Your Challenge Today:
Make sound investments in yourself and your health …
By Bernadette Kathryn, LMT, IHLC
Your diet is a bank account.
Good food choices are good investments.
~ Bethenny Frankel
How many different ways can we invest in our health and improve the quality of our lives?
This idea seems like a simple question, and on many levels, it is ~ and ~ then when we dig a little deeper, we might find investments can be made to support our health in many ways that do not require a monetary investment. We can invest in our health with a minimal financial contribution by trying some of these ideas …
- Walking more
- Drinking more water every day
- Creating a routine to foster restorative sleep
- Meditating, praying or journaling
- Cultivating a spiritual life and community
- Growing community involvement, volunteering
- De-cluttering your home and work environment
- Cooking more meals at home controlling the ingredients
- Getting and enjoying the benefits of a family pet
Many people have said that we as individuals need to “vote with our dollars” when it comes to our food choices. We need to let our government and food companies KNOW that we want to have quality food supplies for ourselves and our families. We want:
- Non-GMO foods
- Organically grown produce
- Grass-fed beef
- Pastured chicken
- Less sugar, NO HFCS, less food coloring and preservatives
We want healthy food to feed our bodies so that we can support our physical health and quality of our lives for the long run. We can pay a higher price for our food supply now or pay the price to our doctors, and pharmaceutical companies later for the damage poor food choices make on our bodies over time.
I have heard many arguments that our “organic” food is not better than conventionally farmed produce. Or, the reason that we are sicker is that we are living longer than ever before. Or, it’s not the food that is making us sick, it’s the same food we have always eaten. While these are all interesting points of view and I am not a scientist, I cannot answer any of these questions with data that I have derived myself. I can see that there are plenty of statistics pointing to our lifestyle choices as major contributing factors in the deterioration of our health in modern history.
We have seen obesity and food allergies in our population explode in recent years and with it the staggering cost financially and physically.
- According to WHO (World Health Organization): Overweight and obesity are defined as “abnormal or excessive fat accumulation that may impair health.”
- More than 1.4 billion adults were overweight in 2008, and more than half a billion obese
- Globally, 42 million preschool children were overweight in 2013
- Overweight and obesity are linked to more deaths worldwide than underweight
- For an individual, obesity is usually the result of an imbalance between calories consumed and calories expended
- Supportive environments and communities are fundamental in shaping people’s choices and preventing obesity
- Children’s choices, diet, and physical activity habits are influenced by their surrounding environment
- Eating a healthy diet can help prevent obesity
- Regular physical activity helps maintain a healthy body
- Curbing the global obesity epidemic requires a population-based multisectoral, multi-disciplinary, and culturally relevant approach
- According to NCCOR (National Collaborative on Childhood Obesity Research) “The global cost of obesity has risen to $2 trillion annually — nearly as much as smoking or the combined impact of armed violence, war, and terrorism, according to a new report released Nov. 20.”
- According to a study released in 2013 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, food allergies among children increased approximately 50% between 1997 and 2011.
- The number of people who have a food allergy is growing, but there is no clear answer as to why.
These are exciting questions to ponder,
what do you think?
Your diet is a bank account. Good food choices are good investments #LivingFitLifestyle Click To Tweet
I’ve heard of food as medicine, but now food as an investment. Even when I mess up on my eating during the day, like today, I begin again and eat a healthy dinner. The challenge is to keep investing, even when it doesn’t appear that the returns are in sight.
I also think about my meditation practice as an investment in my health and well being.
yesterday i increased my water intake 3 fold! i also wrote in my journal, ate better and more mindfully. i did some housework and paid some bills. best of all i spent time with the kitties. i believe this is a good start for the new year!