Recently I attended a professional development workshop on mental health. The presenters studied and work in the field of psychology and within education and training. For me, a large foundational part of mental health is ensuring that our physical health â our bodies â are taken care of, supported and nurtured. In my experience, the two go hand-in-hand.
It seems quite strange to me when I see someone who is âqualifiedâ in a physical or mental health field or holds a position of importance or power, yet their body, movements and manner do not show signs of good health and vitality. It highlights thereâs a greater problem stemming from our education on the topic, and what we have chosen to accept as true. No matter how much we âknowâ about a subject, the body always has its own marker and gauge of whether it is working at its optimum vital level and in harmony within all other areas or not. This fact we cannot change.
On the morning of my professional development workshop I had quite a distance to drive in peak hour traffic, so I made sure that I gave myself enough time without rushing. I arrived 15 minutes early and was the first to arrive. I walked in, said hello to the two presenters and went to find a seat.
As I was choosing my seat, unpacking my belongings and setting them up just as I needed them to be for the next 8 hours â placing my drinks, pen, paper, books, computer etc. down â one of the presenters said to me, âWhoa, thatâs healthy.â Immediately I knew he was referring to my vegie drink and not my herbal tea or the manner in which I set up my space, simply because it was green in colour.
Initially I felt a little awkward that my choice of drink, which was a normal for me, had been highlighted. So, at the time I smiled and replied âMmm…â But this comment caused me to pause and got me thinking⌠I pondered on why his response was a âWhoa.â I recalled that I have come across this reaction quite a few times over the years with âhealthyâ food and drink choices, either when I myself was making them or when others around me at work or in public were making them.
These types of comments are reactionary to a way of eating or drinking that is not so commonly seen or practised, thus highlighting the person who is looking after their body and consuming nutritious food as being âdifferent.â Immediately I questioned what our societal gauge is being set from. If I had come in with a sausage roll and cream bun, it is likely I would have got no comment, or perhaps one that was in favour of my food choice.
Letâs face it, making supportive food choices that nutritionally support the body is going against a current norm and way of how people commonly choose to eat in society today. We do not eat to nurture or hold our body in harmony â a fact that is shown in the continuing rise of non-communicable illness and disease rates today, such as diabetes.
If it is not common and even considered unusual for people in general to drink or eat something that is good for their bodies to a point that it stands out and gets labelled and highlighted as âhealthy,â then how far have we slipped away from what is true and natural for our bodies. I find it interesting that we even have this word âhealthyâ and donât just live as our bodies need us to live. It is a clear indicator that we base our living and vocabulary around looking after ourselves from a way that is not conducive to the true vitality of our bodies.
Why do we not seem to question the meals or food people are consuming that are clearly not supportive for the body, yet are very quick to identify those who make more supportive food choices? Imagine if people started speaking on behalf of the vitality of the body by publicly noting to other people, âWhoa, thatâs really unhealthy.â I wonder if we would start to think twice about what we are putting in our bodies.
The fact is that more supportive food choices do stand out from the crowd. And this is simply because the norm, the majority, the crowd acceptably choose food that is not supportive to the body. BUT, what if the majority did eat in a way and manner that nourished and vitalised the body, allowing it to run at optimal level?
Why do we even have a perception of what âhealthyâ is and why is it not just embedded into the way we live?
Our understanding, perception and definition of âbeing healthyâ today is actually only based on and comparable to, the very unhealthy lifestyle â the way the majority of society are choosing to live, eat, indulge in and over consume.
This to me is a type of rot when we look at the extent of the damage it does to our bodies, our perception of health, the pressure it places on our medical system and so on. The illness and disease our bodies are increasingly showing through our health statistics speak loudly of our current global choices⌠to the point that the definition of health in our English language dictionary is stated as âthe state of being free from illness or injury.â (1) Why is health not defined as, âthe body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ?
If we all naturally lived from the latter definition as being our norm, then the word âhealthâ and a definition for it would probably not exist, simply because this would just be the way it was. Caring for our bodies would be the norm.
Back to my professional development workshop and the comment from one of the presenters that started this line of pondering and blog . . . if I had the moment again to respond to his âWhoa, thatâs healthyâ, I probably would have replied ââ âonly relative to how we live today.â
By Johanna Smith, Ba Education, Diploma of Counselling, Esoteric Practitioner, Perth, Western Australia
References:
1.Oxford Dictionaries | English. (2018). health | Definition of health in English by Oxford Dictionaries. [online] Available at: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/health [Accessed 1 Aug. 2018].
Further Reading:
Eating Dis-orders
To Nourish or Bludgeon – How do we Use Food?
Living your own medicine
When we understand the body and the different ways we reconnected to either our essences, inner-hearts / Souls (all one and the same) or mind, we start to understand how our Soul connection deepens our full body intelligence and thus the way we approach a health rhythm that becomes our normal.
‘Immediately I knew he was referring to my vegie drink and not my herbal tea or the manner in which I set up my space, simply because it was green in colour.’ What I got from this is how health is so much more than what we eat and drink and whether we exercise or not. How you set up your space here was very caring and supporting you for your day yet currently it would seem that we do not see such things as being healthy!
It’s become normal for me to have comments or be pointed out over what I eat or don’t eat. It’s not a discipline but my whole body saying it won’t eat a certain thing. I feel that what is being called out is far more than a food choice but a comment on the relationship I have with my body that is felt by others.
Living in a way that supports our needs should be taught at schools and also to those who are interested in how our body responds to True nutrition that, which Truly nurtures our bodies.
This blog is confirmation of societies standards that have dropped so low we now have perception which adds another level to our deception cake.
Perhaps, not so long ago, I may have been observed eating something not very nutritious and have then been inspired by another who has made a different choice. The ripple effect.
Absolutely I would agree that everything is interlinked and all of our choices would have an affect on our mental health and well-being including what we eat and drink. You are so right in saying that ‘the body always has its own marker and gauge of whether it is working at its optimum vital level and in harmony within all other areas or not. This fact we cannot change.’
Being unhealthy in our lifestyle choices has brought in an overall demoralization, a lethargy upon society. Because often I get the comments that being healthy is hard work or I am praised for being “very disciplined”. Unhealthy food and choices seem easy when your already in the momentum of making them. The same goes for loving choices, it’s easier once you’re in the momentum of them.
“health in our English language dictionary is stated as âthe state of being free from illness or injury.â (1) Why is health not defined as, âthe body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ?” My feeling is what the dictionary definition allows is to feel we can live as we are and are “healthy” and able to get away with the constant self abuse and self neglect of our bodies, and then later when something shows up it can be a sense of it being random. If the 2nd definition of vital order and harmony in the body was applied we would have to then question our every choice.
We just need to visit our hospitals and look at the shocking statistics of illness and disease to know our current perception of health is warped.
‘For me, a large foundational part of mental health is ensuring that our physical health â our bodies â are taken care of, supported and nurtured. In my experience, the two go hand-in-hand.’ this is true for me also and has been known for many years and yet is not as widely accepted in society to the point that we have acted on it collectively. Doing so would allow us to take more responsibility for our wellbeing.
The extent of ill health in society and how it impacts the health sector is enormous, looking at it with a birds eye view it is pretty obvious what we are doing and how we are living as a society can not be right.
Looking at photos of people 50 years ago, their bodies in general where a lot fitter then the bodies we have now.
Part of the joy that we live is that what is reflected will be felt by others so no need to respond other than to hold True to everything that is a True Livingness then the reflection others get is all that is needed.
“Why do we even have a perception of what âhealthyâ is and why is it not just embedded into the way we live?”
Its crazy that something that acts as such foundation for us such as food and drink can be abused in such a way that we eat for anything other than true nourishment.
Crazy that we ignore the basics, for what use is any qualification if our bodies are not healthy?
This is so true, unfortunately many people do not eat to nurture and nourish themselves and their body, ‘We do not eat to nurture or hold our body in harmony â a fact that is shown in the continuing rise of non-communicable illness and disease rates today, such as diabetes.’
In the days when I wasnât making loving food choices for my body, I canât remember anyone asking me why I was eating such food, food that âwas clearly not supportive for the bodyâ. But when I made many changes in my diet to finally honour what my body could or not eat, I was continually singled out and asked why I was eating differently. It struck me as very strange as most knew the struggles I had been having with my digestive system for many years, but because I had chosen to step out of what was the accepted normal for our diet, people seemed to be concerned that I might be harming myself; when in truth, it was the total opposite.
I think it’s great we are having this discussion because so often people are judged by what the rest of society see or feels is uncommon or odd. There is a sort of branding that occurs because you stick out from the rest of the crowd. But as you say if we were all eating sausage rolls and a cream buns no one would notice. So from this I would say the gauge that we set our food standards is very low and it is getting lower. It’s funny how it costs more to buy a salad in a restaurant in the USA than it does to get a burger and chips with a milkshake!
Populations around the world are suffering, the majority no longer look healthy, which begs us to ask the question “what is truly going on?”
I have noticed when out and about how tired people seem and not holding a general vibrancy. We have come to see this as normal and don’t give it much attention… but we should.
Someone may have all the answers and know what it is to be healthy, but if they’re not living it to some degree, I know there is something big missing and what they say maybe spot on with regard to knowledge but what’s needed isn’t fully there. It’s from someone living health in all areas of life that I learn what being healthy is.
