Not feeling your best? You may have barriers blocking your healing without even knowing …

Do you crave sugar, salt or other foods? Are you unable to lose those extra pounds? Have you experienced symptoms that have not resolved in more than a few weeks? Do you know you are not running on all your cylinders? Do you feel sick and yet, no matter what you do, you are unable to feel better? If you answered yes to any of these questions, you may have barriers in your body that are keeping you from healing.

The body has an innate tendency towards healing. Regardless of the environment, the body will do its best to maintain a state of balance (homeostasis) which it requires to function optimally. For example, our organs are designed to absorb nutrients from the food we eat. The nutrients are used to make energy. That energy is then used to run the systems of the body, generate new cells, and eliminate the waste that is left over from those processes. When all of this is working in balance, the body is able to maintain and restore health naturally.

Human bodies have been doing this successfully for thousands of years the same way our bodies still do it today. Yet, health problems such as fibromyalgia, depression, heart disease, type II diabetes, autoimmune disorders and cancer are becoming epidemic. Why?

In the past 100 years, everything about our food, from the way it is grown and processed to the way we cook it, has decreased its nutrient content. In addition, the things we come in contact with everyday have changed. There are estimated to be over 100,000 chemicals in use today that were not in use 100 years ago.

The resulting decrease in nutrient intake, combined with the dramatic changes in what we are exposed to, is overloading our body’s ability to eliminate waste. As a result, we are developing accumulations of toxins. These accumulations are acting as barriers to normal function. Barriers create hidden internal stress on the body blocking healing and using up valuable resources that would otherwise be directed towards optimal health. When barriers interfere with our body’s ability to maintain homeostasis, symptoms start to develop. If these barriers persist long enough, sickness and disease set in.

I found this out the hard way. In my early thirties, I developed symptoms I never had before. I tried to eat well, exercise and keep my stress levels low (and this helped some of my symptoms) but my overall health continued to decline. By my mid-thirties I was continually exhausted, my body hurt all over, and I awoke every day feeling like I had the flu. At my worst, walking three blocks required that I stop and rest. Since I was a health care provider, this was particularly alarming. I was educated about health and knew where to go to get help. But no matter how good a clinician they were, I wasn’t finding answers that gave me lasting improvement.

Finally, when attending a health seminar I learned about barriers to healing. I learned that the most common barriers to healing are things you come in contact with everyday such as: chemicals, heavy metal, foods you are eating, unresolved bacteria, fungi, or other immune challenge. I also learned that structural changes such as scars and even stored emotions can act as barriers that block healing.

I immediately went to see a practitioner who determined the barriers that were keeping my body sick. I learned I was harboring chemicals from a leaky gas tank I had been exposed to several years earlier. I was hosting a whole colony of unfriendly microorganisms, and had a scar that was blocking communication in my nervous system. I began a program of whole food nutrition designed specifically for me, and within a few weeks I could feel a difference. I knew for the first time I was on the right track.

Today, I can truly say that I am no longer sick, no longer exhausted, and as a matter of fact; I no longer have any of the symptoms from which I previously suffered. By identifying my barriers to healing and removing them, my body was able to do what it innately does – restore homeostasis and heal.

I call this an anti-premature aging program, because when you remove the accumulations from your body and restore proper nutrient intake, you not only feel better, your body actually starts to rebuild itself and return to a state of vital good health.

Article written by Cari Schaefer.