What is the No. 1 Thing You Can Do to Improve Your Health?

If I were to ask a dozen people this question, I am sure I would get a very wide range of answers. To some, it would be take more exercise; others, reduce sugar; others still, lose weight – and so on.

Although these aspects are often important, I believe the key to seriously upgrading our health is to take personal responsibility.

Sadly the majority of people abdicate the responsibility for their health to someone else – often their doctor – and because of a failure to take control, end up stumbling from one health crisis to another.

Taking responsibility for your wellbeing is enormously empowering. You realise that you are in charge and you begin to make lifestyle choices that are right for you, no longer dancing to the tune of someone else’s agenda and no longer participating in the common sticking plaster approach to disease management that seldom yields lasting beneficial results.

I know from personal experience that if I had accepted the advice given to me by doctors 30 years ago, I would not be enjoying the level of wellbeing I now enjoy. In fact, I might not be alive to share my story and reach out to help people.

It was only through personal experience, educating myself and coming to the understanding that the body has a tremendous ability to heal itself, if we give it what it needs.

That awareness and experience taught me that our planet has enormous natural resources available to promote wellbeing, and help us maintain or regain health.

This awareness created my passion to spread the message that good hydration and quality nutrition can make an enormous contribution to health. I do not subscribe to the view that we need a ‘pill for every ill’.  I do not believe that the majority of diseases are genetic, because the argument simply doesn’t bear scrutiny. 

I am not saying, and nor have I ever argued, that nutrition and hydration will, on their own, heal the body of every known ailment. I do believe that in many instances there are other aspects at play, including issues at emotional or deeper levels which have a strong connection to our physical health and often need to be addressed.

Trauma – whether in childhood or adult life – can have a very negative effect on our health if not addressed. However, taking personal responsibility and increasing our awareness does give us a greater insight as to the issues impacting our wellbeing, and frequently gives us the strength to see them in context and deal with them.

One of our few functional medicine doctors recently commented that approximately 75% of people visiting their GP were doing so because of problems caused by poor nutrition.

If we look at the majority of everyday diseases such as cardiovascular disease, cancers, diabetes, arthritis, Alzheimer’s disease, osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression etc, improper nutrition is a contributory factor in all.

Consequently if we are to improve our health outcomes and maintain a high quality of physical and mental health into our senior years, we must make sound nutritional choices. That decision need not be complex nor painful.

We have two major obstacles to deal with that were much less of a problem for earlier generations.

Firstly, we live in a much more toxic world. A huge array of chemical compounds affect our daily life and often make it into our water and food. We need to be aware and take action to reduce our exposure to them.

Secondly, much of our food supply lacks the mineral content it once did due to modern farming practices and food processing. If we do not ingest mineral-rich food, it can seriously affect our health – a point that is conveniently lost on the medical industry and our governments, who unfortunately pay lip service to these things while dancing to the tune of powerful agricultural, food and pharmaceutical interests.

Many years ago, I became aware of the benefits of good hydration. The awareness that water is essential for good health and that it has many important functions in the body: it is not there simply to ‘fill up the space’ between cells.

Sadly over the years we have been conditioned to believe that any liquid such as tea, coffee, soft drinks, alcoholic beverages etc will satisfy the hydration requirements of the body. This is patently false, and in fact many of these drinks are actually dehydrating.

I realised that good water is the most important nutrient for the body, but not just any water; I understood that water in nature had known therapeutic benefits and particular characteristics, and so I endeavoured to find systems that would provide hydration solutions which could prove hugely beneficial for wellbeing.

Body pH balance is another area which is frequently neglected yet can be an important factor in influencing health.

The pH of our blood and tissues is supposed to be within a very narrow range, and should it deviate even slightly from that ideal, it will have negative consequences for our wellbeing, energy levels and immunity.

Unfortunately the modern day diet – high in processed foods, sugar, animal products and refined carbohydrates – is leading to an increased deviation towards acidity in many individuals, which if not corrected can create conditions for serious health problems.

Keeping our pH within the optimum levels will always pay dividends for both short- and long-term health.

Over the last decade there has been a huge focus on ‘gut health’ due to the realisation that the gut microbiome – that is, the microbial community living in our digestive system – has a massive impact on our wellbeing, both physically and mentally.

It is for that reason that I believe we will never enjoy good health without a properly balanced microbiome. Our microbiome has been under serious assault in recent decades because of poor diets, antibiotics and many other medications, as well as chlorine and fluoride in our drinking water.

Probiotic growth has been rapid during that period, and has done much to help; yet most probiotic products do not get to the root problem because they are not suited to the environment of the human body. They do not provide the ‘missing’ strains of good bacteria that healthy babies have.

Investing in good gut health will not only help improve digestive problems but will have a positive impact on mental health issues such as depression and anxiety. It will also lessen the likelihood of brain degenerative disease.

We all want to maintain our immunity and enjoy high levels of wellbeing without having to pop pills – which are, after all, alien molecules to the human body. If they are alien molecules, the body regards them as toxins.

Nature has richly endowed us with foods to enhance our wellbeing, and although we are living in an age where we have serious toxicity challenges, we are also living in an exciting age where we have so many great, nutritious foods available to fortify our bodies.

There is also plenty of information out there to help us on our journey to wellness.

It is twelve years since I set up Water for Health, with the aim of sharing with as many people as I could reach the benefits of good hydration. This subsequently encompassed quality nutrition products. We are very happy with the quality of products we offer, and the feedback we receive from clients who tell us that they have benefited.

I appreciate I cannot help everyone, but I am continuously amazed to see what people can achieve when they claim ownership of their health and begin to take positive action.

In the first instance I am inviting you to download our free ebook, which gives you more of a flavour of what simple changes can do for your wellbeing. Good health choices need not be complex nor expensive, but they can pay rich dividends.An improved quality of health leads to improved quality of life, improved quality of relationships and a much brighter future. Just click on the link and enter your name and email address. Then we will forward you our ebook and follow up with tips to educate and motivate, to help get you where you want and need to be.

I love to talk with people who are serious about elevating their levels of wellbeing. I hate to see so many people suffering and sadly dying prematurely for problems that could be helped with good nutritional choices and proper hydration. Feel free to call and ask for me.

We trust this message resonates with you. We would love you to join us on the journey to better health. In the first instance, download our ebook. Then you will get a flavour as to who we are and what we do.

Feel free afterwards to have a look around our website. In addition to our specialist products, we regularly maintain this blog, which has become a treasure trove of articles of value and relevance.

I look forward to being of help to you.

Best regards,

Roddy MacDonald

Founder and Managing Director

Water for Health

PS – When you fail to take personal responsibility, you become a victim of the system. Personal responsibility frees you to become a victor, not a victim.