Want To Get Healthier? You Need To Read This First
I was sitting in a cosy coffee shop having some breakfast with friends. We were laughing, catching up on life events, sharing stories, and admiring the tasty dishes placed before us. Looking up at some of the surrounding tables, I noticed how many people were glued to their cell phone screens and missing all the magical moments unfolding before them.
That sparked my thinking; after all, I am also a social media fan, with Instagram my favourite tool and for those of you that follow @plantbased2go you will know that I actively post two to three messages every single day.
Exactly why do I do this? Firstly, I have always enjoyed taking pictures and finally having something to snap away at that cannot turn around and say “That’s enough photos for one day!” and it does make practicing an enjoyable hobby a lot easier. That is not exactly the reason why I keep posting pictures of food on my feed every day. The truth is my mission in life is to help make people better; improving their health and lifestyle is really a big part of this vision.
It does not matter how much money you have in life, or how many exotic destinations you get to visit each year, without your health this is all meaningless. You might be able to boast a fat bank account but before long you might be in such a sad physical state that you are unable to use the money and enjoy it wisely.
It boils down to VALUES. What do you value? Does health even make it onto your list of values at all?
It is a simple exercise to do, list the ten things you value most.
If you have not thought about this or done an exercise like this before, you might need to open your Google search bar and type in “values” so that you can refresh your memory and remind yourself just how many different values there are. Which ones are most important to you?
You might have all these fancy new ideas to try, dreams, visions, hopes and desires, do they match your values?
The truth is that we rarely achieve things that do not align with our inner beliefs.
Sometimes we only value something like our health when it is taken from us, unexpectedly, and we no longer have it, often it is then too late and we do not have the privilege of readjusting our priorities and shuffling our values slightly.
Health is not really something most people think about often or even at all. It is something we take for granted, forgetting that our bodies are magnificent beings of living tissue performing thousands of processes automatically without us even thinking about it. Keep throwing a spanner in the works, and overloading your body with disease producing chemicals and at some point it will become overloaded and will be unable to protect you any longer.
What happens to you depends on your genetic make-up and your own personal weaknesses.
Are you healthy?
A seemingly random question that you have probably never been asked before, a closed question that will produce a simple yes/no answer. “Yes” if you are symptom free, not currently taking any drugs or medications and are quite energetic with a zest for life and getting many tasks ticked off on your to do list every day. Then again, perhaps you have a dull aching headache, throbbing pain in some part of your body, blocked sinuses that make you inhale fresh air through your mouth, tumors growing in certain parts of your body or even some unsightly skin condition that plagues you.
Can you then consider yourself healthy?
If you are really honest with yourself then the answer would be “NO”.
What if I had to rephrase that question slightly and instead of asking you “Are you healthy?” I would say, “What can you do to become healthier?”
This is a completely different ball game altogether. It is one in which you have full control and can take steps to improve and change things.
Maybe you are dehydrated and need to start drinking more water, adding some freshly squeezed fruit or vegetable juice into your daily mix, sixty minutes of exercise, some yoga and meditation. Maybe you are so far off track that you do not know where to start and what to do first, don’t worry, there are people like me out there intent on helping you get better, achieve more, become healthier and achieve all that you have deep inside you, uniquely yours and that only you can add to this world.
Perhaps the best thing for you to do would be to pick up the phone and book yourself some one-on-time with someone that can hold you accountable and keep pointing you in the right direction.
Let me ask you that question again, “What can you do to make yourself healthier?”
Back to values, health might still not be something ranked highly on your list of top ten yet, what about family and friends? Do they make the cut?
If you value family and friends, is it fair to put them through unnecessary pain and turmoil?
I have stood by and watched my mom wither and fade away; suffering in agony for many months as she bravely fought a battle with colon cancer. It is an ugly sight to see, you are helpless and can do absolutely nothing to lift the burden and lighten the suffering at all.
Cancer is rife, it is growing in numbers daily with more and more people diagnosed every single day. Cancer is a lifestyle disease; you can lower your risks by making the right changes to your diet and lifestyle, and in doing so spare your family from this unnecessary pain and suffering.
So will I keep my Instagram posts flowing? Absolutely, they are there to motivate, inspire, and encourage you to take steps towards a healthier diet and lifestyle.
“What steps can you take to make yourself healthier?”
