As a Canadian in an American College back in 2002, I was only allowed to work on campus, so I applied to be a teaching assistant in the cadaver lab. Not for everyone- my hair and anything else I wore that day under my lab coat wreaked- but it was one of the coolest jobs I've ever had. There is no better way to learn something than to teach it, so when it came time for American and Canadian board exams, I didn't even have to study anatomy.

The cadavers we had the privilege of working on and learning from made a choice in their life to donate their bodies to the college. This generosity was never overlooked and the respect for the bodies was paramount.

In addition to the full body cadavers, we also learned from dissected body parts. One of the most memorable was a heart so enlarged it was 2-3 times the size of a healthy human heart. It had artificial valves and a quadruple bypass, meaning the arteries bringing oxygen to this heart  were so clogged, they had to be bypassed surgically so that the muscle could continue to receive oxygen and keep pumping. There was no question that this heart came from a body that had been extremely unhealthy. The amazing advances in medicine gave this unhealthy person more time that otherwise wouldn't have been possible. Before that though, the body had worked and adapted to its greatest capacity, building a bigger heart so it could pump as hard as it could to compensate for what was likely a body filled with clogged arteries. Nature is powerful and will do whatever it can to keep you alive. This also reaffirmed my opinion around the importance of doing what we can to support nature/ our body and reduce any extra stress imposed on it due to suboptimal care.

It's an interesting reality... we won't take our body's with us once we are gone yet we link SO much of our identity through life to our physical body and the state of our physical health impacts our quality of life in a big way. "We" have become accustomed to expecting to take prescription drugs and potentially require surgery as we get older. But why? There are some inevitable changes that occur with age, the speed and reason for those changes to take place however, largely depends on how we take care of it. It takes time for systems to decline and for dysfunction to build and (it's not always symptomatic), it also takes time to build and support health (and it's not always obvious what you are preventing or healing).

My rambling really is trying to point out two facts that if you really "get" can change the course of your life.

1. The body is amazing, intelligent and has your survival as its #1 priority.  It will adapt, even at the expense of other functions, to allow this to happen. This innate wisdom is what allowed 2 cells to become the living, breathing person you are today. This innate wisdom is working 24/7 regardless if you're taking care of yourself or not. This innate wisdom is what does the healing and is what is required to survive whether you live a 100% natural based lifestyle or have a variety of pharmaceutical interventions.
2. The one salad and workout will have the same impact as that one hamburger and couch day. It's what we consistently and most regularly do that has the power to transform our life trajectory. The smallest steps can be the easiest, but if we are constantly keeping score, they can also be the most frustrating. It is easy to take for granted what is working for us. If you've ever sprained or broken your pinky toe, you know what I'm talking about. When was the last time you considered what your pinky toe is doing for you? Probably never...unless you've injured it. Then you know very quickly how much you use that toe in walking, driving, etc. Think about the smallest healthiest steps you can take and know that in time, these will add up. In time, these small choices have the ability to not only prevent heart disease (for example) but in some cases, reverse it. Working WITH nature is where the power is.