well in the short run, but if you never get a tune up or service your car, it will break down before it should. So, even when we are healthy, we should take extra steps to slow the wear and tear on our bodies caused by the aging process.
    The foundation of our health is a lot like a bank account. When we are young and healthy, our body acts as if we are making more money than we can spend. So, we save that money for a later day. As we grow older, our bodies require more and more energy to maintain their level of health. Eventually, we begin to take money out of our health savings to help keep us active and feeling good. When we run out of money in that savings, our bodies become weak and we become sick. So, it is important that when we are healthy we continue to build up our foundation through good health practices. If we do not, then we will feel the effects of aging that much more quickly. One can never be too young or too healthy to take extra steps to protect their health. Still, there are people who continue to put off investing in their foundation's maintenance. They say, "l'm too old to start worrying about my health:' Other people say, "l was born with a weak constitution. Disease runs in my family and there is nothing I can do about it. Why bother?" These also are not good ways of approaching one's health. It is never too late to begin investing in your health. Even if you are older or weak, investing in your foundation will that process of draining your "health bank account." It will allow you to get more out of your health so you can live a longer and healthier life.
    There are several kinds of health care professionals a person can approach to help maintain better health. From a Chinese perspective, four of the most popular are herbalists, nutritionists, acupuncturists, and tui-na acupressure massage therapists. While Western medicine focuses more upon curing a sickness after it develops, Chinese health practice is focused more on maintaining a healthy state of inner balance to avoid developing symptoms in the first place. The Chinese believe that supplements are a basic part of keeping our foundation healthy. There are three levels of supplements: 1) foundational (for maintaining health) 2) specific/remedial (for resolving symptoms after they develop) 3) optional/complimentary.
    Now, what are the elements that make up our health's foundation? In ancient Chinese thought, they are referred to as the "Five Organs and Four Streams." These Five Organs are the heart, liver, spleen (includes pancreas and stomach), kidneys, and lungs. These are consider the structure upon when our health is built. The Four Streams are the skeletal (especially the spine and proper alignment of the bones), circulation of blood, circulation of ch'i (energy), and hormonal/immune system. If your health was like a house, the four steams would be like the plumbing and electrical wiring of your house. The idea is to keep the Five Organs and Four Streams in balance and harmony with one another.
    Everyone has certain areas that are weaker than others. A good health professional can diagnose those weaknesses. As we age, our areas of weakness are the first to show symptoms. These symptoms are signals that a person must begin to invest more carefully in their health. Unfortunately, many people do not recognize these signals. They think,"! feel tired and sluggish all the time. I have trouble getting out of bed. I don't know what to do, so I drink coffee and smoke cigarettes to get me going." This will only bring further weakness upon your health's foundation. Signals such as headaches, stiffness, fatigue digestion problems, acne, nervousness low sex drive, heavy thirst, insomnia, frequent sickness, feeling too cold, feeling too hot, et cetera are indications from your body that you must begin investing more in your health. If you do not, eventually it will develop into even greater problems that are more difficult to treat. Herbal nutritional supplements have been used for thousands of years to help resolve these weaknesses. However, despite the benefit of these supplements, they can only do so much. For example, if a person smokes, certain supplements can be given to detoxify the body, but if the person keeps up that lifestyle then they will do very I little good. It is thought that 30% of our health's cation is built using supplements, but 70% of our foundation is supported by lifestyle: diet, exercise, sleep, and psychological condition.
    What are some steps to maintaining a healthy lifestyle? Reasonable exercise is very important. This does not mean a person needs to go to the gym everyday,, but just keep regularly active. Walking, biking, swimming, dancing, and hiking are all excellent forms of exercise. Proper diet is also essential. Diet is not only what you eat, but how you eat. It is important to eat breakfast everyday. if you skip breakfast, it puts a strain on your system as your body tries to produce energy to begin the activities of the day. It is also important not to eat too large of a dinner. When we sleep our organs slow down. By eating a heavy dinner filled with meat, we do not give our body enough time to digest the food before we sleep. This produces build-up in our system and hurts both our digestive track and the four streams. Eat right. Avoid high cholesterol foods. Eat a little less of high protein and deep fried foods. Try instead eating more vegetables and fruits, and chicken and fish as your meats. Try to drink more ginseng tea, green tea, and lukewarm water. Drink less ice cold water and soda. Ice cold water is believed to hamper a person's ability to properly digest their food. Sufficient sleep is also very important. Too little sleep can be unhealthy, so can too much sleep, but what is most important is the quality and regularity of sleep as opposed to the number of hours spent sleeping. Your body needs to keep a regular sleep cycle to maintain balance. In Chinese thought, the best way of doing this is to go to bed early and wake up early each day.
    Perhaps the most important part of keeping a solid foundation to one's health is psychological balance. If you have the right attitude then you are already half way to good health. This means keeping a positive outlook at all times. A positive environment and time to relax can help a lot. If someone is always under stress, worries a lot, or focuses on the troubles in their life, it jeopardizes their entire system. A strong mind will keep this from happening. If a person cannot see things in a positive way no matter how hard they try, then they must at least stay focused enough to look for outside help. Surround yourself with people who have the right attitude. This will make things easier. Also, if you are in a low mood, listen to peaceful and harmonious music. This will help lift your spirits. If you instead listen to depressing music, you will be drawn down and further weakened. All parts of foundation care are very important, but the psychological component is not only most important, but also the part we have the most direct control over. Use your attitude to your benefit and everything else will benefit you even more.
Take care and be healthy!