We think first of the major organs - the heart, the brain, the liver, the lungs; and then perhaps the arms and legs and other parts. When we are thinking of health, however, we need to look at something much smaller - the cells of the body. In our bodies there are millions and millions of them. They are very minute and can only be seen under a microscope. Our total health is determined by the health of our cells. For all our lives they are living units that breathe and feed and excrete, reproduce and die.
Each cell is like a tiny city.
It has a wall called a 'membrane'. The inside of the city is filled with a slippery fluid called 'cytoplasm'. It is essential for this fluid to be of the right chemical balance. Our bodies are made up of about 65% water. Some is in the cells and some is in the tiny spaces between. The fluid on the inside of the cell has to have potassium to work well, while the water outside has to have sodium. If these get out of balance through a less than healthy lifestyle, the cell cannot work so well. This balance should be maintained by what we eat and drink day by day.
Inside the cell city itself, are several round structures called 'ribosomes'. These are where the building materials - proteins - are made. There are other factories which make the building materials for the construction of the body. These are the 'golgi apparatus' and the 'endoplasmic reticulum'.
The different industries need to have energy to run them and this comes from the power stations called 'the mitochondria'. Other workers in our cells are called 'lysosomes'. Their task is to bring in the food and then, when each factory in the city has had enough, they take up the leftovers, eating it to recycle it.
The city has a Town Hall too, called the 'nucleus', where the decisions are taken, as to whether to make new cells just like itself, or what colour they will be, and what shape and size
Billions of working cities.
All these billions of cells throughout your body are waiting every day to see what foods you will put into your mouth to feed them! They do their best with the sugars and the fats and the heavy proteins they receive, but they are very happy when you give them lots of fresh fruit for the potassium they need, and lighter less clogging natural foods - grains, fruits, vegetables, beans, nuts and seeds. There is electricity in the cells too, and this is more active when the cells have plenty of oxygen. They then energise the brain and the muscles in a lively way. Eating raw fruits and vegetables gives the best results. If you have too much fat, though, the cells are starved of oxygen and eventually give up the struggle. They need a clean environment in which to thrive and do their work. Large amounts of protein create more waste than the body can cope with and results in disease. We need foods that help the body and to keep it in balance.
Inside you are billions of little living things all waiting to see what you will give them today. They depend on you. If you feed them rightly they will give you better health and increased energy in return - your skin will look better, your eyes brighter, and you will have improved thinking power and more physical stamina to cope with life. When your cells are truly 'alive' many health problems will be reduced, and you will feel leaner and more awake.
If they are not fed properly a sticky sludge develops between them and they live in a swamp with little oxygen and lots of toxins. Bacteria grow there too. It is no surprise then, that we do not feel too good some days! When we are ill the electrical workings of the cells decrease. They do not reproduce so readily - and it is only their reproduction that makes possible healthy growth and development in children or the repairs adult bodies need every day.
New Opportunities for Health. Give your body a spring clean, and then make a fresh start. The amazingly optimistic thing is that cells soon respond and begin to function better. In three weeks time many will have reproduced and you can treat these new ones with proper care, in a new healthy way. |
