The 7 Most Common Mistakes People Make About Their Health (And How to Avoid Them)

We are living in a time when degenerative diseases have become epidemic. Illnesses such as cancer, coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes and arthritis are on the increase — and in the West, very few of us die of "old age". We are dying of diseases that take time to manifest in our bodies. They are not a "natural" part of ageing, but the result of the way we take care of ourselves over the years.

Most of us want to live a long time, but we also want to live those years feeling well, with good energy and a good quality of life. The key is to stop making the seven most common health mistakes — and to find out how to look after yourself so you are always in the peak of health.

Mistake 1: "There's a quick fix"

We live in a fast-paced world, but there is no quick fix to good health — no magic bullet that will transform your health and life overnight. The path to good health requires some effort on your part and changes over time. What you eat, your lifestyle, exercise and stress levels are all key factors.

Of course, it is easier to pop a pill that reduces or seemingly removes your symptoms. But this is only a short-term solution. Stop taking the pills and the problem is likely to come back — or something different, and usually worse, happens. The pills aren't designed to cure, only to suppress the symptoms. For lasting health, you need to treat the cause, not the symptoms. This is the cornerstone of preventative medicine.

Mistake 2: "Your body can't heal itself"

Your body has profound healing energies, and given the right tools it can correct imbalances and restore you to good health. By eating the right foods, correcting vitamin and mineral deficiencies and creating the right environment for overall health, your body can heal itself.

Consider an infection. The conventional approach is antibiotics, which kill off the bacteria — but antibiotics can't tell the difference between "good" and "bad" bacteria, so they kill them all, leaving you weaker. In nutritional medicine, the aim is to stimulate and strengthen your immune system so that your body can kill off the infection on its own, leaving it stronger and more able to address similar illness in the future.

Even Louis Pasteur, whose early research shaped the conventional approach to germs and illness, changed his view years later, saying: "In a state of health, animals are shut off from the invasion of germs… The microbe is nothing, the terrain is everything." In other words, if the terrain — your body — is healthy, disease cannot take hold.

Mistake 3: "A healthy diet is all I need"

The well-balanced diet is, unfortunately, a myth. You simply do not get all the nutrients you need from your food. A National Food Survey conducted in 1995 found that the average person in Britain is grossly deficient in six out of the eight vitamins and minerals surveyed, and less than one in ten people receive the RDA of 15mg for zinc. Our intake of selenium — 34mcg per day — is now only half the amount it was in the daily diet 25 years earlier.

Why? The soil has been over-farmed to the point that it no longer contains the nutrients we need. Pesticides and other chemicals reduce the nutrient content of foods, and processing strips even more away — for example, 80% of zinc is removed from wheat during the milling process to give bread a longer shelf life.

This is why supplements are no longer considered a little "extra". A few pointers from the ebook on choosing them well:

• Always have a multivitamin and mineral as the foundation of your programme.
• Capsules (preferably vegetable ones) are better than tablets, which can include fillers, binders and bulking agents.
• Mineral supplements like calcium should be in the form of citrates, ascorbates or polynicotinates, which are more easily absorbed. Avoid chlorides, sulphates, carbonates and oxides — supplements in these forms may pass through the body without being absorbed.

Remember, though: supplements are just what their name suggests — supplemental. They are not a substitute for healthy food and a well-balanced diet. You cannot eat junk food, take nutritional supplements and hope to stay healthy.

Mistake 4: "It doesn't matter what I eat"

Everything you eat can be turned into the fuel your body uses to produce hormones, enzymes, blood and bone. Every single cell in your body, and all the processes that take place, are determined by what goes into your mouth.

Yet most medical students get only a few hours of nutrition lectures in over six years of training. It took 20 years, for example, for the benefits of folic acid in pregnancy to become known and accepted. The link between cardiovascular disease and nutrition took many years to be established — and now the evidence is overwhelming, with more research linking nutrition to cancer, growth disorders, mood and much more.

What you eat can cause many health problems — and the reverse is also true: if you change your diet, you can alleviate many health problems.