I have received comments from colleagues about the food I take to work or the ways in which I may support myself while at work and it highlights how society has normalised a way of living in which there is an absence of any true self care / self love and as a result coffee, energy drinks and sugary foods are seen as a normal part of the diet in order to get through the day.
‘It seems quite strange to me when I see someone who is âqualifiedâ in a physical or mental health field or holds a position of importance or power, yet their body, movements and manner do not show signs of good health and vitality.’ very true and this can be expanded on to cover our entire systems of education. Even if what is being presented is not directly related to health and wellbeing, if it comes from a body which is not healthy and enjoying life then we are instantly deterred as it not being a way we wish to go. True teaching and education come from a way of living which means that we enjoy every day of life, are fit and healthy and live mainly free of issues. This are the people we can truly listen to and be inspired by.
‘If I had come in with a sausage roll and cream bun, it is likely I would have got no comment, or perhaps one that was in favour of my food choice.’ we go further than this and accept blatant abuse of each other and ourselves and yet being more healthy and truly loving in life is noticed and often ridiculed because it exposes the fact that this is not considered normal.
True health is our natural way of being, the fact that we are surprised when others make such choices just exposes that was has become normal is not natural for us.
When people understand that choices surrounding food and drink are not made from set of rules or a diet but rather from oneâs own understanding of their own body suddenly it does not seem so strange as we all do this to some degree already. It’s just that over time, with ongoing refinement this can mean that it can appear very different to those who have not begun to live their life this way yet.
Why does it take illness or disease to evoke food advice from a medical practitioner before we heed their advice? Why donât we listen to our bodies before medical intervention is required?
This is so awesome, the barometer of health needs to be looked at and re-assessed.
What should be normal is the ab-normal but looked up to and respected.
Yesterday I was listening to a discussion where it was stated that children have a freer life and are better off than they have ever been but the first thing that came to me is that if this is the case then why are we getting higher rates of suicide amongst the young.
Any judgement whether ‘nice’ or ‘mean’ is a judgement and judgement keeps us from taking responsibility for our choices. It also almost always leads to either jealousy, comparison or competition – some of the greatest ills for humanity.
Judgement helps keep us separate; bringing in more and more appreciation for self and others is a wiser choice.
Children know very early what they do and do not like to eat and yet it is easy to observe how it is adults who get them into habits of eating unhealthy food, even if ‘only as a treat’ which the children themselves would not choose.
I have met the yo-yo people who believe they are living and eating healthy and then go off the rails and gorge themselves with unhealthy food that requires them to abuse their body at the gym. Is this how we have evolved and think we are living a healthy lifestyle?
Marketing plays a huge part in what we think is healthy but all the hidden sugar in foods and misdirection would not be in place if we did not turn a blind eye.
Great questions – why is it that doing what ‘should’ be everyone’s normal, stands out in the crowd these days? Could it be that we have been on a sliding scale of self care and self love and what used to be a normal level of care has now become the ‘top of the line’ way to live, an exception and difficult to achieve by most? This is a scary thought, especially whilst we consider ourselves to be advancing as a society with all the technological inventions etc, and yet our self care has slipped so many notches and we have forgotten some basics to sustain us. Perhaps it is time revise what advance actually means in society?
Health is a word that has so many meanings and as you have so beautifully shared here Johanna, in our current world, it will mean whatever you are speaking in relation to such as a healthy green drink being one person’s marker of health, where your marker of healthy was the care and love you had taken to prepare yourself for the day. No wonder there is so much mis-communication and mis-understandings in our world when the words we use have lost their true meaning.
At my work place my healthy lifestyle which includes the way I eat, going to bed by 9pm and getting up early is part of an ongoing questioning from other staff with a perspective that ‘there is something wrong ‘ with me. I live in a way that is loving of my body and still know I can be healthier yet the world sees me as ‘odd’. We have drifted so far from what is natural and caring of our body, our physical and mental wellness and the statistics of illness and disease are reflecting this with increasing obesity and multi-symptoms of ill-health. I am reflecting the norm but it is not accepted as that and this brings up so many questions. Why do people need to be shown or instructed on health when all they need to do is listen to and respond to what their own body is asking for – great blog, thanks Johanna.
“The fact is that more supportive food choices do stand out from the crowd. And this is simply because the norm, the majority, the crowd acceptably choose food that is not supportive to the body” Super sad that as a society so many of us choose to harm ourselves with food.
I feel amazing and look pretty hot too and I know its because I look after myself and eat well, I aint perfect and sometimes I eat not for nutrition but overall I am consistent and with that comes a vitality and love for life that I would never want to give up.
So beautifully shared, I agree that the way we see health is upside down. And that we have really lost the marker of what it is to be healthy and what it is to have a glowing glorious body full of health.
As awareness of smoking and its ill effects has been more widely absorbed I am sure that collectively, at some point in the future, our awareness of eating junk food, prepared meals and sugary foods will also take hold as we will also accept that they too damage our health, and that taste and convenience does not outweigh how we make our body feel.
Yes this will happen and then like with smoking we will try and sort it out without going to the heart of the matter… which looks something like learning to embrace the responsibility we have to love and take care of ourselves like we never have before.
It never ceases to amaze me how we as a humanity can promote all sorts of things without looking in our own backyard to see if we are in fact doing what we are promoting – or not.
It seems we have got into a situation where by we define health by an absence of serious illness and disease and as long as we can get out of bed in the morning and make it through the day we consider ourselves healthy, irrespective of how we felt in that day or how many pills or other treatments we needed to take to get through the day or the quality of life or work we experienced. We need to have another look at this and re-evaluate our definition and our relationship with health and wellbeing.
Well said Andrew – the meaning of health and wellbeing has shifted so far from the truth that we are accepting so much less.
I am always inspired by the loving movements/choices of another and not what another says. Words are empty without a livingness of truth behind them.
So well said Caroline. Words are empty unless they are lived.
If words are not lived in actions and movements they can only carry the energetic intention, imprint and its source.
Oneâs livingness is felt before it is seen or heard.
There is a popular slimming, high protein meal replacement in a can that has been around since 1977… that is loaded with artificial sugar! That when it first came out, it was real sugar. There is a lack of high-quality evidence on the effectiveness of this product, but it is still being consumed!
Why do we fool ourselves about trying to live a healthy lifestyle by having a skinny cappuccino or eating a whole bag of salt-free snacks or a glutton and dairy free muffin that is full of sugar?
Avoiding responsbility.
Because we try to fool ourselves into thinking that we are really improving ourselves and getting better when in reality we are motivated by the same need to avoid living who we are in truth.
You highlight the point very well here, Steve. I was one of those people a few years ago. I kidded myself that because I had veggies or salad with my lunch and dinner I had a healthy diet. I conveniently ignored the copious amount of chocolate, crisps, cake and sugar I ate in between. At the time, I would have insisted that I was fine! It was only when my body showed signs of a problem (hypoglycaemia) that I had to get more honest.
Dull the engine dull the quality of the drive!
There is a big difference between understanding what supports good human health and talking about it and actually living it. The latter is far more inspiring.
A great example of how we like it when we all abide by the unspoken rules of comfort and indulgence and that when one of us steps out of that and chooses differently, feathers get ruffled and the barbs, comments, attacks start. It makes no sense to me that we collude in this way and I appreciate more and more those of us who are prepared to speak up, make different life choices and show that there is a different, more harmonious and truly healthy way to live.
Why do we expect people to take notice of advice and guidance from people who are not living or taking it themselves? It does not make sense.
I often will get people ask me if certain foods such as nuts are ‘healthy’ or not, and I like to be facetious (cheeky) and answer with responses such as ‘it depends – if you are allergic to this food then it is not healthy’…but the reality is that foods that we think are healthy might not be so healthy for some. I prefer to use the term supportive or not and specifically for that person.
Yes I get that supportive has more of a personal quality to it where as healthy is a loaded word that can be more of a fad or proclamation from an industry or government agency. They are useful general guidelines and a great starting point in some cases but fall short of that personalised recipe and observation of what supports each of us and what does not.
‘Eating Healthily’ is something that is very much in comparison to or in relation to something else. For example for someone to cut back on drinking alcohol is healthier than for them to continue drinking large amounts. For someone else to increase their vegetable intake and to reduce junk food consumption is healthier and so on and so forth. How we eat and what is ‘healthy’ for one is very much an individual experience, given common sense of course. What is great about this is that we can then be inspired by everyone in terms of what to eat and how to eat for as we grow and evolve our food choices must do likewise to support this gradual change.
Yes I agree whatever terms and definitions we come up with in our minds and however much we intellectualise health and well-being it is our bodies that will and are constantly reflecting to us the true definition of these terms.
I have found that over time as I have been taking more care of my body, honouring the messages I receive from it and reducing the frequency of overriding it, my understanding of what is health and healthy has been deepening. What I used to consider healthy a few years ago does not cut it for me nowadays.
It is definitely our bodies that reflect to us the definition of these terms and in my experience it is a forever deepening relationship.
It’s funny how people don’t really say… ‘whoa that’s unhealthy!’ when they see someone pull out a coffee or a burger or biscuit because it is so common to eat and drink these things.
