Healthy Living DIY

"'Plant diseases develop when three conditions align: There must be a susceptible host plant, a pathogen must be present, and the environment must be conducive. This is called the disease triangle,' explains Andreas Westphal, Ph.D., a plant pathologist at Purdue University. To covercome plant diseases in your garden, make the conditions as unfavorable for disease as possible."

Source: "Disease Defense" by Beth Huxta in Organic Gardening, June/July 2007, pg. 22. (Thanks to both Ms. Huxta and Dr. Westphal for sharing their expertise.)

Here's the way organic gardeners explain this. When you have healthy soil, you'll grow a healthy plant. Healthy plants resist diseases and pests much more readily than unhealthy ones do.

When an organic gardener follows this advice, he or she will knock out two legs of that disease triangle. The healthy plant will be a less susceptible host for disease, and the environment that made the plant healthy in the first place is the same environment that helps it further prevent disease problems.

A gardener, therefore, has some ability to influence two out of three legs of that disease triangle, just by building healthy soil. Truth is there are also a few things he can do to reduce the likelihood of having a pathogen present, but let's forget about the third leg for a moment and concentrate on the first two.

Remember the previous article in this series? We talked about the benefits of seeking out areas of life where we can have some influence over the results we get. A desirable spot to be in...

Well, in the garden, we've just found one set of actions (improving the soil) that will produce two separate angles on better results for our planty little friends. What if we could apply the same principles to human health?

I believe we can.

A healthy human body resists disease better than an unhealthy one. Common knowledge.

• If you've got a strong immune system, you'll fight off colds, flu, and even big-gun problems -- from some cancers to radiation poisioning.
• A structurally sound body is more tolerant of mechanical stress and strain than one less stable, resulting in fewer musculoskeletal injuries.
• Even likelihood of developing heart disease, not likely to be immune-related, can be minimized by conscious attention to creating health.

The same health-promoting activites and circumstances that create a strong immune system, create structural balance in the body, and make your circulatory system run well serve double duty in the human realm, too. They provide a healthier environment in which to enjoy life, thus making future encounters with disease less likely.

Notice I didn't say, "you'll absolutely, positively, never, ever get sick." I don't know anyone who's found the fountain of perpetual immortality. Plants have their season as well. But you can definitely skew the odds in your favor!

In the next article, we'll explore the variety of actions and circumstances you might want to consider when building that "healthy soil" that forms the landscape of your life.