The foundational task of  any medical school is to prepare future health professionals for the purpose of diagnosing and curing illnesses, helping  a   sick person be well.

But wellness is not just the absence of disease. It is a mental and physical optimum state of being that we all should strive to achieve.
Unlike machines, our bodies are in a continuous  state of self renewal and balance. As examples;  in a few hours the entire lining of our stomach is new. In four to six weeks all our skin cells are completely replaced. Approximately every three months we generate new skeleton.
The  atoms from which every molecule in our cells is made, are like migrating birds, they do not sit still in the same place for long. Our DNA atoms  are entirely  replaced in a year.

There is always a" critical balance" between the dismantling and rebuilding. When this balance is disrupted, the body balance can be tipped in either direction which is not desirable. Too much rebuilding may cause cancer, not enough may accelerate aging or osteoporosis.

The example of the pH is very demonstrative. A pH level in the blood is highly regulated  to be between 7.35 and 7.4. If it shifts up or down it affects every chemical reaction inside each cell.  The body is akin to a river; it is never in a static state.

Nothing in the universe is idle and so is the body.  Just like we cannot step in the same river twice, it is not the same river, we cannot step  in the same body twice, it is not the same body.

To maintain the illusion of sameness of  our  outer public appearance, we go through daily under the radar routine steps; like showering, brushing our teeth, shaving, putting on make up, without which people will flee us like pest.

When my diastolic blood pressure did not go down like the rest of all my clinical parameters,  I knew I had to explore the world of nutrition. And exploring I did and still do.

I started reading about nutrition, one book at the time and progressively altered my eating habits. Soon I discovered the many perplexing contradictions between the experts. That explains the  continuous shifting of the  governmental recommended  food pyramid.

In my household the first things we dropped were the easy ones, like the fried  food, the  saturated fat, the hamburgers, the French fries, and all the obvious bad ones. Unlike many Americans, for us cooking is a daily routine. Eating out is a Sunday  deal. Our unhappy children were not enthused by the changes and were looking forward for the weekends so they could order what they missed at home. This trend led to more and more vegetables and green stuff while my work out regimen remained the same.
After six months  I paid another visit to my cardiologist for my third stress test.

To my utter surprise my diastolic blood pressure moved down into the high seventies  for the first time in almost three years. That convinced me, without any crenel of doubt,  that no matter how fit I became my heart had  to overcome some resistance from by now less hardened  arteries. That despite my genetic predisposition I have some control over my genes expressions.  That my arteries  were still not flexible enough to absorb the sudden  burst  of the blood from the left ventricle. I began to tolerate  more and more crossing my legs before  the numbness and discomfort  were  felt.   
More info next posting.