Yes this a good point. It seems we are expected to justify making healthy choices (not drinking alcohol, loads of sugar etc.) when actually of course it would make more sense if it was the other way around.
Very true Gill, we cannot separate any part of our body or see it in isolation as everything effects everything else.
I agree Doug, a few years ago I had a blood test as was feeling quite tired and so I asked the doctor what was wrong or if there was anything I could do and she said I wish my bloods were as good as yours!
Not caring for our bodies is not only the norm, but also very often championed under the guise of ‘being healthy’, being ‘dedicated’, ‘good’ or ‘responsible’ – e.g. diets that fill our bodies with sugar, or starve them of other nutrients that they need, extreme sports, working too hard for too long, taking on too much.. our bodies love simplicity and routine and when listened to, they work in harmony with and for us, supporting us all the way.
I completely agree Bryony, ‘our bodies love simplicity and routine’ and the more we honour them this way the more we are looked after. I now find when I sense disharmony in my body rather than seeing it as something I need to fix I go ok so what have I been choosing that led me to this and what am I being shown by it, otherwise I just try to fix it and go back to the way I was living that caused it in the 1st place.
Yes itâs interesting to consider that many things that are even considered healthy eg exercise may actually be harmful or detrimental to health if not done in accordance to what each individual persons body actually needs or requires or if done to excessive levels.
Judgement can come at us like a tonne of bricks whether it is at the food choices we make or something else but I am learning to see judgement as a message to offer me understanding of another deepening the love for self.
Yes and we must never judge another for their health choices as it achieves nothing and is usually to cover up our own insecurities regarding our own choices.
‘These types of comments are reactionary to a way of eating or drinking that is not so commonly seen or practiced, thus highlighting the person who is looking after their body and consuming nutritious food as being âdifferent.â’ true – in some way making it not normal to make choices like this which stand out as different.
“Our understanding, perception and definition of âbeing healthyâ today is actually only based on and comparable to, the very unhealthy lifestyle â the way the majority of society are choosing to live, eat, indulge in and over consume.” Which is why, when it is suggested that perhaps to live on a diet of mainly green vegetables, fish and lamb there is so often a big reaction, as it exposes how far from the truth so many people are.
Our perception of health is so far off track, as proven by our rising levels of illness and disease, proof that despite our many advances in the 21st Century, we still have not made real progress in taking responsibility for our life style choices that underpin the quality of our health.
Absolutely Gill and this can influence how they respond to what they have noticed too.
It’s interesting that the way we view health is about which boxes we tick rather than our vitality.
We have normalised disregard to such an extent that we only notice it if someone comes along who has worked through it. It is only when we clock that someone is clear of it that we become aware of how we have been living. Even then however we may not want to, so invested in the numbing and distraction from not wanting to feel, that we can dismiss deep self regard and self nurture as weird.
Could you imagine if we saw someone eating something deemed as unhealthy and we pointed that out – “that looks unhealthy” – I wonder what would happen then? The tone of how it was said would determine much of the response I imagine. But the point is more that we note publicly the healthy but not so the unhealthy.
I recently learned that when asked by patients who are diabetic if they can have a sugary drink and biscuits that nursing staff tell them they can because they have no say on what a patient wants or needs. Where are we at in our healthcare when nursing staff can’t suggest eating a diet to support their diabetes’ patients, some of whom are in hospital in the first place because they are recovering from an amputation of a limb? It just doesn’t make any sense to me at all that our healthcare system allows people to continue to self inflict abuse even while recovering in a hospital..
Yes the low fat craze for those wanting to lose weight for example, but if you check the amount of sugar to make the food palatable it s through the roof – crackers!
Crackers anyone? ?
“… making supportive food choices that nutritionally support the body is going against a current norm and way of how people commonly choose to eat in society today.” So no wonder we have an obesity epidemic.
“It seems quite strange to me when I see someone who is âqualifiedâ in a physical or mental health field or holds a position of importance or power, yet their body, movements and manner do not show signs of good health and vitality. ” Yes it’s one thing to have the qualifications but when the body doesn’t tally with those it makes a nonsense of so-called experts in their field.
I agree qualifications are nothing if we do not have love and self-care alongside them in our livingness. I feel we need to make this the importance – our wellbeing, relationship with ourselves and relationship with all others before anything else as what is life if we do not at least have this as our basic foundation.
Recently when my choice of food for lunch became the focus of a conversation I was asked “what are you then?” as if we all fit labels for the way we make our food choices or diets we have chosen. This really stood out to me as I felt no matter what I ate I am me and in fact a true answer could have been “connected”.
I love that Michael, we can become so obsessed by what we eat that it can define us and control the way we are, who we interact with and our view of life. Where if we are simply ‘connected’ then what we eat does not take center stage rather it becomes something we do not are.
If we let go of the pictures we have of good health and listened to our bodies we would all be living very differently.
If we witnessed individuals in any other species behaving in a way that is harming themselves we would be alarmed and consider them as sick. It is astonishing that we so easily accept it from our own species and we even let the bar drop so low that when someone chooses to deeply look after themselves they are seen as a novelty.
So true Golnaz. In the staff room at break time cake and biscuits are seized upon. Sometimes I am questioned about my nuts and apple and the ‘healthy’ tag has me labelled the novel one in the room..
I find it hard to take advice when the person isn’t living the advice they are giving. However when a person has lived their advice their words come with that experience and I feel it on a physical level. When it’s intellectual I only get it as a theory that may make sense but I don’t feel so don’t get that lived understanding.
I agree Karin. Its ‘do as I say’ not ‘do as I do.’ It failed in parenting eg smokers telling their children not to do so. When someone has walked the path before you and then demonstrates how life can be lived it is far more supportive than being told what not to do from an intellectual standpoint.
This is so true Gill, for years I ate breakfast bars that were targeted at people who were on diets to lose weight but realise now that the content of sugar alone would guarantee the weight would increase and not decrease.
That the majority of people are grossly ill-informed about health is a crime. I’ve observed how when exhausted by their work, people routinely reach for more caffeine, sugar and carbohydrates for energy. These substances deplete the body and do not generate energy from within. Why is it that the majority of food marketed in the media are ones that lack true nutrition, create dependencies/addictions and do not re-generative the body?
Sad but true. We place little value on our bodies and spend more time researching consumer items before we buy, house, car, technology, than the food we consume.
Interesting how comments are made that question our choice to eat nutritious food. One comment I get is ” You don’t know what you’re missing.’ It can be confronting to be around someone who maintains their own way, nurtures and supports their body as a basic standard. It can also inspire others to know they don’t have to blindly follow and that we all have the power to feel from our bodies and choose foods that nourish and support us through life not make us fall victim to pressures and demands of life.
Discussing the word ‘Healthy’ is actually opening a can of worms! Every man and his dog seems to have a different version of what this means and in the end it appears that is a word thrown around loosely. Just as Johanna has said in the first part of the blog, health is far more than just the mental approach or even just the physical body approach. We could in essence write a book about this all…stay tuned as this may be what is coming soon!
Beautifully said Gill – I prefer to use the word ‘supportive’ rather than ‘healthy’ when it comes to foods – and the reality is that foods that are supportive for some may not be supportive for another and this is a forever changing things too!
Yes, really appreciating the word supportive rather than healthy. Healthy denotes there is a standard that fits all. Of course eating just sweets isn’t healthy for anyone but putting the reasonability back onto people to discern for themselves what supports them can be.
It is strange in some ways to be outed for setting a standard. But then again, thankfully there are people who do that, for otherwise many would not realise on how much they potentially are missing out on. So many self loving things that we do on a day to day basis that can become our norm, can become something that we just simply take for granted and yet so many in the world have not had the reflection or inspiration to do likewise – so how beautiful in many ways to actually get noticed, be that in an obvious way or less obvious way. For in the end we are all role models and the question really is: ‘what kind of role model do you want to be – one that inspires more self care and love in another or the reverse?’
Johanna, I love the revised reply to the comment you receieved! Hilarious on one hand and at the same time quite sad to realise where we have allowed our society to get to in terms of health and vitality.
Its interesting how we can so often make the excuse that its ok to indulge every now and then, even though when we do we can feel worse for doing so. Why would we put ourselves through so much discomfort and pay the price of ‘having what we want’ when our body can tell us so clearly that it does not enjoy being indulged.
Well said Sandra – it is clear there is something else driving this compulsion…how much have we been fooled into making choices that do not support us whilst we know they do not support us?
Very true and what indulgence means for one person may be very different to another as we can all indulge in food even if we are making great choices that support us in our relationship with food.
The norm is to drink and get drunk, overeat on fast food and takeaways, be stressed, be over worked and exhausted, indulge in box set binging and computer games, be highly emotional and see conflict as a normal part of life. Try to change the way you live to a, more healthy way of being and the reaction of others can be intense.
The masses don’t want to be woken from their slumber and so any reflection of truth or love is going to create a disturbance.
I agree the reaction of others can be intense when we start to make loving choices for ourselves, but I find it only gets to me when I am wanting them to change or be a certain way, as ultimately I find that some of the comments even though they are not coming across very pleasantly are actually underneath saying wow I wish I could be making the choices you are but I’m not so will try to make fun of you instead so I do not feel bad I am not!
