You don't need expensive medicine or a fancy gym to be healthy. You need eight things that are already all around you: real food, movement, water, sunlight, clean air, rest, self-control, and the peace that comes from trusting God. They're called the 8 natural remedies, and the English acronym is NEWSTART: a "new start."
The Bible treats your body as something valuable. "Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own" (1 Corinthians 6:19-20, NIV). Taking care of yourself isn't vanity. It's gratitude.
This guide is practical. No boring lecture: for each remedy you'll see what to do today, with real numbers and examples from Club life. It applies to the 11-year-old Pathfinder and to the 25-year-old Counselor alike.
Nutrition: eat what the earth gives
Food is fuel. If you fill up on soda and chips, your body runs poorly: fatigue, bad mood, trouble concentrating. If you fill up on real food, everything works better. Early in the Bible, God points to the original menu: 'I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food' (Genesis 1:29, NIV). Grains, fruits, vegetables, greens and nuts: that's the foundation.
In practice, build your plate with half vegetables and fruit, a quarter grains (brown rice, beans, oats, bread) and a quarter protein. Swap soda for water or fresh juice. Make sweets a once-a-week exception, not a daily rule. You don't have to be perfect all at once: start by swapping ONE thing. A piece of fruit instead of a cream-filled cookie at the camp snack is already a win.
One detail that changes the Club: when the Unit plans the camp menu together, everyone eats better. Agree beforehand on who brings fruit, who handles the salad, who organizes breakfast. Good food in a group becomes culture, not sacrifice.
Exercise: your body was made to move
The human body was designed for movement, not for the couch. The World Health Organization's recommendation for children and adolescents aged 5 to 17 is clear: at least 60 minutes per day of moderate to vigorous physical activity. And it doesn't have to be all at once, or on a treadmill. Running, cycling, playing ball, swimming, climbing the trail, marching in drill: it all counts.
The good news is that a Pathfinder's life is already full of movement. The Saturday meeting with games, the hike to the campsite, pitching the tent, the pioneering that demands strength and teamwork. Take advantage of that. If your weekday routine is very sedentary, arrange with a Club friend to walk or cycle together. Having company is what makes the habit last.
Movement is also medicine for the head. After 30 minutes of activity, your mood improves and anxiety drops. It's not magic: it's the body working as it was made to. If you've been irritable or low on energy, sometimes what you need isn't more sleep: it's more movement during the day.
Water: the cheapest remedy of all
Water has no color, no flavor and no price, but it's the remedy your body uses the most. It carries nutrients, controls temperature, helps the brain think and the gut function. A mid-afternoon headache, unexplained fatigue, trouble concentrating in class: often it's just thirst in disguise. A dehydrated body gives signals before you actually feel thirsty.
The easiest practical rule to remember: drink water throughout the day, without waiting until you're thirsty. A reusable bottle in your backpack solves it. Fill it in the morning, drink during breaks, fill it again. On a hot day, at camp or during physical activity, you need more. A simple way to check if you're well hydrated: your urine should be clear or very pale yellow. If it's dark, drink more.
At the Club, hydration saves the day. Before any hike or game under the sun, the Counselor should remind everyone to fill their bottle. Dehydration during outdoor activity is one of the most common causes of feeling unwell at camp, and the easiest to avoid. Water also helps from the outside: a shower, washing your face, wetting the back of your neck in the heat. It cools and revives.
Sunlight and fresh air: get outside
Sunlight makes your body produce vitamin D, important for strong bones and for mood. A few minutes of morning sun, a few days a week, already helps a lot. And there's a bonus: natural morning light regulates your internal clock, so you sleep better at night. Someone who spends the whole day on a screen, in a dark room, throws off that clock and struggles to fall asleep.
But be careful: sunlight is medicine in the right dose. Midday sun, strong and for a long time, burns the skin and does harm. Prefer the gentle sun of morning or late afternoon. On long outdoor activities, use sunscreen, a cap and a shirt. Medicine in excess becomes poison, and it's no different with the sun.
Fresh air is the perfect partner to sunlight. Breathing clean air, away from smoke and stuffy indoor spaces, oxygenates the blood and clears the mind. That's why camp does so much good: you trade the stale air of home for the air of the countryside. You don't have to wait for camp, though. Open your bedroom window, breathe deeply on the balcony, hold the Club meeting outdoors when you can. Nature and God go together, and the Pathfinder has the privilege of experiencing it up close.
