Health: What Does Believing Have to do With it?

We’ve all heard of the placebo effect and in case you are not familiar with it, according to Medicinenet.com it is simply “a remarkable phenomenon in which a placebo — a fake treatment, an inactive substance like sugar, distilled water, or saline solution — can sometimes improve a patient’s condition simply because the person has the expectation that it will be helpful. Expectation to plays a potent role in the placebo effect. The more a person believes they are going to benefit from a treatment, the more likely it is that they will experience a benefit.”

All too often a client will begin using a particular supplement and then tell me they stopped it because they didn’t “feel” any different and so decided it was not benefitting them. First of all supplements work differently than drugs in that they don’t always have an immediate effect. They are natural substances and they tend to work more gradually.

In the case of vitamins and minerals it just boggles my mind when people tell me they don’t feel any different so they don’t think they are doing them any good! I try to explain some of the benefits specific nutrients have so they can use their power of imagination to see those benefits happening in their bodies – whether they “feel” anything or not. I take a very comprehensive multi daily and in all honesty I don’t necessarily “feel” it working. But I know that those nutrients are important for my overall health and I believe they are accomplishing what I intend for them to accomplish.

Then I have other clients who are cleaning up their diet and beginning the Today’s the Day plan and when they don’t lose 5 pounds the first week they are disappointed and feel like it isn’t working and give up! I think part of it is this microwave, fast food culture we live in where we expect things to happen immediately!

Isn’t that the same thing as faith? We pray and often if the prayer isn’t answered immediately we think it has not been heard and we give up. Belief is a powerful emotion that we all too often overlook. While we know it is part of prayer and spiritual pursuits, we often forget that it is just as powerful in all areas of life – including our health!

Studies were done years ago that proved that people who believed they were healthy lived longer than people who didn’t – even if in truth they were not healthier! Belief is that powerful. When you use a supplement or even if you have to take a medication, you might as well exercise your belief that it will achieve what you desire for it to. When you begin a weight loss plan, believe that the changes you are making, no matter how slow or small they may be – will eventually add up to the results you want.

Belief is definitely overlooked today but we also need to exercise patience. Hebrews 6:12 says: We do not want you to become lazy, but to imitate those who through faith and patience inherit what has been promised.

So if you want to achieve a health goal whether it is to lose weight, get fit, have more energy, clean up your diet or improve your nutrition with targeted supplements, choose a method you can believe in, have a little patience and take those daily baby steps. You will definitely see results.

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