Save Yourself First to Save the World

I posted a quote last week that pretty much sums up my philosophy of what I do as Nutrition and Wellness Consultant:
 
“Good health is a duty to yourself, to your contemporaries, to your inheritors, to the progress of the world.” Gwendolyn Brooks
 
How many of us look at the state of the world with climate change, natural disasters, racism, domestic abuse, chronic disease and depression and think, “what can I possibly do about it”? I’m too busy, too tired, too apathetic to even think about it.  
 
Have you ever thought how improving your own health might save the world. Most of us know the drill when you fly on a plane to put your own oxygen mask on first, so that you can assist those who can’t help themselves, like children. What if we applied that concept to our every day health and wellness?

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Do you run out of time and energy at the end of every day and week?
 
Do you wish you could think about taking some “me” time?
 
What if what you do to get through the week was actually making the situations in the world worse? You don’t want to think about how your choices are destroying rain forests, promoting child labour, poisoning poor third world communities. But when we listen to the marketing and use what seems like a convenience foods and products to get us through our days, we are not giving ourselves and our world, the best chance at good health. The processing and packaging alone make many of the convenience foods out there nutrient negative and pollution positive! Our exposure to toxic cleaners, pharmaceuticals, personal care products further compromise our health and the health of the world through their manufacturer and our exposure.
 
There is a definite movement to get back to basics and in many ways it could be much simpler.  Eating more locally-grown food, in its whole form. Using natural cleaners. Buying clothes that are made with natural, non-toxic fibers. Saying no to excess processing and packaging. There are over 20,000 different products on the shelves of my local grocery store!
 
We need to step back and look at the life we have created and find ways to simplify and clean up some of the mess we are making and not leave it to subsequent generations. The tide is changing and there is a movement to make some big shifts even as the world seems to be shifting on its axis as if to tell us to stand up and take notice.
 
In the discussion around climate change, whether one believes in the concept or not, I liken the evidence similar to a chronic disease. Functionally, you can throw drugs and treatments at them, but when you address the root cause – poor diet and lifestyle habits or trauma – you can often reverse these diseases. The same could be true for the world and if we take care of ourselves, we have time to think outside of our own 4 walls. Then we don’t have to find time to “recover” as I had one client describe her 2 years after retirement, where she had developed a chronic disease that she was spending her time and money trying to recover from because she didn’t have time to prevent while she was working.
 
We are all busy, but if we don’t take care of ourselves sooner than later we will find ourselves as the Dalai Lama describes what surprised him most:
 
“Man. Because he sacrifices his health in order to make money. Then he sacrifices money to recuperate his health. And then he is so anxious about the future that he does not enjoy the present; the result being that he does not live in the present or the future; he lives as if he is never going to die, and then dies having never really lived.”

If you want to know more about how to save your own health, contact me to learn more about my programs. 
#healthyeating #savetheworld #selfcare #healthcare #mindfuleating