Great point and article Johanna. My experience is that people are impressed by my healthy choices for they have difficulty making healthy choices themselves. I do see that more and more people are inspired to change their diet but are struggling with it. Unhealthy food is on offer wherever we go – and much cheaper. I hate that this seems to be normal with the statistics of illness and decease proving the opposite.
How can we change the system?
Itâs true we don’t naturally nurture ourselves and as a result we have terms like âhigh protienâ And âpaleoâ diets that are a mask for eating lighter meals and are seen as a fad and a trend.
Our bodies are all-knowing, and to tell them what’s best is like telling a car it should take diesel instead of petrol… you’ll end up with a broken engine!
So true Hm … its like we need to have an excuse for eating lighter or healthy, rather than speaking honestly and saying this is what my body feels like and needs right now – end of story.
What I’ve noticed recently is how people are willing to talk about how they don’t really like alcohol or how sugar actually does them in when they are talking just to me but when others enter the conversations who are their friends and are still drinking alcohol and have no intentions to change they become as if torn between their loyalty to their friend and to me….it is a question of what others might think of them that overrides the question of their supporting their own well being or not. And I recognise too that if this is being shown to me then there is likely some place in my life where this playing out. Something to be aware of and possibly ponder on ..thank you Johanna Smith
This I need to hear again and again – exploring and reviewing our food choices and relationship with food curiously but not critically and with great understanding and patience.
It is interesting to consider what we have made our statistical normal and that this is often very far from what is our natural way. And for me, the former is head-governed – reasoning why I can eat, move, exercise in a certain way – and the latter is guided by my body, actually totally innate in its naturalness.
It is so true Johanna we have lowered our norms of what it is to be health-full, from being full of vitality and joy to just functioning and getting through.
The standard of normal has indeed dropped across the board. 25 years ago when I was drinking, it was normal and accepted that people drunk so much they vomited but recently I heard people on two different TV programs chatting casually about having drunk so much that they lost control of their bowels. I recognise that although this shocked me to hear it at the time that it has now become something that I consider to be fairly common and therefore next time I hear it, it won’t be shocking. And this is how our standards drop, gradually over time, so gradually that we hardly recognise that it’s happening.
Two years ago I presented the same issue that I am currently experiencing on my left side to the specialists. Back then the problem was on my right side and it was not as severe. AT that time the specialists showed concern and recommended a whole lot of things to resolve the issue. This time round, although the symptoms were more severe, the response was in the tune of: “if you can bear it lets just see how it unfolds”. Had I not been able to compare like for like, I would not have seen how far our bar for what is accepted and what needs attention has dropped in just 2 years.
It’s true that we don’t bat an eye lid when someone drinks alcohol, consumes fast food or over indulges in cake. Yet, double takes and comments are made when someone eats well and takes care of themselves. It doesn’t make sense does it? But as you say, Johanna this is only relative to how we live today on a wider scale.
It’s interesting how people say nothing if someone is eating very unhealthy things. It’s like the people in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones. It’s like if we say something then we can’t get away with what we want to get away with so we all say nothing and collude together in not supporting each other. I know I eat rubbish when I’m upset rather than go to someone and say, look would you help me and listen as I need a bit of support. Seeing how people eat when they’re stressed I would say we really do live lives together that are in isolation.
Is it possible that we have become more like cows in our eating habits as we seem to be constantly grazing on food. For example I went to see a company recently and everyone’s desk in the office had biscuits and or sweets on them and as people worked they were all constantly eating. It’s become so normal that no one notices just how much food is on their desks. Then there are offices that I go to that have a kitchen and in there is a ready supply of sticky buns or something to nibble. I do wonder why we seem to have a never ending appetite for food. I don’t remember it being quite like this when I worked in an office. You had a tea or coffee break yes, and had a biscuit with it, but this way of eating seems to have a different energy to it.
Mary I think that our ânever ending appetite for foodâ stems from our never ending desire to quash our inner agitation. Most of the time weâre not actually hungry when we eat but food is one way we can anaesthetise ourselves.
Our âperceptionâ of anything does not come from truth.
It is indeed strange as you point out that it has become so normal and so expected that people eat and drink what is not healthy for their body, that a healthy choice stands out and prompts comments. I imagined how nobody ever points or comments about someone walking straight, but if we had a society where everyone walked around slouched over like the Neanderthal man pictures, it would be likely that anyone walking upright would get spotted as peculiar. I have noticed a similar thing can happen when someone is lively, content and enthusiastic at work, regardless of the week.
“If it is not common and even considered unusual for people in general to drink or eat something that is good for their bodies to a point that it stands out and gets labelled and highlighted as âhealthy,â then how far have we slipped away from what is true and natural for our bodies.” Yes, it is definitely an indictment of the present state of society today.
I agree Gill, what is our normal is important to establish and this can and will change but we have to know what feels true for us and our bodies as there are so many messages out there telling us we should be doing this or that. Once we know what feels true for our body then we can and will instantly know what does not.
One day it will be totally normal to not put anything unhealthy in our bodies and we will wonder why on earth we used to pollute ourselves with junk in order not to feel what is really going on.
It is not unusual for people to have a healthy looking drink but it may be unusual the way you arrived early and prepared everything and the way you moved when you did this.
There are many trends of eating healthy and clean in todays society-. Question is, how much do they have the intent to support the persons awareness or is it based on consciousness about what healthy means from a mental point of view?
Does a diet really support what we need to become more of who we are energetically or is it actually a distraction as you can put the label “healthy” on it, which will never ask you to consider deeper what it does to you and if it is actually the true diet for you?
Can I live a full day, do 10-14 hours work, feel consistently vital and alive throughout. Can I do this without stimulants like coffee or sugar. Can I do this without feeling exhausted or without pushing my body into hardness. Can I do it with enough steadiness so as not to react or freak out when new ‘stuff’ comes my way. Can I complete my day, find moments to rest and take care of my body throughout so that I am ready to do it all again tomorrow?! There are lots of questions/markers like this that we can ask ourselves, but these are the sorts of standards that we need to be setting, irrespective of what the national ‘normals’ are.
Very true and so well said Otto. Thank you for sharing your lived standard. What a reflection.
A diet that support all the above mentioned points from you is a true diet to me. It provides a standard throughout the whole day. We are not here to live to eat but to eat to live such a consistent, powerful, harmonious, always expanding and full of work life.
Words fall on deaf ears when we don’t walk our talk. We also can’t tell anyone what they should be doing for it shows no understanding in how they have come to where they are now and why they make the choices they have.
The observations I have seen in others that say they are living healthy lifestyles can be a great non-confirmation, and the body never lies.
I find it interesting how when someone has completed a degree or something making them an expert in a particular field that we can tend to automatically hand our power over to that and not bother to discern the communication and Livingness the body is sharing. It seems like we have glorified the intellect or recalling of knowledge over the common sense of the body, itâs wisdom.
That made me laugh, and very true. It is all relative. I find people often say you look thin because of a jealousy that they want to look and feel the same but simply have made different choices.
‘It seems quite strange to me when I see someone who is âqualifiedâ in a physical or mental health field or holds a position of importance or power, yet their body, movements and manner do not show signs of good health and vitality.’ one example in amongst so many would be the health and fitness or sports coach who smokes or drinks, promotes playing on or training through injuries and has no deeper concept of health and what really contributes to it.
Looking back pre universal medicine I always knew certain things didnât feel true but it was only when I was confirmed in honouring what I feel is true does life make sense.
Yes we are all equipped from within to sense when something is not quite right. This ability has been with us since our childhood. It is great to be reminded of this fact and offered the space to start to trust and honour this innate sensitivity and awareness once again.
Like so many of our perceptions, to just go on what something looks like is a very shallow way to approach life. True health encompasses everything, from our thoughts, emotions, movements, actions and observations. When all these aspects of our selves are loving, truthful and harmonious then we have true health.
Yes. Itâs looking at whether our quality is in fact the same and true throughout every aspect of our life.
It’s interesting how being healthy has been reduced to what we eat and getting regular exercise. It’s not how you set yourself up for the day that was consciously noticed, though I’m sure it was on some level, but it’s so not the norm that there’s not the everyday language to refer to.
Our perception is slowly changing where overweight is normal and “low normal” weight (BMI 18.5 – 21) is considered to be less healthly by a number of people, simple because a lot of cancer sufferers and other major illnesses are associated with low weight.
I can relate – I was chuckling to myself because I often get the âoh thatâs healthyâ comment. Yes it is! Cool to remember that the simple choice of what you eat can inspire others to make more supportive and healthy choices.
It sure can Nick and I know what you mean, even though it may come with sarcasm often the way we take it makes such a difference. We can react and feel the comment or can turn it around and say of course it is, gosh I love to take care of myself!
That’s a good point Shirley-Ann as many things can be made to look healthy but may be loaded with hidden sugars. There was a time I would have said breakfast bars were a healthy option but now there has been more light shed on the consumption of hidden sugars I wouldn’t even put them in the healthy bracket, but unfortunately, there are still many who are misled.
The body indeed shows what is the truth. People say they feel good, are happy, but their body shows a different story.
Iâve noticed that people give an automatic response of âgoodâ when asked how they are, yet with this response Iâve noticed some bodies communicating misery, given-upness, overwhelm, ok, happy etc. itâs a shame we have almost trained ourselves to not connect with how we really feel and then be able to openly share that.
