Fields' Prescription for Good Health

A person's health is his most important possession. John writes in his Third Epistle: "Beloved, I wish above all things that you may be in health." (3rd John 1:2). Health is wealth and its value surpasses that of rubies and gold. Many a person would gladly exchange his wealth for good health. Some have attempted to do so without success.
Do you care about your health? Of course, you do. But what are you doing to maintain or acquire good health? "Heal yourself!" is not some far-fetched idea as it may appear to be. Each person has the power to heal himself and help others to be healed.
Allow me to present to you the "Fields' Prescription for Good Health" that I have administered daily to myself. I have received an amazing health dividend from this practice. In presenting this plan I am going to share with the reader my personal story regarding the things that I have done to foster my own optimum health. Although I am quite a few years beyond three score years the last time I visited my physician he told me that I am in better health than most men twenty years younger than I am. He suggested that I come back to see him in a year. I have not been under a surgical knife. When I say these things I am not boasting. I realize that "but for the grace of God so go I," However, I also recognize that God's grace has guided and motivated me to do or not do the things that have caused me to have optimum health. There is definitely a correlation between what we do or not do and the status of our health. The five components of the Fields' Prescription for Good Health are:
1. Diet. Succinctly stated, a diet is a daily eating plan that is designed to maximize a person's health. There is a need for everyone to be on a well-balanced and health-producing diet. This by no means is meant to infer that a person must be on a diet that has been prescribed for him by a dietitian, health specialist or physician. Having a basic knowledge and awareness of one's body and its needs are sufficient to enable a person to select the kinds of food that he needs in order to be healthy. This is not to say, as will soon become evident, that food is all that is necessary for a person to be healthy. Food is not enough to assure good health but it sure helps a lot.
Foodwise, the body needs proteins and carbohydrates that are supplied by vegetables. Fruit and nuts provide the body with needy nutrients. Meat, eaten in small portions, is all right, even necessary. My own typical diet speaks to the point that I am endeavoring to make. For breakfast I eat whole grain cereal, a banana, a piece of toast with jam, one-half grapefruit, a cup of tea and a prune. For lunch and dinner I eat meat, beef or pork, twice a week, and fish and poultry, chicken or turkey, the remaining days of the week, except occasionally I have meatless days. While it is possible for a person to be a healthy vegetarian, many vegeterians are not as healthy as they could be because certain nutrients that their bodies need that are readily available in small portions of meat exist only in minuscule amounts in vegetables. Some people pay a high price for not eating meat. To vegeterians, in particular, I say, many non-human animals are meat eaters, although some do not.
As for salt, I abstain from consuming it, except for the sodium that is found in some food products I feel I need. Even at that usually I refuse to buy certain food products that contain a large quantity of sodium. I also limit my sugar intake, seldom drink coffee and consume no more than three or four soft drinks a week. Seldom do I drink alcohol. I eat different kinds of nuts, including peanut butter. I suppose one could say that I am a nutty person. Food supplements usually taken from bottles, are not needed. Moreover, many food supplements are not only costly but they are harmful. Generally speaking, the so-called organic food products are not any better for the body than non-organic food products. And the same can be said about so-called pure bottle water. It too is no better than the water from your kitchen sink faucet. In a real sense all food that grows in the earth is organic . A person should not be fooled by the so-called scientific studies, often done under the auspices of universities, regarding the value or disvalue of certain food products. In most instances a person only need to know who is financing these studies to determine their lack of validity. Who do you think may be financing the study that discovered and concluded that beer and wine are good for the body...that beer and wine bibbers have less heart attacks than other people? Be aware and beware of such information about many food products that is now abundantly available. Learn to listen to your body, mind and soul. Have your own mind. Do your own thinking.
2. Exercise. Daily exercise is a necessity, not an option. The body was made to bend, stretch, move and, of course, to walk. Walking is the most important form of exercise that a person can do. I walk three or four miles at least five days a week. There are many forms of exercise that yield a health dividend, espeically for those engaged in exercising systematically and with regularity. A limited amount of jogging and running can be positive. But it is not necessary for a person to jog or run in order for him to maintain good health. Nor is it necessary for a person to lift weights or ride a bicycle in order to exercise appropriately. However, if he does not participate in other forms of exercise then it is better that he do these things than not to do them. Question: When did you last, or first, see a non-human animal riding a bicycle? I suppose having horse sense prevents a horse from engaging in this kind of cycling. Occasionally it is all right for a person to engage in practically any kind of exercise, including hopping skipping, jumping, climbing and so on. Should he choose flying let him be sure that he does not take-off from a skyscraper, just in case his arms do not instantly become wings.
In addition to these types of exercise dancing and simply fidgeting, the latter a common near-obsession with many children but rarely engaged in by older adults can, at any age, be health producing. A person can participate in many forms of exercise in the confine of his own home or while in a single room for that matter, including while he is in bed. Creative sexual activities yield a health dividend. Such movements as moving the fingers, toes, arms and legs, and so on, are also health empowering.
