Summer Health Series #2 Recap: Balanced & Healthy Body
What does a balanced, healthy life mean?
Society has given us so many requirements for having a balanced life and many are contradictory. I believe we were never intended to take our cues from the worldview to determine what was healthy. If so, history is evidence that it has not been for the betterment of our health or families. Although there are basic premises to achieve balance, we each have to find what works for us and our families. Since, as a society, we have been caught up in the snare of being “Super Parents”, having a well-rounded child, our true quality of life has decreased. Instead of lifespan increasing, our children are projected to live a shorter lifespan than their parents. Certainly, that means we are doing something right, right? How have we become so disconnected that we can’t see the obvious? How in a society with so many technological advances and resources is this happening? Why are we not appalled and why are we not asking why?
Without even realizing it, we have traded much for convenience, approval, peer pressure, profit, and greed.
Our fast-paced, instant gratification, sugar-coated speaking, entitled lifestyles have put us in a position to see diseases that were not recognized before or that were not seen in children. Obesity is at an all-time high, family time and quality social time is limited, and we have limited access to healthy food and water. More people are on prescription and non-prescription drugs than ever before. We live in a toxic world that is playing havoc with our mental, physical, and spiritual well-being. We live in the land of opportunity and one of the wealthiest countries in the world so how did this happen?
Our social interaction is behind a screen where our worth is found in the number of likes we receive.
The average family doesn’t even sit down for one to two dinners a week together. Our social interaction is behind a screen where our worth is found in the number of likes we receive. Our children are taught that they must compete to measure up and parents are working themselves to death to provide opportunities for children’s activities that they may not even want to do. Now, I’m not saying we shouldn’t work, that our children shouldn’t be well-rounded, or that there isn’t a time and place for social media but what I am saying is that our children need parents who are present, connected, and pouring life into them. If we don’t remind ourselves and our children of our worth, then the world will remind us of how little we are. The truth will set you free and there is a way to speak truth and life at the same time without being demeaning. For the most part, people live up to what you expect of them. Yes, there are times that humans have unrealistic expectations but that’s different than believing in someone enough to encourage them and walk this adventure called life together.
The power of ‘no’.
One of the most freeing words in the English vocabulary is NO! What would it mean for your career, your life, your spouse, your parents, your children, your friends, and your church if you said no to just one activity a week and used it to really connect with the world around you? There’s one question that we have come to ask when trying to make a decision whether in business, with clients, or our own families. Sometimes, it’s very clear-cut. Sometimes we don’t want to admit the answer and sometimes we just have to trust our instinct.
Ask this:
Will doing ___________________ (signing Bobby up for soccer, adding Suzie another dance class, being on the PTA, etc.) bring life and bring it more abundantly or will it steal, kill, and destroy? It was so liberating to know that it was okay to say NO. That yes, I need to be involved but not in everything, all the time! Without rest and downtime, none of us can expect to be healthy in any regard. Given the above-mentioned reduction in lifespan, are these the things we should really be focusing on anyway? I’m not saying to not be involved but to shift our focus to making a lasting difference in our world!
Exhausted and confused.
We are to the point of exhaustion and exhausted people don’t think clearly. If we don’t think clearly, we are more likely to just follow whatever advice this world throws at us without regard to the consequences. Have we forgotten our education on Newton’s Third Law that “ that every action has an equal and opposite reaction?” Most of America has adopted a herd mentality or, if we haven’t, we are just too tired to fight or have bought into the lie that we couldn’t possibly make a difference. That’s exactly what has gotten us into the mess we are in today.
Corporate greed at the expense of our health.
I’m not talking conspiracy theory but just simple facts that until a few years ago, I never questioned myself. I’ve since learned that if you are given knowledge, you have a responsibility to share it. Regardless of the issue, unhealthy inflammation creates health problems. This unhealthy inflammation disrupts intercellular communication and without intercellular communication we have disease. Follow the money and do some research and you will soon find some correlations that should be alarming but instead, we are just accepting them as a way of life.
Not so safe.
If we listen to our government Monsanto’s Round-up was safe. It sounded great that farmers would be able to make more money, produce more crops and all would be well with the world. I find it somewhat alarming that to spray the crops, hazardous material suits must be worn but they were suddenly safe when they arrived at our grocery store. Did we stop to think that by incorporating a poison we would rob the soil of vital nutrients that the crops and humans need to survive? That, just like with antibiotic overuse, we created super bugs that require stronger chemicals to kill the pests than ever before? Oh but, no worries, the government said it was safe. With the first court case going to trial a couple of weeks ago in California, now we are finally seeing that the information regarding the safety of Round-Up may have been suppressed. Lawyers for a school groundskeeper dying of cancer asked a San Francisco jury a couple of weeks ago to find that agribusiness giant Monsanto's widely used weed killer Roundup likely caused his disease. Dewayne Johnson's lawsuit is the first case to go to trial among hundreds of lawsuits saying Roundup caused non-Hodgkin's lymphoma. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/monsanto-roundup-goes-to-first-trial-in-giant-legal-battle/
How to bring about change? Start asking questions.
We need to demand full and simple disclosure for so many things in our life. The soil, farming practices, supplements, chemicals in our environment, prescription medicines, vaccines, and the list could go on and on. Do your own research but dig deep. Don’t just settle for the information that’s easy. Ask questions and lots of them!
Unless you want to continue to allow the decline of the quality of life in yourself, your family, and the world, it’s time we stand up and insist on massive change! There is strength in numbers but only if you let your voice be heard.
There are plenty of “Mother Bears” out there that will attack you in a split second without giving it a second thought if you even look at their baby wrong but are sitting back and allowing all the above mentioned to steal from the life of their child while we sit back and do nothing or just talk about “someone should do something.” Guess what? You are someone and you need to do something about it! In our last class, I shared some advice that my grandmother gave me but in this one, it seems only appropriate, that I share a nugget of wisdom from my granddaddy. He once told me that it’s just as wrong to not speak up or to not do something that is right as it is to say or do something wrong! How are we going to explain this to our future generations or are we even going to be around to have the opportunity to explain? I’m not saying this to create an atmosphere of fear but one of urgency and to encourage each of us to make a difference that we have the power to do! Time is of the essence and complacency is not an option!
Get the handouts from the class:
Learn More:
To learn more, please listen to Dr. Zach Bush’s lecture on this topic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HL6OPzQe9Is&t=671s
Link to Government Parent Survey for autism:
https://www.autismspeaks.org/science/science-news/new-government-survey-pegs-autism-prevalence-1-45
Fertility rates among men and women of childbearing age, are at a historic low. It appears that we are losing the ability to procreate with 1:4 females and 1:3 males currently being infertile. Across the other animal species when the infertility rates are 1:2, the species only survives approximately 20-30 years. We are concerned about endangered species but somehow, we aren’t concerned about the decline of our own species.
A great resource for health farming practices may be found at https://www.polyfacefarms.com/
More on a balanced body with Dr. Mercola: https://www.mercola.com/resolution-guide.htm.
