It seems today that for every mood swing, inconvenient behavior, irritating symptom, unwanted pain, or side effect there is a distinctively colored pill to smooth the way for our hectic life styles. The advertisements are all over the TV, radio, and every form of print media telling us to ask our doctor about this or that pill that will make everything all right. You would think that, for all their sincerity, these advertisements are saying that the silver bullet cure for every little thing has arrived. Our environment is toxic enough without adding lots of these laboratory concocted synthetic substances to our bodies. If our bodies have the correct raw materials to work with, then they are capable of protecting, defending, and repairing themselves. Of course, this not only requires the education necessary to know what to feed our bodies, but also requires a whole new way of thinking about our health. We must develop a culture of wellness instead of a consciousness of sickness and symptoms. Wellness is a way of thinking as well as a condition. Much of what ails us today can be linked to improper immune function. Our immune systems have been compromised to the point where their activity has been turned 180 degrees from protecting us, and instead are attacking the very cells they are supposed to protect. The human immune system, though much more complicated than I have time to go into in this article, has a straight forward and simple method for keeping us well. The human immune system, using white cells produced by the blood, goes in search of other cells and other organisms that cause trouble and negatively impact our body systems. If the cells that are on their search and destroy missions recognize the problems, then our immune system functions to protect, defend, and repair our tissues. This is how our bodies are supposed to take care of unhealthful bacteria, viruses, toxins, cancers, and other potentially harmful things. The process described above works well automatically when conditions are favorable and proper raw materials are available and present for our bodies to accomplish what, by design they were meant to achieve. In the past, properly grown, harvested, and prepared foods were a good source of the necessary raw materials with which our bodies could pave the way for proper immune function at the cellular level maintaining wellness. When this balance is achieved, healthy cells, with cell surface sugars transmitting vital information, exist to help our bodies take care of problems and conditions that may arise. However, the absence of these cell surface sugars, that provide the means by which accurate identification takes place, will produce disastrous consequences resulting in the destruction of healthy cells and tissue. This destructive process is one of the main reasons why autoimmune diseases such as asthma, arthritis, lupus, and a host of allergies are rising to epidemic proportions today. If these cell surface sugars are missing, then we must provide them. These cell surface sugars, not being abundant in our daily modern diet, must be supplied on a supplementary basis if we are to enjoy a healthy and vibrant life and maintain a state of wellness. Drugs, synthetically produced, adding to the toxic content of our bodies, addressing only symptoms, and having negative side effects are certainly not the answer to encouraging our bodies to produce a desired state of wellness. And yet I am certain that there is a pharmaceutical representative periodically stationed in every doctor’s waiting room, a pharmaceutical industry lobbyist at the ready in every law maker’s reception area, and a paid-in-cash advertisement for every available television, radio, and print media spot that exists today. Drugs do not produce wellness, but rather mask symptoms. If the pain of a headache can ignored long enough for you body to fix whatever condition caused that problem in the first place, then we hasten to deduce that the pain pill cured the discomfort. Nothing could be further from the truth. The systems of our bodies are what heal, correct, and repair what goes wrong with us. This is true no matter what those sincere looking actors on the tube are telling you about the newest red, blue, pink, orange, or purple pill that you should ask your doctor about. The science of cell surface sugars and its importance is no longer on the fringe of scientific research. The last four Nobel Prizes in Physiology or Medicine were awarded for discoveries in the field of cell surface sugars and their related functions in our bodily systems. Wellness today mandates that you become educated about this new science and it’s relevance to our physiology and how providing these nutrients to your healthy lifestyle is absolutely necessary for proper cell function resulting in the wellness that we all desire. We can sum up by saying we all need to exercise, eat well, and supplement wisely. Whenever I launch into one of the obscure popular songs of my generation, my children look at me strangely and ask how I come up with such gibberish. When I tell them this gibberish is a real popular song from my past that made somebody a lot of money, they stare in disbelief and declare that this cannot be true and that I must have made it up. To which I reply, “Well, someone definitely made it up”. So, at the risk of being slightly nostalgic, even though the words aren’t quite as notorious as “It was a one eyed, one horned flying purple people eater”, take a proactive approach to your wellness and move your body, eat well, supplement wisely, and don’t be a pin headed, TV drug ad watching zombie-eyed paisley colored pill eater. Take back your life.