Always watch movements and don´t believe your ears or eyes, as they can easily be tricked by whatever someone says. The body shows if they truly live it.
The same with what comes out of our mouth as it will serve us more than whatever we eat and will always serve us and will always be relative as we evolve back to our divine roots.
So powerful to understand as you suggest that it is also healthy to be early, to be prepared, to place our items in a way which will support us and in consideration of what we will need to do for the day.
I totally agree, for running late and not being prepared puts us under stress that we just don’t need, whereas being prepared sets us up for getting the most out of every day as smoothly as possible.
I’ve been made fun of before for taking the so called healthy option when in a group who obviously gave little thought to what they put in their bodies and the strange thing is I did let it effect me and did feel a bit hurt by what was said when I could have just shrugged it off.
Our health is in our own hands every single aspect of it, and every choice we make with regards to eating will either support our bodies or not!
And from here we will see that we have been responsible all along, even though we have lost track of it. When I came along and found The Way of The Livingness one of the first realizations where: that I have been living a lie, one that I fooled myself with; that life is just life, whilst it is not, we are here to not be here..
“Why do we not seem to question the meals or food people are consuming that are clearly not supportive for the body, yet are very quick to identify those who make more supportive food choices? ” because the majority of us want to be able to continue with what we are doing without being questioned.
That’s a great point Alexis. I recall joining some people for afternoon tea once and I didn’t eat anything because there was nothing available that I would eat. This made a few people uncomfortable and they made a few comments about me not eating. These choices really do stand out and can make people feel uncomfortable. Mainly because we don’t want our own choices to be highlighted to ourselves.
The way that most of us eat puts an incredible strain on our bodies but it is a strain that many of us have become so accustomed to that it no longer registers. Eating so much that we have to either loosen our clothing or have a lay down is normal. Eating so much that we feel heavy, sick or tired is normal. Eating food that makes us feel jittery is normal. Eating when we are not hungry is normal. We have normalised so many feelings of discomfort, not just with food but with life in general that those feelings just blend in with the rest of our lives.
Agreed and yet no one changes anything about the way we eat, well actually some people do and when we follow a diet that doesnât work we often give up. I love the option of shifting things around the starting to eat what the body truly feels like to stay vital rather than what a diet dictates.
It seems the bar for what is accepted as okay and normal in terms of how we live has been dropping further and further. Often people don’t even reflect on this fact. What a great reflection is offered when someone like you chooses to take the level care and responsibility much deeper, reminding everyone that it could easily be so very different.
Yes, there is a lot of conflicting information around but Johanna’s movements and actions spoke with certainty and therefore had a strong impact.
When every movement you make has an impact on those who are around you then it is very useful to know what the impact is and this allows us then to respond in a beautiful way.
Instead of comparing our health to a standard average it would be wise to use our own potential as our marker.
The decline in health over the last few decades in the whole world is very serious and yet the way we are living is simply not considered anything but normal and this is something we really need to address in the world for there is another way to live considering the whole and not isolating exercise, diet ,emotions ,movements and our thoughts all as separate and not accountable as to our quality the way we simply breathe and move in the harmony and with the sensitivity and honouring of who we really are.
The old saying, ‘a healthy mind, a healthy body’ but surely we can’t have one without the other. It is crazy that with the ill-health problems we have today that all of our focus is not on what we consume because after all we are what we eat.
‘It highlights thereâs a greater problem stemming from our education on the topic, and what we have chosen to accept as true.’ because it’s easier for us to accept the message of ‘it’s ok to carry on as you are because despite what I say I am really also not truly healthy’ than to question it and feel the truth of our state of health and take responsibility for the choices which have got us to this point.
Deep down we all know what is healthy for our bodies and what is not, but we override everything for the pleasures of a taste or the comfortable numbness
What I believe is ‘healthy’ for my body from what we are sold is healthy is not what my body tells me, what my body needs is constantly changing and the more in tune I am to this, the more vital I feel.
The reaction from people is a great sign of well done. You have reflected what needs to be looked at.
It is great that the person did say ‘whoah that looks healthy’ because that showed they had noticed, they recognised something that to them supported health, and the comment offered a potential to start a conversation such as “yeah and you know it helps me stay alert and it’s so easy to make… “. Unless it was said with a sarcastic and ridiculing tone, which is very different.
It feels so important to just stop and take a moment to consider the choices we make and why we make them, this allowing some space to make a truly new choice.
The problem being that our choices lead to our choices. Therefore many of us are making choices that donât include the choice to stop and consider our choices.
Ideas, images, beliefs and notions are all designed to interfere with the truth and thatâs exactly what they all do.
It is quite disturbing that someone who lives honouring their body and being is considered an anomaly yet as you have pointed out so brilliantly, this is our natural way of being. Our bodies have not stopped reflecting the truth of our choices, yet we have clearly stopped listening.
When he saw you being early and setting yourself up and the way you moved he couldn’t really say “Whoa – I can’t do that” so the sentiment might have come out as “Whoa, that’s healthy”?
“Why is health not defined as, âthe body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ?” That is a good question to ask – our perception of health is measured against our normal and our normal has become illness and disease. That is so far from our true health.
I’ve seen how we have such an ‘on trend’ version of health. If everyone is talking about it, then it sticks. So you end up with things like coconut oil pulling or matcha shakes or a juice fast without discerning what is right for our bodies and the way we live.
I find that over eating or eating foods that don’t support my body- that might be too salty, sweet or heavy leave me feeling foggy, over stimulated or uncomfortable, none of which feels healthy or vital by any stretch of the imagination â An end result that asks me to look at what got me to those choices.
So true, our bodies cannot hide our lived way. It’s really as simple as that. If you are an open, loving, transparent person your body will emanate that – regardless of size and if with illness – what is within and lived shines out of us.
Thank you Johanna for your article. We wonât see that what we consider as the norm today is way out of balance for our body until we decide to make more supportive choices for ourselves.
Often the moments we perceive ourselves to be in a bad way are the times when we are closer to true health – we are willing to see the truth about reality.
Food choices are a key factor in determining the state of our mental, physical health and true wellbeing.
It has become so obvious to me that, in general, humanityâs âperception of what is healthyâ is far from what healthy actually is. And when someone chooses a truly healthy life-style, like yours, you are classed as being different, when you are actually choosing to live in a way which honours you and respects your body. And it just wasnât your drink that was healthy. To me, it was the way you planned your journey so you could arrive in plenty of time to set up your space to support you throughout the day. Now, if that is being different, Iâm saying yes to it too.
Count me in. That is what I would have called healthy, the willingness to be on time, to consider the body and the mind and what supports each to learn.
There is a big difference between intellectually understanding something or learning something and actually living it.
So true Andrew – we can think we know something from our minds or actually know it from what we feel in our body.
Despite societies claim to being looking to be healthier when it is presented with the truth of what is behind our ill-health and dis-ease it rejects it on the basis of the level of responsibility it asks us all to take equally for the state of our wellbeing.
Society has to pay lip service to what seems healthy while behaving in a way that makes most of us less and less healthy. It would be far harder to maintain the current, very unhealthy prevalent lifestyle if we would all admit how bad our lifestyle is. It might be far too much in our face without the lip service to health.
The problem being so many of us have fallen for the beliefs that abound in the arena of health. There is no way that I couldâve admitted that my lifestyle was unhealthy because I was absolutely convinced that it was not. I was sold on the idea that masses of fresh food and masses of strenuous exercise were healthy and nobody couldâve convinced me otherwise. The only thing that convinced me in the end was my body and it did that by breaking down.
A friend of mine once joked that mine was a ‘food free diet’ when I said I’d given up gluten, dairy, alcohol, caffeine, and sugar. My body feels a lot better for it and when, as I do occasionally, I eat sugar, my body complains. We generally eat more than we need to. I would never recommend a complete food free diet, i.e. fasting, but we can survive very well on water, protein and greens. We don’t need anything processed.
Interesting how we define the word food – is it something that actually supports and nourishes our physical body or is it something that we use to just fill us up and stop feeling hungry? Or anything that actually we put in our mouths? I would say that the 5 things you have chosen to give up in your diet could hardly be called food if we define it as something that actually supports the physical body.
Very true Carmel. And it makes doing the food shop and cooking a whole lot simpler and less time consuming as well!
BUT, what if the majority did eat in a way and manner that nourished and vitalised the body, allowing it to run at an optimal level? – if we ate healthier then we’d live healthier, and if we lived healthier we’d enjoy more harmony between us all.
‘Why is health not defined as, âthe body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ?’ now that’s a true definition and not the lack of something.
Sometimes I forget that I live quite healthily just because of the standards iâve set for myself.
It seems to all be relative in that our normal is a level and way of living that may be shockingly healthy for one person and shockingly unhealthy for another!
I find it interesting that we even have this word âhealthyâ and donât just live as our bodies need us to live.” If we all lived in accordance with our body’s needs and requirements, the word ‘healthy’ would disappear from our vocabulary. We only need it to maintain the truth in times when ‘un-healthy’ is our predominant way.
You ask some great questions here Johanna, it is absolutely crazy that we can be singled out for doing something we should all have part as a natural way of being. I wonder often, how bad things are going to get to our overall heath, before we all see that the only way to live to avoid ill health is to take responsibility for how we live and what we put in our bodies.