3. Spirituality. When I speak of spirituality I mean caring for and tending to the soul. The soul directs human behavior. Religion is definitely a part of spirituality. Everyone is religious whether he admits it or not. Religion can be destructive or constructive, depending on whether or not it is soulfully rooted in God-consciousness or merely the acceptance of a system of beliefs. Spirituality is lived, actualizing and demonstrative. It may be expressed and experienced through prayer meditation, communion, contemplation, praise, singing, worship and celebration. Each of these communication mediums has its own specificity and together they complement each other in creating harmony and balance in human personality. I engage in most of these afroementioned communication mediums on a daily basis. Before eating I say grace. And because I do not sense the same degree of power or depth of gratitude when I engage in silent meditation as I do when I say grace I say grace aloud just as God did in Creation when He said: "Let there be light," and just as Jesus did following his disciples' inquiry to Him about prayer when He responded: "When you pray say 'Our Father...' ." Sometimes when I say grace I will name each food item that I am about to consume. Saying grace is one of the things that enables me to make a simple meal a banquet. Another way I care for my soul and experience the heightened presence of God is to go to nature. Sometimes I go into the forest, away from everything else except the woods and what is there such as the birds, wind and trees. For me going to nature may be spending time focusing on the stars, moon and sky or listening to the sounds of the ocean waves. I like the darkness, perhaps, because that is the only time I can see the stars.
4. Sleep. While it is true that everyone sleeps, at some time or the other, it is a fact that sleep disorders affect a vast number of human beings. Even though the amount of sleep needed may vary from person to person most youths need a minimum of eight hours and adults need a minimum of six hours of sleep each day. Yet, some people who get less than six hours of sleep daily are healthy. It is not just the number of hours a person sleeps but the quality of his sleep that matters most. Deep sleep is of greater value than shallow sleep. Older people tend to need less sleep than they did during their earlier years.
A person can improve his sleep by refraining from watching TV at least an hour or two before going to bed and retiring about the same time each night. It is important for a person to carefully select the kind of reading he does before going to bed and to refrain from reading while in bed. After going to bed it is best for a peson to engage in sexual play, includig stroking oneself or another person, conscious-focusing breathing, prayer or meditation; to draw upon his internal rather than external resources. After getting in bed and saying a prayer of thanksgiving I usually say aloud or sing this affirmation, also called mantra:
"Go to sleep my child.
Tonight your Heavenly Father
holds you
in His bosom."
I repeat this mantra several times and sometimes I am not able to watch myself go to sleep, even though I go to sleep. Just because a person does not go to sleep that is not a reason for him to get out of bed. There are more things to do in bed than sleep and have sex, as important as these things are, even for health's sake. Moreover, while the body is in a reclining posture balance is most likely to be achieved and maturation accelerated. When in bed but not able to sleep a person can do exercise such as moving his fingers, toes, legs, arms and engage in bicycling without the presence of a bicycle. I didn't mention it earlier but I have seen a horse cycling without riding a bicycle.
5. Attitude. It is true , attitude is not everything but it is a long way ahead of whatever is second. Of course, here I am speaking about a positive or healthy attitude, not a negative attitude which promotes destructiveness rather than health. A person's attitude determines the choice he makes in any given moment irrespective of his situation. Each person has the power to choose life or death. A person's death choice may be gradual rather than sudden and his demise may result from his abusive use of drugs or alcohol.
Significantly, a person never finds himself in a position or situation where he cannot choose a particular and positive attitude. Even when facing imminent death a person may choose to take a positive attitude. When faced with instant death this person having a positive attitude, with confidence and while flashing a smile, said to those standing by his death bed: "Now, I have a chance to exchange mortality for immortality."
For our health's sake let us resolve to administer to ourselves, individually, the "Fields Prescription
for Good Health." It is no longer a secret that taking this prescription can effectively maximize and promote optimum health. Remember, your health is your responsibility. You can be healthy or you can be sick. Only you can decide. Be your own best friend. Do not abdicate taking personal responsibility for your health. Not even your physician can do for you healthwise what only you can do for yourself. Care for your soul and your soul will care for you.
Although I mentioned singing under spirituality, but because of its importance for me and I am a troubadour, let me emphasize that singing is good for the healing and health of the body, mind and soul. I sing every day. Sometimes I sing songs that I have composed. Sing a new song. Sing your own song. There is a yearning within every person to express his own music and song. Until he does the turbulent-like vibration in his soul is not likely to subside. So, for health's sake sing your own song and develop or adopt your own health plan. Also include in it play and a sense of humor. Learn to play with yourself and laugh at yourself. These acts are strong indications that the child in you, regardless of your age, is alive. Don't let your inner child precede you in death. You will need him at death to help you make the transition successfully. In developing your health plan or improving it I believe that you can put into use the insights you have gained from becoming acquainted with the "Fields' Prescription for Good Health." Refer to this prescription and take it as often as you feel you need it. This is the honor system. You can be trusted to be good to yourself.
Finally, given the nature of existence and the human condition, I am compelled to admit that I am not God and in recognition of this fact declare an undeniable truth: there is no guarantee that by self-administering and internalizing the "Fields' Prescription for Good Health," as is true with all other practices, a person will achieve good health. But the time-tested pursuits of practitioners that have been recorded and filed in the data bank of human experience provide us with a preponderance of evidence that clearly reveals that certain behavorial practices tend to move a person toward health while other behavorial practices tend to move a person toward destructiveness or unhealth. The chance of a person benefiting from taking a middle ground position, if and when that is possible, appears to be negligible. For health's sake choose health, not destructiveness or unhealth.

Copyright 2003 by Uriah J. Fields

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Write to:
Uriah J. Fields
P. O. Box 4770
Charlottesville, VA 2290