Read alsoFood safety at campTemperance: self-control is freedom
Temperance is an old word for a simple idea: use good things in moderation and let go entirely of the ones that harm you. It's not about banning everything. It's about you controlling your habits, and not the other way around. Eat well, but without overdoing it. Use your phone, but without becoming its slave. And say a firm no to what only destroys.
Here comes a serious point for your age. Alcohol, cigarettes, vapes and other drugs are presented as fun, but they attack precisely the body and brain that are still developing. A teenager's brain matures until around age 25, and these substances disrupt that process, on top of being addictive. The Pathfinder learns early to say no, and that's strength, not weakness. If someone offers you something, you don't need to explain: a 'no thanks' is enough.
Temperance is also about the screen. Too much gaming, social media and video steals your sleep, your attention and your time with real people. Agree on limits: a time to put the phone away at night, a set amount of gaming, meals without screens. Whoever controls their own habits is free. Whoever doesn't is controlled by them. If you want to go deeper, there's even a Temperance Honor that works on this theme in the Club.
Rest: sleeping is building
Sleeping is not wasting time. It's while you sleep that the body grows, the brain stores what it learned, and your defenses recover. A teenager who sleeps poorly does poorly in school, gets irritable and falls ill more easily. The numbers are well defined by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine: children aged 6 to 12 need 9 to 12 hours of sleep per night, and adolescents aged 13 to 18 need 8 to 10 hours. That's a lot, and most people sleep less than that.
The biggest enemy of sleep today is the screen. The phone's light tricks the brain and delays sleep, and the message that arrives at 11 p.m. keeps you awake. The practical solution is to create a ritual: turn off screens about an hour before lying down, keep the room dark and cool, and go to sleep at roughly the same time every day, even on weekends. The body loves routine.
The Sabbath gives the greatest example of rest. One day a week to unplug from the rush, be with family and with God, and recharge. It's not laziness: it's ancient wisdom. Weekly rest and daily sleep are two sides of the same remedy, and no other habit works well without them. At camp, respecting quiet hours at night isn't an annoying rule: it's what guarantees energy for the next day.
Trust in God: medicine for the mind
The first seven remedies care for the body. The eighth cares for what's inside. Trusting God isn't just a church matter: it has a real effect on the mind. The Bible knew this millennia ago: 'A cheerful heart is good medicine, but a crushed spirit dries up the bones' (Proverbs 17:22, NIV). Worry, fear and guilt consume you from within. Trust in God relieves that weight.
In practice, this becomes simple habits that calm the mind. Praying when anxiety hits, handing over what you can't control. Reading a passage of the Bible to start the day with your thoughts in the right place. Forgiving, so you don't carry resentment that only hurts you. Being in a Club, surrounded by people who care, is part of this: loneliness harms, community heals. If you're not Adventist or Christian, you're still welcome to try the peace that comes from not carrying everything alone.
God wants you whole and well, inside and out. The apostle John wished exactly this for a friend: 'Dear friend, I pray that you may enjoy good health and that all may go well with you, even as your soul is getting along well' (3 John 1:2, NIV). Health of the body and peace of the soul go together. When the mind rests in God, the body feels it. And when the body is well cared for, it's easier for the mind to rest. The eight remedies are a single act of care.
How to start without pushing yourself too hard
Reading about eight remedies at once can be daunting. The truth is that no one gets everything right at the same time, and God's grace doesn't depend on your perfect plate. The secret is to choose ONE remedy this week and take care of it. Maybe it's the water bottle in your backpack. Maybe it's putting the phone away earlier. Maybe it's swapping the cookie for a piece of fruit. One small firm step is worth more than ten plans you abandon by Tuesday.
Once the first habit becomes automatic, add another. It's like marching: one foot at a time, in rhythm, and suddenly you've covered a good distance. Note in your Class notebook which remedy you're working on and how the week went. Seeing your own progress motivates you to keep going.
The Club is the best place for this, because a good habit is contagious. When the whole Unit decides to drink more water, sleep early before camp or hold the meeting outdoors, it becomes easier for everyone. Talk to your Counselor, bring your friends along, and turn health into a group project. Taking care of the body God gave you is a beautiful way to say thank you.