Sharing my Passion for Wellness
Every once in awhile I read something said so powerfully I know I could not improve upon it. Today’s guest article is definitely the case. Written by my Team Northrup business partner, Liza Pascal, it captures my own passion and desire for all that I serve. I share it with you in hopes that it may speak to you or someone you love. Thank you Liza for your generous authenticity.
My dad’s been in and out of the hospital lately. Don’t feel bad. It’s been a long time coming. You see, he is the guy Dr. Wentz is talking about when Dr. Wentz says that people are living too short and dying too long. My dad has not just one but two degenerative diseases – which is commonly how unhealthy lifestyles unfold.
Health is a Choice.
He has both Heart Disease and Diabetes and spent most of his life saying he wouldn’t mind dying young as long as he got to smoke his cigarettes and eat how he well pleased. And that he did. I watched. As an acupuncturist, trust me, I’ve lost my voice many times trying to explain to him that there would be ugly consequences, that it wouldn’t be hard to make different choices, that I would help him, support him. I thought if he knew that I loved him enough, that would be a good enough reason to stop. But I was wrong.
It’s not that he doesn’t know I love him, and it’s not that he doesn’t care. The problem is that he just never believed there would really be any consequences to these lifestyle choices he made. He didn’t believe that lifestyle habits such as nutrition, exercise, and sleep could actually make a difference. And despite his heart attack at 55, he still doesn’t believe that smoking and eating unhealthy foods could cripple him.
Degeneration
Fast forward 10 years, he suddenly finds his legs aren’t working that well. It turns out his abdominal aorta is 95% clogged and preventing blood flow to his legs. Surgery. Recovery.
Three years later – he bruises and bleeds easily and often. He develops anemia (iron-deficiency) and so feels tired and weak and has a hard time healing from injury or sickness.
Speaking of sickness, his immune system is clearly compromised. He comes down with severe colds and flus every month or so. The colds last a good ten days each. Month after month he still doesn’t see that a pattern of sickness has developed.
Then he finds signs of melanoma on his skin from the slightest exposure to the sun. Now he must wear long sleeves and hats at all times despite living in the hot Mediterranean climate.
All this time, he’s on a heavy dose of pharmaceuticals which make his labs appear normal so he thinks he’s fine.
Clearly, He’s Not “Fine.”
Four years later, it’s 2011 and the leg symptoms are back. The doctors suggest he stop smoking. But now my dad is now 68 and divorced and feels older so he actually quits. As soon as he quits, more of his body starts to break down. His intestines are inflamed and acting up. Now he’s waiting to find out whether his arteries are blocking blood flow to his intestines or if he has an actual tumor in his colon. And his legs are still bothering him so much he can barely walk.
After a good 20 years of my begging him to see nutrition as a path to health, his body is breaking down so fast, there’s barely a way to reverse the damage. And now he is asking me for help.
The Last Straw
Imagine the scene. I Skype in. I see my father, my hero, in the hospital, looking pale and frail. Imagine the feeling in my heart – sad, disappointed, surrendered. Imagine the feeling in his heart. I can hear the desperation because now his symptoms have gotten so bad that he has lost control over his own body and the symptoms have affected the quality of his day to day existence. He can’t figure out how to make it stop. The “consequences” are no longer in some future he can’t touch. They’re here, now. It hurts. It’s embarrassing. And most of all, it’s scary.
I tell you this story so you can really breathe in the feeling of degeneration – the slow process of a body breaking down and harshly cutting quality of life down to at least half of what it once was. I tell you this story so you can remember, that this man, my father, is only 68 years old. He still has many years to live – but what will his life look like? His life as he knows it and as he expected it to be up until his last breath – is already over.
Speaking from My Heart
My father has lived too short and now he is dying too long. And there are hundreds of thousands like him. It is an epidemic. Dr. Wentz’ statement has always made a lot of sense to me and I have repeated it in every presentation I’ve given in the past 6 years. But now, I know it intimately. And I know that next time I speak these words, I will be in complete alignment and I will be speaking from personal experience. When my prospects hear those words, they too will know it almost as intimately as I do because I will be speaking from my heart.
They will understand what I understand, and I have no doubt they will heed Dr. Wentz’ solution as well. Nutrition is the key to health at the cellular level. So if the cheapest health care is not-getting-sick, then taking USANA Nutritionals is the most effective and most inexpensive form of health care out there. (Don’t ever let anyone tell you these products are too expensive. Degenerative disease is expensive.)
We have a solution.
We are nothing less than obligated to offer the USANA solution to anyone that will listen. ”Proper nutrition is the answer. Proper nutrition is the best way to ensure we are living the healthiest lives possible,” says Dr. Wentz.
I think I will have an even easier time relaying the importance of getting on USANA’s Nutritionals now. That’s what happens when you truly mean what you say, when you really believe your own words, when you speak from your heart.