In answer to your question Kev, I’d say that looking at the way that things are going then the majority of us are gonna have to be on our knees before we sit up and look at our part in why we have allowed ourselves to reach such appalling levels of ill health.
It is astonishing how we keep focusing on different parts of our bodies and our lives, imagining that we can just target one part and try to make an improvement whilst completely ignoring the rest of the whole.
We all live in a body and we have experienced it again and again – if we have not slept well, did not eat or drink according to our bodyâs need, had a disagreement, are worried and distracted about something (plus loads of other possible scenarios) we are likely to feel compromised and handicapped in whatever we face in our day. So we do know deep down that every part is important.
The fact that we can target just one bit, to me shows that we are only interested in patching things up and a relief. We are not interested in committing to what is required to return to a magnificent whole
Agreed Gill, the bit that sometimes still gets me is that how I feel and my health is all in my hands. I have a choice of how I eat, what I eat, how i talk, what i say and so on. All in all life is up to me. So in that its key I listen to my body and what it shows me as I then know what is and is not healthy.
Great question ‘Why do we even have a perception of what âhealthyâ is and why is it not just embedded into the way we live?’.
Vicky I love this to, its like we have so much in life the wrong way around and accept it as it is the normal.
Perceptions allow for thousand different variations, where the truth is a wholeness we feel.
Love this Joseph, wise words for us all to adhere to.
I share your observation that people tend to comment favourably on an unhealthy meal and are surprised or a bit fazed by a healthy meal. Its like you are in the ‘in crowd’ if you eat rubbish and are a bit of an anomaly if you don’t. Not a great sign for the health of people in society if this is what it has come to. No wonder we have so many lifestyle related diseases if unhealthy is the norm.
If everyone makes irresponsible and unhealthy choices whether it be food, drink, conversation or whatever and they all support each other in it then there is a comfort in that. If some starts to make a different choice it exposes what is really going on and some people do not like that and some people do not like that at all ie vehemently!!!
Why is health not defined as, âthe body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ?
What I enjoy about this definition Johanna is that it gives permission for a responsive relationship with health that will be different for each and everyone of us.
Healthiness and vitality is a way of living life free from anything that is not love or not loving.
It sure is Zofia, I love how you have put it so simply.
Johanna, this is true and the reactions can feel like there is something wrong with being ‘healthy’, that is is not ‘normal’ and the reactions can make the person making the healthy choices feel alienated. I know at school it is the ‘norm’ to have lots of packet foods and sweet foods and that to have homemade, healthy foods stands out and from what I have observed mean that the children with the healthy lunch boxes can be picked on and singled out.
I remember this being the case many years ago when I was at primary school. We envied the kids who got jelly crystals or sweet treats in their lunch box. Now as a parent I would never think of sending such a snack to school.
Being healthy incorporates everything in our lives, not just the food we consume, but the quality of our movements, self care, language, expression and intentions. It is a complete package. The green drink is just one segment of a whole way of living.
The Whoa person may have also responded to the way you came in early, i.e. well prepared and how you set up your space but may not have known how to mention those items and therefore latched onto the conversation point that was available to him – the green colour of your drink.
It is always funny how irritated some people are, when they see me shopping food, as most of it is green and light and called “healthy”. Interesting that we live at a time, where buying natural , non processed food is being seen as alien and not normal, isn´t it?
It is very interesting Stefanie and does not really make sense as surely it is the most ‘natural’ thing to be doing! Yet somehow taking care of ourselves is a strange thing to be doing.
The way current trends are going it is soon going to be weird or unusual to be healthy as in not having one or more major health conditions or problems.
It’s weird for me too when people separate mental health from physical health – it’s rather like in the hospital you have someone looking at your lungs, someone else looking at your heart, and nurses looking after your immediate daily needs. We are all one being.
We do not educate, support and encourage people to reconnect to and honour our innate awareness as a guide in relationship to health as well as all other areas in life.
Instead everything in society promotes the idea that those labelled as âexpertsâ have the monopoly on truth of any situation. So we end up with rules and dogma, rights and wrongs, instead of honouring and encouraging a deepening understanding and relationship with life.
The is a big emphasis on preventative steps in healthcare but when they are promoted and delivered by those who are also not living in true health they are never going to be successful.
Any-thing that is delivered by someone whose body does not back it up is not going to be truly successful.
What if health is about vitality and not simply about not being sick?
Great question and it comes down to what we set our marker of health at. If it is not having cancer or a terminal illness then we will accept anything else. If it is waking up full of vitality every day then we will not accept any less. So what we set as our benchmark and standard determines a lot and what we will then accept in our lives.
I know it is so much more powerful and authentic when you listen to someone speak about health and well-being that actually lives with health and well-being and you can easily tell this by observing them.
When we make the choice to self-love and continue with this, we enjoy a healthy way of living.
“If I had come in with a sausage roll and cream bun, it is likely I would have got no comment, or perhaps one that was in favour of my food choice.” Are we then not living in a poisonous society that does not support living in a way that is supporting of our body but one that is actually constantly awarding fighting our bodies?
It’s interesting to consider that many of us live in a ‘free country’, where we are supposedly allowed a freedom of choice in most aspects of our lives and yet if we look at things more precisely we can be constantly bombarded by our colleagues, the media, advertising, the pharmaceutical industry, bit corporations and, in this example, the mass irresponsibility of the majority.
Perhaps we have a seeming free choice because those who want to steer our choices feel they can easily manipulate those choices for their benefit. Our choices may be much more restricted if it would be more difficult to manipulate us.
Arriving 15 minutes early is healthy. Setting out your space is healthy. It isn’t just about what we eat.
Agree! A healthy lifestyle includes everything in life we choose- every moment either harms or heals. To hurry or giving your power away, sympathising , wanting to be liked, searching for an outcome, unloving way of communicating- the list is endless…All our choices define our wellbeing. That´s why many people get sick, although they are eating the “right” healthy food. It proofs the fact you are stating here, Otto!
Wow Johanna what a great blog you have written . . . “The illness and disease our bodies are increasingly showing through our health statistics speak loudly of our current global choices⌔ I am wondering why this statistics are not something the whole world is in discussion about! It seems that most of us have a blind eye at that point – therefore I very much appreciate that you have put your finger on it.
Even the definition of heath is bastardised all to keep our minds at ease with the ill choices that it continues to make.
This blog shows to me that it is not only about food choices that make people healthy but instead that it is about a way of living that is natural to the body and will tell you what to eat and what not. This is completely opposite to what society currently is doing as it tells us what we have to eat on billboards advertisements and in the media that is far from healthy and we all know it but choose to not listen to that inner knowing because we do not want to stand out but instead fit in to what generally is accepted as ânormalâ â the norm.
Our perception of life is totally scewed and so our perception of health or any component of life can’t help but be totally off!
My impression of humanity is that we are having more and more niggling things, some times more serious issues and at times severe cases. And pretty much every one is experiencing at least one thing or another, although since most people put on a brave face, find ways of coping and say they are fine, we don’t get the real picture. Whenever one person opens up and shares about their health issues it is astonishing what everyone else starts to reveal.
We are fast approaching the moment when our true marker of health will be swallowed up by our warped understanding of this vital, joyful and empowering state of being. This is our true heritage and to me it seems we have sold out to a very poor cousin indeed if we regard health as an absence of disease. What about classifying Health as having oodles of energy, a robust immune system, bursting with enthusiasm and commitment to life, feeling open hearted and full of joy? That to me equals Health and feeling anything less needs some serious attention.
Well said Ariana. People want quick fixes so they go to the ‘toxicity’ yet it only achieves short-term relief and does not appreciate the long-term results.
Great observations of the decline in our collective notions of true health which does include the whole. We have become so apt at compartmentalising some aspects over others that we don’t see the truth of our neglect until the body begins to shout loudly to wake us up.
This definition of health added in every dictionary and across newspapers worldwide would be a major step-up for very necessary change in humanity’s true health and wellbeing to be lived as a natural way of being.
“Why is health not defined as, âthe body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ?”
It is interesting how people notice and judge their own choices relative to others, either to be inspired or merely judge.
What we call health has changed, meaning rapidly in the past few decades. We are adjusting our definitions where we should be adjusting our lifestyle. We may think that this will cover up the consequences, but we have been given an honest body that shows us relentlessly and literally to the end what our choices are.
Actually, we can say that we do not know anymore what it is to be truly healthy as by all the bastardisation on its definition we have lost the true meaning and in particular its movements.
I agree we seem to be continually lowering our standards of health to make things look not so bad rather than maintaining a standard of health that is a basic right for all and asking the bigger questions as to why our health is declining and moving away from what we know is possible.
‘What we call health has changed’ but thank goodness what our bodies know to be health has not and will not ever change.
This exposes the process by which we erode the truth contained in language and words to fit us rather than holding them in integrity.
‘…we have been given an honest body that shows us relentlessly and literally to the end what our choices are.’ This pretty much sums up what most of humanity is choosing to ignore, instead going with the belief that we can feed and treat our bodies abysmally without consequence. But the body remains loving and true despite the abuse and will continue to offer up illness and disease as a means of clearing the rot we engage in and pretend not to feel.