Mistake 5: "I only need to treat the symptoms"

You are not just a group of body parts. Everything works together, and when one system is thrown out of balance, the others can and will be affected. If you were suffering from headaches and digestive problems, you would probably see two different specialists. There may only be one cause for both problems — but because they are treated separately, there is much less chance that the cause will be uncovered.

Nutritional medicine looks at the interaction on every level and treats your whole body, not just the parts. That's why it is so much more effective in the long term.

Mistake 6: "It's normal to have health problems"

Many of us go through life with a series of niggling health problems. We wake up feeling tired all the time. We don't feel "ill", but we know we aren't "100%" — and because everyone around us seems to suffer from the same problems, we accept them as normal.

They are not normal. It is perfectly possible to feel fantastic. Nutritional medicine aims to give you optimum health in mind and body: the kind of health that gives you energy and encourages a feeling of well-being.

It's also worth thinking about what you put on your body, not just in it. Anything that goes on the skin can be absorbed into the body — that's exactly how nicotine patches and HRT patches work. Read the ingredient lists on your face creams, lotions, shampoos and cosmetics, and ask yourself whether you could choose a more natural alternative. It was once suggested that we should only put on our skin substances that we would be happy to eat — a useful rule of thumb to aim for.

Mistake 7: "Eating healthily is too complicated"

It doesn't have to be. Here is the simple 12-point Staying Healthy Diet from the ebook:

1. Eat plenty of fruit and vegetables — they supply vitamins, minerals, fibre and antioxidants (vitamins A, C and E, plus selenium and zinc), which protect you against free radicals linked to cancer, coronary heart disease and premature ageing.
2. Eat complex carbohydrates — wholegrains like brown rice, oats and wholemeal bread give you longer-lasting energy, balance your blood sugar and minimise cravings.
3. Buy organic foods where possible — organic produce usually contains more valuable nutrients because the soil it grows in has not been so depleted. If budget is limited, prioritise organic grains.
4. Eat phytoestrogens — beans such as lentils, chickpeas and soya products have been shown to have a balancing effect on hormones.
5. Eat oily foods — fish, nuts, seeds and oils supply essential fatty acids. The UK Department of Health recommends we double our intake of Omega 3 by eating oily fish two to three times a week.
6. Reduce your intake of saturated fat — saturated fats can contribute to weight gain and interfere with your body's absorption of essential fatty acids.
7. Drink enough fluids — your body is approximately 70 percent water. Aim for around six glasses of water a day; a cup of hot water with a slice of lemon is an excellent start to the day.
8. Increase your intake of fibre — soluble fibre helps control cholesterol, aids digestion and increases your feeling of fullness.
9. Avoid additives, preservatives and artificial sweeteners — sweeteners have been linked to mood swings and depression, and people who regularly use them tend to gain weight.
10. Reduce your intake of caffeine — caffeine causes a fast rise in blood sugar followed by a quick drop, and depletes valuable stores of vitamins and minerals. Wean yourself off gradually to avoid withdrawal symptoms.
11. Reduce alcohol — alcohol takes its toll on your liver, contributes to blood sugar imbalance and acts as an anti-nutrient, depleting vitamins and minerals. Give your liver at least a couple of alcohol-free days a week.
12. Avoid sugar — sugar is "empty calories", and fluctuations in blood sugar can cause irritability, fatigue, anxiety, poor concentration, headaches and more. Eat little and often, always eat breakfast, and choose unrefined "brown" carbohydrates over "white".

The path you choose

Now you know the seven most common mistakes that stop people getting healthy, it's up to you whether you implement changes in your life. Health is all about choices: the path to good health, or the path to degenerative illness.

Some people say it costs more to eat organic foods or take supplements. But think of it this way: how much does it cost every year to repair and maintain your car? If you had the car serviced regularly, it would be less likely to break down — and the servicing costs would be far less than the repair costs. Some people spend more on their cars than they do on the vehicle — their body — that is carrying them through life.

As Jim Rohn once said: "Take care of your body. It's the only place you have to live."

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This article is for information only and is not intended to be a substitute for proper medical advice. Always consult a qualified doctor or health practitioner.