I was having lunch today with family. The youngest one is 4-5 years old. As we were leaving, the child touched the trash can – as if he were putting trash into it. His mother admonished him not to touch it.
This got me to thinking about two things. The first thought was a book a friend of mine just wrote on our bodies’ response to toxic challenges. A little helps us get stronger, better able to handle future attacks of a similar nature. A muscle unchallenged does not get stronger.
Our immune systems are prepared to accept anything it does not recognize as friendly to our bodies. A plethora of different challenges forces our immune systems to be more responsive, hence stronger. There are foods we eat to build up our immune systems. When we don’t supply the nutrients needed, our immune systems are not able to withstand the daily onslaught of attacks from normal living.
The second thought aligns with the first. A few years ago I read a study about kids raised in the country were healthier adults compared to kids raised in the city. Their rationale was that kids in the country were outside more often compared to their city dwellers’s kids – exposed to the vagaries of dirt, mud, insects, animals, pollen, etc. Their immune systems developed with these factors during their growth years and became stronger adults.
Today, some of us eat only organic and avoid any personal care products with any toxins, or hint of toxins. We go to extraordinary means to achieve and maintain a clean body. Is this hurting us in the long run? I believe so.
Our bodies can only improve when challenged. These challenges don’t have to be daily. These challenges don’t have to be inundating our bodies. A little bit of a bad thing can go a long ways. The next time you have the craving for a Snickers, a bite or two might be just what the doctor might have ordered, if he or she had read the studies I did.