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Nutrition Price vs Value​

Today’s society is so driven by money, its scary. People, who make money by selling fitness programs, diet supplements, and cosmetic must haves, try to convince us that everything can be purchased beauty, happiness, health. We feel like we have to look a certain way in order to be happy and we have to pay for it with hard earned money. Advertisements push products on us from every side, celebrities give us nutritional advice from the pages of magazines, and self-appointed health experts offer yet another magic pill as the cure for everything. Most sell us quick fixes, false promises, and an easy way out, and blinded by profit they try to camouflage the fact that long term, sustainable, optimal health requires investments other than money. Dollars can buy you just about everything, but the most important things in life don’t have a price tag on them.

A while ago a friend asked me to join her for a health related seminar hosted by one of the self-appointed health experts, for just a couple of bucks. My initial reaction was: Why do you have to pay for that information? I can tell you everything for free, but for some reason she did not value my point of view just because I do not have some authoritative letters by my name on my business card. But I really do believe that the ultimate health secrets should not be secrets at all. All I know I learned simply by reading the right materials, listening to the right people, and years of self-experimentation. A foundation of basic and simple information on how to achieve a healthy body and mind should be provided to everyone, free of charge. In today’s world it may seem like health really is just a privilege of the lucky wealthy few and if you want to join the healthy crowd, you have to show some cash. But we are here to tell you the simple truth, we are here to teach you how to be healthy, how to take responsibility for your health, completely for free. All you have to invest is your own time. Time is something we can never get back. If you run out of money, you can always make some, if you run out of food in the fridge, you can just go and buy some groceries, but time is something we can never get back. Be mindful of how you are spending yours.

I’ve said this before: health is not a privilege, health is a basic right of every human being. Health doesn’t come in a colorful carton box you buy, open, and put on like a superhero suit. Health is a result of taking responsibility for your own body. It takes money, time, effort, and high dose of self-love. It requires a strong positive mindset, a clear list of priorities, and enthusiasm. Belief in your own importance and your own abilities keeps the momentum going. Health is a not a final state of being; health is a journey. You don’t water a plant once and expect it to grow forever. You need to nourish your own body and mind constantly, with love, care, respect, and determination. You need to start investing in yourself too. Don’t settle for less than the best when it comes to your own health.

Every journey starts with a single step, and getting yourself into the right state of mind should be the first step for everyone. Becoming aware of your own value is very important. It may seem selfish at first, but you have to put yourself first to really get well. You cant expect to be a role model for your children, partners, friends, and to take care of them and give them all your love, care, and attention, if you don’t prioritize your own health. Its like how the airplane safety guide tells you to put on your own oxygen mask before assisting others you wont be able to keep breathing and helping others if you don’t help yourself first. You are important to the people you love; you should become the most important person in your own life in order to live the fullest, longest life possible. It is YOUR life, YOUR health, YOU are in charge here, YOU can make a change. Health is a choice, its not guaranteed to us, but it is our right, something we should strive for, and something that is largely under our control.

Our body is a wonderful, self-healing mechanism. When given proper nutrition for our individual metabolic needs, it is able to live a long, healthy life. If you feed your body the right way, it will give you years of quality life in return. You will be able to run around with your grandchildren, carry a huge load of groceries in just one trip, or hike in the mountains when you are in your sixties or seventies. Why not? Being old does not mean being unwell and unable to do things we did in our twenties. An older body does have different needs that require specific attention, and those needs do not automatically include a walking stick or a wheelchair. We see a lot of sick, elderly people and we also see a lot of overweight children. These things are very common; so common, that we have started to see them as normal. They are not normal, and we can only change them by changing ourselves, our behavior, and our day to day lifestyle choices. Raising healthy children from a very young age means raising healthy adults, who will be able to make smart, educated choices on their own and later teach their own kids. But we cant make changes simply by trying to change others. It starts with each and every one of us. You be the change you want to see in the world!

The second important move is ignoring most of what you’ve been told about health and nutrition by government, mass media, and social media. The world of television and internet is powerful and unfortunately, it has an impact on our everyday lives, more than we are willing to admit. We think we need to eat less and exercise more, but there is no healthy message in that statement. All it does is make young girls (and guys) starve themselves thin and spend hours doing chronic cardio training every day. Food deprivation is not going to bring us health. Calorie counting is not the way to go either and the number on the scale shows very little about your actual health. The number only shows you the effect of your body on the ground due to gravity. The number on the scale doesn’t matter.

Our bodies are really smart by nature, and a healthy, well nourished body knows its ideal weight. It will be different for each individual, but once you heal your body properly with real food, your body weight will for sure change (unless you are perfectly healthy now and if you are, way to go!) People, especially women, have a hard time wrapping their heads around the fact that our bodies need a certain amount of body fat to function. It is quite possible that those extra five pounds you think you have to lose are perfectly healthy and optimal for you. Don’t fight those pounds, embrace them, learn to love them, and once you get your physical and mental health dialed, you will forget about them (or they will gradually go away).

Forget all you learned about soy being a health food, milk being the most important calcium source ever, and sugar laden protein powders being an excellent source of protein (we have you covered here with real food protein powder full of enzymes, vitamins, essential fatty acids and probiotics). Ditch diet magazines and throw away your fast food coupons. Unsubscribe from Fitness Motivation sites on Facebook and start learning about real food. The way you look and feel is more like 80% about what you’re putting into your body, and 20% about exercise. Joel Salatin, founder of Polyface farms said: If you think real food is expensive, have you priced out cancer lately? Real food brings real health. Fake food creates nothing but suffering. You don’t want to suffer through life, you want to thrive and enjoy every day to its fullest potential, you want to run, laugh, play Frisbee with your kids and friends, take care of your garden when you retire, and be able to get up in the morning without feeling pain in every single joint.

You want to LIVE, not just survive, right? Real nutrition and a balanced lifestyle is the way to go. Eat real food (lists like Dirty Dozen and Clean Fifteen will help you pick the right produce), and superfoods, move smart, meditate, walk, dance, enjoy life! Learn where you stand metabolically, ditch all the diet programs you paid for (they were all wasted money anyway, but you already know that) and instead of the Superstar of the Month Diet, follow a perfectly new Insert Your Name Here Diet, that will agree with your nutritional needs, your lifestyle, and your goals. Educate yourself, read some good books (I recommend Eat the Yolks by Liz Wolfe, Metabolic Typing by William Wolcott, The Last Best Cure by Donna Jackson Nakazawa, The Loving Diet by Jessica Flannigan or Sexy by Nature by Stefani Ruper, the last one is an excellent guide specifically for women health), watch some great documentaries like Bought, Moldy, Fat Head or Fed Up, follow blogs that will help you on your way (like WellnessMama.com, ThePaleoMom.com, Autoimmune-paleo.com, TheLowHistamineChef.com and many more). Congratulations, you just took the first step in the journey to greater health and longevity! Doesn’t it feel good?!