What is actually truly healthy? When you go to a bookstore or looking at magazines, everyone is telling you something different. The only way to find out, what truly healthy is for you, is to know stillness in your body. From this place you know what you can eat and what you can´t eat to preserve it. Your body is the greatest marker of truth, when it is in its most natural state of being- in stillness.
âWhoa, thatâs really unhealthy.â I really like that suggestion. I wonder if people would accept that as much as they judge the way someone eats in regard to their body. What they are actually avoiding is to feel, what they are consuming- talking about another´s choices and discussing it, keeps you busy to not feel how much you abuse your own body and how less you care.
âthe definition of health in our English language dictionary is stated as âthe state of being free from illness or injury.â (1) Why is health not defined as, âthe body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ?â I love your question and suggestion for a new definition of health.
Recently I read one on eating disorder that really stayed with me because I feel the truth of it:
‘any eating dis-order is eating in a way that does not deeply honour, love and support our bodyâs natural true light and divinity. Eating in any way that does not support us to evolve.â
What if we said true health lives in the quality of your movements? Then this whole world would be exposed for the racey, delusional mess it truly is.
Now that would change everything as we would start to see just how different our life is and could be when we introduce movement as part of health. But not just running or exercise, each and every movement.
A drink or a food that will be okay for us to eat one day may not feel true in our body the next. As we deepen our awareness about food we learn how to appreciate what we do eat and then it becomes important to understand that maybe one day what we are eating will no longer serve our bodies.
I recently had a similar experience with my dinner that I had cooked at work and one of the team making a joke that there was nothing decent on my plate worth eating except for all that healthy stuff. In that moment I went: hang on buddy I don’t judge or comment on your food, yet when I truly stopped and took stock was that really true. I know where I am at and my relationship with my body and love supporting it to the max. As you say, it is pretty much a contrast to a lot of people and the way they eat. Being able to let each other be where we are at and not pass judgement is critical for us all to be open to see that no one way is right or wrong. What I could sense is that when people see you eating healthy they feel exposed for what they eat.
Thanks, Johanna, for re-defining health here – âthe body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ. It would seem that the majority do not even know what it would be like to have a vibrant, vital body, so accustomed have we become to a sluggish, exhausted and artificially stimulated state of being. This, of course, has an enormous impact on our mental health as well.
I agree Janet. I’m no biologist but I do appreciate logic. If you put toxins and destructive food in your body, you’re going to get poisonous and destructive thoughts in your mind.
Someone commented on the contents of my supermarket trolley recently saying a similar thing “Wow, now thats a super food trolley if ever I saw one”. What was different in my own response was that I simply smiled and agreed with her without feeling any sense of awkwardness which I would certainly have felt in the past. Its great to fully claim this is how I eat and not feel I have to make excuses for it anymore, even if it is different to others or the accpeted norm.
‘For me, a large foundational part of mental health is ensuring that our physical health â our bodies â are taken care of, supported and nurtured. In my experience, the two go hand-in-hand.’ there cannot be one without the other.
Absolutely, there will come a day when we understand that our mental health is mostly generated by our physical health. The quality of energy we choose is first in the body and then from that comes the movement, whether it be physical or thought.
“Our perception of health” – is based on the quotient of love we give to ourselves to give us the quality of our livingness and in this our vitality.
Johanna, it is interesting that making healthy food and drink choices causes such a reaction, when as you say coming in with an unhealthy food item or drink is considered ‘normal’ and ‘acceptable’ and will not raise an eyebrow. It shows that what we have accepted as the ‘norm’ is foods and drinks that are actually harmful for our bodies and what we reject and react to is foods and drinks that actually support and nurture our bodies. This highlights that as a society we are not supporting or nurturing ourselves in the way that we could.
And what would happen to the picture we have of ourselves if we did get really honest with what is going on with our health.
Quite simply our health is the everything that we live, not restricted to one aspect but covering everything from food to how we relate to people, exercise to the way we talk to each other. It cannot be restricted, and that sense of health can be felt by everyone in one way or another.
Great observation that “a large foundational part of mental health is ensuring that our physical health â our bodies â are taken care of, supported and nurtured.” Yes, the two do go “hand-in-hand” and what’s more is that I am finding that this level of health is a foundational requirement for our proper engagement with and contribution in every facet of life. This is particularly noticeable to me when I observe people at work: the level of productivity, vitality, relationships and awareness of not just your own patch but a natural care for the whole, are all enhanced or compromised depending on how the person has been leading up to that period.
‘If we all naturally lived from the latter definition as being our norm, then the word âhealthâ and a definition for it would probably not exist, simply because this would just be the way it was.’ This makes a lot of sense Johanna and leads me to the question as to why we are so intent on not living in a healthy way.
“Imagine if people started speaking on behalf of the vitality of the body by publicly noting to other people, âWhoa, thatâs really unhealthy.” – Now THAT would be an interesting exercise.
Johanna, there might have been another ‘Whoa’ if he or she tasted your green drink if it had no sugar in it.
One thing that we shoudn’t do is measure up our healthiness to someone else, whether it’s diet, weight or anything else. It doesn’t matter where we are on our respective journeys, only the direction we are moving in.
Great blog. It is interesting because if we said to someone âWhoa, thatâs really unhealthy.â it would be seen to be really rude that we have made a comment about what someone has but not rude if we make a comment about it if someone has something healthy or lives in a healthy way. I wonder whether the person saying ‘Whoa that’s healthy’ said that because he wanted to talk about it more, maybe more of a discussion could have been had here with him? Also this is so very true, in that true vitality and health is far more than having an apple instead of a cake it is our every way of living including our thoughts and our movements ‘It seems quite strange to me when I see someone who is âqualifiedâ in a physical or mental health field or holds a position of importance or power, yet their body, movements and manner do not show signs of good health and vitality. It highlights thereâs a greater problem stemming from our education on the topic, and what we have chosen to accept as true.’
Very true Elizabeth we should study the way we live much more closely and include not just what we eat but why and how we eat, the way we are with ourselves and others and the quality in which we move. Health is so much more then just what we eat but looking at this is a great point to start.
I get what you mean Richard, the image of good health has become so desired but living it seems to be a challenge for many. I can understand this may cause a lot of reaction for some people when they meet others who are not after the image but are truly living true health consistently because it may highlight the level of irresponsibility that comes with not choosing to live true health and vitality.
The fact that healthy food stands out is indeed an indicator to what we have accepted as the norm in our lives. it still surprises me how no one would put the wrong petrol in their car but we easily put bad petrol in our bodies. it is not an intelligent or even rational way of living and so it is showing us that we use food for all reasons but that which it is for; nourishment and care for the body.
When we eat a ‘healthy’ snack or meal it can stand out as it shows up where others are at and they then feel uncomfortable. It is up to them what they do with these feelings – for example make some different choices for themselves. make a joke about their own choice or attack the messenger……
‘No matter how much we âknowâ about a subject, the body always has its own marker and gauge of whether it is working at its optimum vital level and in harmony within all other areas or not. This fact we cannot change.” It is not about what we know but about how, the quality in which, we live. This is what the body is a marker of and therefor selfcare always starts with connecting to our body.
“Why do we even have a perception of what âhealthyâ is and why is it not just embedded into the way we live? ” A great question Johanna. It should be a no-brainer!
Mental health can be supported or compromised by the state of our physical health and it is interesting when I have conversations with clients about how they are looking after themselves that many are aware of this but caught in a cycle of not being bothered to make supportive choices. Exploring how to make changes can feel like a daunting process but the more recognition of the impact of one on the other the more these conversations will become the norm.
Physical and mental health seem deeply intertwined. Interestingly, a standard health questionnaire, when scoring summary results for physical and mental health scores mental health results negatively when calculating physical summary scores and vice versa, as if there is an inverse relationship between the two. As a consequence the survey works reasonably well for people who are not too healthy but has difficulties when scoring very healthy people.
We seem to have lots of images and pictures of what is healthy and what is not, and tend to forget to discern the quality of energy we are choosing in all that we do, express and move in. We based a lot of our perception and judgement on the physicality of life but there is a whole world of energy we tend to leave out that plays a huge part in our health, vitality, and wellbeing. Health is not just about our physicality, our food choices or what we do but it is also determined by our whole way of living because pretty much everything counts. So, what quality of energy do we choose, one that supports true health, vitality and joy or one that drains us and gives us the illusion that we are healthy?
I just love the fact that we have to have a word for health, for being healthy instead of simply the fact that we are and then we are not that which we are. What if the “we are” was vital and healthy and that just was, we didn’t measure how healthy or how “are” we are instead saw anything that was not us being who we are as the illness it is. Perhaps then the wakeup call would come. That said words can be spoken but really very few times we will want to change.
“We do not eat to nurture or hold our body in harmony ..” – what a simple and easy to follow diet Johanna.
Whilst I agree it is simple it does not seem to be quite so easy for most to follow it.
It is obvious that our mental state and our physical health are related and yet we treat these two as two different entities. I know from my own past experience when my body is being looked after my mental state is in a better place.
So true â we seem to be more comfortable displaying sympathy with relatively lesser choices, favouring to hold back appreciating something that might potentially be offering the more.
ââŚ. making supportive food choices that nutritionally support the body is going against a current norm and way of how people commonly choose to eat in society todayâ When you do people often place it in the line of dieting, to loose weight. I get a lot of remarks of other women who say to me ‘ Take the piece of cake, you don’t have to eat so healthy as you are already slim, please take it.’
