It's called, homeostasis, the body's innate tendency to strive toward healing and health. It's a law of nature as inviolate as the law of gravity.

Let's look as three common maladies: high blood pressure (HBP), elevated cholesterol, and excess fat, to see how the body's innate wisdom, its homeostasis, causes these adverse conditions to prevent an even worse state of affairs.

Consider the first bugaboo: HBP.

Suppose you have been diagnosed with HBP. You get an Rx for one of dozens of drugs to treat hypertension. And it works; your BP is lower. But that comes at a price not measurable in dollars and cents. All drugs are accompanied with a roster of unwanted guests, those troublesome and sometimes deadly side effects.

Among these unwanted effects are failures of the heart, kidney, or liver; cognitive impairment, muscle wasting, and premature death. Give a healthy man this “medicine” and he'll get sick. Are we to suppose, then, that it will make a sick man well? And keep in mind that the FDA estimates that 90 percent of all side effects are unreported.

But that's just the beginning. Often a second drug is prescribed to treat the mishaps of the first. Then a third to rectify the second. The average senior takes seven different drugs each of which has its own dirty dozen of disadvantages plus an out-of-pocket tab of hundreds/year. Moreover, the interactions of these drugs are a complete unknown except they are anything but beneficial.

Overlooked is why the body's homeostasis is causing BP to rise. If your arteries are constricted, blood flow will be impeded. The body compensates for this by forcing blood through narrowed arteries to carry life sustaining oxygen and nutrients to the 100 trillion cells in your body. If BP did not increase, vital organs would starve and die.

So what to do, live with HBP or take a drug? Neither. Contact a health professional, one who is knowledgeable in treating and eliminating the causes of HBP, not in masking its symptoms with toxic pills?

Then there's that worrisome bugbear: cholesterol.

Cholesterol is the most maligned compound in the body. Yet if the body did not produce it, every cell would literally disintegrate. An amazing 25 percent of the body's store of cholesterol is in the brain; it's that important.

Drugs, such as stains, that stop the body from manufacturing cholesterol is suicide in the slow lane. Why, then, does the body produce “too much” of this compound?

Cholesterol is a powerful anti-inflammatory. An elevated level is the body's response to hyper- inflammation. It is not the cholesterol that needs to be controlled; it's the inflammation. A holistic physician will search for the root causes of inflammation not suppress the body's response to it.

As for cholesterol, the Department of Agriculture stated this in its 2015 dietary guidelines: “Cholesterol is no longer a matter of concern. Evidence shows no relationship between consumption of cholesterol and serum cholesterol.” Bacon and eggs anyone?

Finally, the last boogeyman: fat.

Tis a sad day for patriots. In a fork versus fork competition, Mexico won the Battle of the Bulge with the U.S.A. eating out the competition for second place as the fattest nation on Earth.

To what do we owe this weighty honor?

The secret lies not in how much we eat but in what we eat. All calories are not created equal. A calorie from sugar or flour is digested very quickly to glucose. This is followed by a flash-flood of glucose that pours into the blood stream and empties into the cells for energy.

But what if the cells have all the glucose they need? Something must be done and done quickly to rid the blood of excess sugar. What's a body to do? The sugar is pumped into that spare tire around our middle.

For those who choose to be losers, the answer to surplus poundage is not in a Rx diet pill. Equally dangerous are internet “all natural” weight-loss pills spiked with undisclosed ingredients. Sugar is the major culprit of excess baggage. Outlawed this dietary villain and replaced it with fiber-rich foods, primarily veggies, that digest slowly.

For guidance consult a health professional whose prescription will be on your dinner plate and not in your medicine cabinet.

All of us all have plenty of genuine concerns. Fretting about how our bodies are plotting to kill us should not be one of them. Homeostasis is always in our corner.

Sincerely,

Bob Scroggins

New Milford, PA