Cellular Health Article by SoCalRunning.com Member Shelli Stein


Shelli running the Honolulu Marathon

Taken from the August JoyInMovement.com newsletter:

Hello friends, and welcome to this month’s JoyInMovement newsletter,

I thought this month we’d have a cellular conversation. Now for some cellular time together. The health of your body depends on the health of your cells. We have over 75 trillion cells in our body. Cells process the nourishment we need and get rid of our waste, keeping us energized and alive. Cells have different functions and need oxygen in order to perform them. They also use oxygen to convert glucose into ATP (adenosine triphosphate), our body’s fuel. If we want to maximize our overall health we need to ensure that we receive the optimum ingredients our cells require.

Much research has been done to decipher what cells need to live. Correlations have been found, for instance, between the level of oxygen in a person’s bloodstream and their level of health. A lack of oxygen will destroy cells, and if cells are given their basic needs and not poisoned by their own environment, they live on and on.

Dr. Stanley Robbins of Harvard Medical School suggests that there are 6 basic causes of cellular atrophy:

1. Decreased work load
2. Enervation
3. Diminished blood supply
4. Inadequate nutrition
5. Loss of endocrine stimulation
6. Aging

In leading a life full of health and vitality we must remember certain guiding principles:

* the key to a healthy body is healthy CELLS.
* the most important element of cellular health is OXYGEN.
* anything that disturbs the biochemical or electrical functioning of the cells or deprives them of oxygen is potentially disease producing.
* the build-up of toxins in our system is a result of unhealthy conditions. Think about the air we breathe, water we drink, foods we eat and the movement choices we make.

As I mentioned at the start of this letter, the key to health is energy and all our energy starts with our cells.  Cells only have energy when they have enough OXYGEN, NUTRIENTS and ways to eliminate waste.  Optimal oxygenation of your cells comes about through proper nutrition, fluid intake, exercise and stress management.

I don’t want to get overly technical or go deeper into each area of optimal oxygenation that I mentioned.  I am, however, in a “back to basics” mode though, and when we who find “joy-in-movement” think about achieving our optimum balance between health and fitness, we must start with the basic building blocks—our cells! If your health is in a less than optimal state and you feel one or more of your systems be it nervous, muscular, skeletal, circulatory, digestive, lymphatic, hormonal or other isn’t up to snuff, then I’m suggesting you need to look at your cellular health.

Now for this month’s energy drain.  How about our unfinished business? Anyone out there with decisions that need to be made or projects you have postponed that need doing?  Don’t know about you, but when I tend to my unfinished business I feel so much better and energy for other things comes flooding back in.  I think a big part of the dilemma is that we think we need to make perfect decisions.  When I trust myself and decide to either do it or just let it go altogether–the do it or dump it theory–it seems to get done just fine!

A friend sent me my horoscope today—-it read, “You’ve conquered some demons lately. Celebrate with dance and song, flowing scarves and hot cider.” What can I say? I never miss an opportunity to dance, sing, let my scarves flow and drink hot cider, so I am signing off to do all four, though maybe not all at once. Wishing you all a fun, fanciful month.

Create some joy and move in ways that serve those cells of yours!

yours in cellular health,
Shelli

Shelli Stein, RYT, CPT
Movement Educator
JoyInMovement.com
shelli@joyinmovement.com

August 8, 2007 | Filed Under Nutrition, Steve's Posts 

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