Structural Integrity: Why You’re Only as Healthy as Your Cells

It’s a scientific fact that disease starts at the cellular level. Cancer and tumors are the result of abnormal cell division. Inflammation inside an artery that creates plaque is caused by unhealthy cells. How you feel and function is determined by the health of the 20-30 trillion cells in the human body.

This is why the structural integrity of your cells is so important. Cellular structure, cellular respiration, cellular nutrition, cellular detoxification, cellular energy – they’re all critical to keeping your cells healthy.

Evaluating Structural Integrity

Each cell is a complicated structure with specific functions. Understanding what strengthens and weakens cells, and the ability to evaluate structural integrity, make it possible for the Natural Healthcare Center team to prevent and treat chronic illness. Different types of blood tests allow us to observe structural integrity.

For example, hemoglobin A1c, which shows average blood sugar levels, is a direct marker in the cell that tells us the patient’s state of prediabetes. Gastrointestinal conditions such as irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), gastritis, and gastroesophageal reflux disease (GERD) can be treated with a clinical nutrition program that attacks damaged cells within the stomach or small intestine.

What Affects Structural Integrity?

Stress, anxiety, and depression, which are often swept under the rug and masked with medication, have a major impact on the health of your cells. Your social life, your relationships with friends and family, and the strength of your spiritual relationship with God are a direct byproduct of structural integrity. The healthier your cells, the stronger your mental and emotional state tends to be.

Toxicity levels in the air, water, and soil, from glyphosate used to kill weeds to the methane gas that cows emit into the air, create an unhealthy environment that compromises cellular structural integrity.

This is why environmental xenobiotics, found in the Topics section of the Pyramid of Health, are so important to your well-being. The body works hard to remove xenobiotics, the unnatural chemical substances found in the environment, but these toxins can damage cells and affect gene expression.

Lack of exercise and too much exercise can both affect the health of our cells. Lack of exercise allows cells to deteriorate, while too much exercise can wear down certain cells.

Nutrition and oxidation affect structural integrity, which is why antioxidants are so important. Cells are like apples. If you take a bite and leave the apple on the table, it turns brown. That’s oxidation at work. The same thing happens to your cells.
Fruits, vegetables, and other foods rich in antioxidants like selenium and vitamins A, C, and E help protect your cells. On the other hand, manmade substances like trans fat, hydrogenated corn oil, high fructose corn syrup, refined sugars, and white flour are structural integrity killers.

Keep Your Cells Healthy

You’re only as healthy as the structural integrity of your cells. This is something we all started learning in biology class when we first looked at cells through a microscope.

When you think about the miracle of life, each of us started as two cells and grew into a gigantic container of 20-30 trillion cells that make up the human body. We all have the responsibility to maintain the structural integrity of those cells.

How do we accomplish this? A balanced, mostly plant-based diet made up of whole foods, not manmade substances. The right exercise, and the right amount of exercise. Limited exposure to unhealthy toxins. Avoiding stress and building healthy relationships.

Lifestyle choices and smart health decisions largely determine how healthy we are. It’s our responsibility to become educated and use the information we gather to feel better, function, better, and live longer.