It is an indication of our madness that taking care of our bodies is considered unusual, worthy of comment and/or challenge. To further the conversation I might have replied, ‘Why do you say that?’
This is so true; ‘If I had come in with a sausage roll and cream bun, it is likely I would have got no comment, or perhaps one that was in favour of my food choice.’ I have found in the case of not drinking alcohol that I have stood out and received comments that have felt surprised and as if there was something wrong with this choice.
The building I work in, in the heart of London that has the country’s highest tourist footfall has an international fast food shop. In a conversation with its manager, he informed me the shop is the highest earning in the UK with it taking almost a million, over the counter every week. Is this a snapshot of how we are living today?
Johanna, I too have had many comments about my ‘healthy’ food and drink choices. Reading your article makes me realise how it has become the ‘norm’ to consume foods and drinks that do not nourish and support us. These changes seem to have happened in the last 50 years, it is great to highlight this as ‘unhealthy’ food and drink choices have become acceptable and do not stand out and this is making us as a population sick, so this discussion feels really important to have.
I think health has come to mean “not dying” which makes any other kind of ache, pain, tiredness or less serious illness ok in the grand scheme of things, whereas health potentially could mean this incredible vitality, zest for life, waking up every morning feeling amazing, contributing to the world around us.
Reflecting a new normal of what ‘healthy’ is, has the potential to bring another view and experience of it and when this is truly lived, this can inspire others or at least, offer an opportunity of reflectiveness.
We inspire others to make changes by how we live not what we say.
And just because we have a slim body it doesn’t necessarily mean that our food choices are true for us. We tend to judge people on the size they are and that if a person is slim we think and assume they eat healthy food. We have to understand this is not always the case. For me it is about having a good and ‘healthy’ relationship with food regardless the size I am.
Yes it is interesting how people are comfortable with our poor food choices but very uncomfortable and reactive when we (naturally) choose something healthy.
It absolutely doesn’t make sense at all Richard. When I made the choice to begin to really look after my body, a body that had been suffering from ill-health and low vitality for most of my life, there was much derision and judgement from those around me. I was actually quite shocked at the time, as I had probably been expecting much support, but now I finally understand why. And the why is that I was reflecting back to all my critics what it was in their lives that also needed addressing, and what they were not prepared to change.
“Only relative to how we live today” is indeed the thought-provoking answer in this instance and it is most telling that so-called ‘healthy’ food choices stick out like a sore thumb whereas nobody comments when someone holds a schooner or a cream bun. We live in a strange world of our making for sure.
We can never underestimate a connection or meeting with another and what that can bring. Definitely something to appreciate.
Thank you Johanna, it is a really interesting read. I remember going to a smorgasbord with a group and enjoying all the salads and vegetables, I was looked upon with pity because there were lots of junk and deep fried foods. People could not believe that what I was eating was what I actually wanted to eat, as everyone else was filling up in treats and fried items. There can be a sense that eating healthily is being good (and having to use willpower) and that eating unhealthily is a kind of ‘letting off steam’ by ignoring dietary restrictions. There is no doubt food is delicious but there can be an attitude that it’s for entertainment, to feel good emotionally, that a certain way of unhealthy eating is fun and can give us a high from the doldrums of life, but we don’t often eat in a way that is respectful to our individual body’s needs, and to simply nourish and care for ourselves.
It’s all relative, but the most important relevance is what is relevant to our own process of evolution.
We often reduce âbeing healthyâ to be predominantly about food, drink, exercise, and what else we ingest -drugs, alcohol, cigarettes – when there is so much more to look at: how we live, work and deal with our emotions, how we treat our bodies, the quality of our thoughts.. and so much more. Also interesting that the definition of health is at the moment the absence of disease, and not living absolutely full and vital lives and feeling energised each day. It feels like itâs time to completely reevaluate how we relate to our health and bodies, based on whatâs true and not what weâve come to accept as normal or standard.
“the body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ This is health as I know it today, but at present it is not the norm, but a rare experience for those who have tuned into their bodies and understand how to respond to the inner requests, messages and needs. The fact that ‘healthy’ choices stand out like a sore thumb in our current societies is very unhealthy signs of the times.
When we simply eat to revitalize the body – it is important we know what feels true and donât react to how other people perceive this. The fact is the world does not endorse a vital diet
The irony is that for someone to say, âWhoa, thatâs healthyâ must imply that they know that their choices are unhealthy. If you know that why choose the un-healthy? What is going on?
Whatâs incredibly telling of our society is the fact that we categorise âhealthy peopleâ as being a very small minority and most people consider living âhealthilyâ as something that theyâre either not prepared to do or not able to do.
The greatest âprofessional developmentâ is to see life for the connected whole that it is.
Great question – Why is health not defined as, âthe body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ?.
Because there’s not a lot of money to be made in that definition!
I am writing a presentation about eating disorders at the moment and Iâm touching on disordered eating. In society we tend to only address our eating habits and food choices when it becomes an extreme behaviour like bulimia or anorexia. We donât callout with each other or even in ourselves when we over eat or we tend to go for foods that make us feel ill or dull. So, it stands out when someone chooses to eat healthy food and smaller amounts.
Its a big question, ‘What is Health?’ Ask 10 people what this means to them and I am sure there would be 15 different and a wide variety of answers., including “I don’t know”. Its interesting that health and mental health are seen as something separate, when really both are based on our relationship with our body’s first.
We are sold many different and conflicting images of ‘healthy’ and I for one tried to adopt some of these images of healthy, the problem was the image being sold didn’t work because it was not coming from truth it came from ideals and beliefs and not a living way which took me further way from true health and not closer to it.
Great point Jennifer and if we are disconnected to our body it is then very easy to abuse it and disregard it. But if we were all willing to listen to our body, honour it and deeply love and care for it, I am sure we would make more healthy and loving choices. Therefore, can our answer to illness and disease be as simple as applying self-love and self-nurture? I reckon so, it has changed my health for sure.
Anything that challenges the status quo can be quite confronting because it asks us to look at what we have accepted as the established ânormâ that is not so normal at all considering our true normal is to live in a way that increases and not decreases our vitality.
Anything that challenges what we deem as ‘normal’ which is, more often than not, diametrically opposed to our innate knowing of what is truly wholesome and beneficial for us, gets labelled as being different, strange, weird maybe and certainly not normal. And part of this established ‘normal’ is the split between physical and mental health. As long as we compartmentalise and keep everything in separate drawers, our level of responsibility for the way things are is artificially kept at a (just) tolerable minimum.
This is a key point. When we make choices that do not fit into the norm, people can be very provoked and uncomfortable. The questions often come loaded with ‘are you challenging my choices?’ The thing is if we could stop for a moment and actually review, it makes total sense to take care of and support our bodies.
I do recognise people watching my food choices and value that as healthy, at least more healthy than their own choice probably. But is this comparison not from the same false idea that we can become healthy only by eating a certain style? I do eat the way I eat because I have connected to a part in me that is more caring than how I used to live in the past, but the drive is not to be healthy but instead to live all of me to the best of my ability and the fact that I am more vital than ever before and is valued as healthy possibly is not the end we can reach health-wise in a human body. Therefore, what is healthy and how do you define that. What I will say that is that everything is relative to what the majority is living and when you stand out that then is super healthy or super unhealthy. It all depends on where you come from and what your point of observation is.
It is a great question â how come we have the âwhoahâ and at times ridicule when someone is taking care of themselves with simple honouring choices, but if someone is not taking care of themselves, it is only ever noticed if they have taken it to the absurd extremes? It is always a reflection of where we have chosen the bar of ânormalâ in society.
Society is sold and peddled a type of ‘healthy’, generally it involved lots of exercise and strictness in diet. But healthy from being sensitive to what the body requires is a healthy that even stands outside of the commonly accepted form of healthy. Even when I am being unhealthy in my understanding and meaning of that word I would still be super healthy to another. We have too many definitions attached to the same word rather than feeling from the body what it means to live a word, in this case ‘healthy’.
Thank you to the The Livingness I have been living for my body for over a decade. It is so normal for me and far far away from any toxic behaviour and food now, that when people hear of this from me I am a little shocked with their reaction â similar to what Johanna is expressing. Students of Universal Medicine are living the future now.
This is a fantastic observation and great that it has been written in the clear and eloquent way it has. Healthy living has become a âshouldâ in our life. We should be doing this, we should be doing that. This approach changes naught and in fact ingrains the reality that living true to our body is impossible when it actually is not.
I find our perception of health changes as our relationship with our body, our health and everything else around us changes. For example, I used to think overeating healthy food was OK but now, I understand that any form of strain or stress I put on my body is unhealthy.
Yes the more we deepen our relationship with our body the more we refine the choices we make about what supports it or not.
âWhoa, thatâs really unhealthy.â Johanna, this part reminds me that if we are honest and say exactly what we think and feel, I reckon our world would not be in such a mess. I can imagine young children wouldn’t have any problems being super honest because they often just express what they feel.
‘if I had the moment again to respond to his âWhoa, thatâs healthyâ, I probably would have replied ââ âonly relative to how we live today.â It is interesting to ponder on our perceptions of health and what we use as markers. Yesterday I indulged in eating some hummus with my dinner, this morning I have woken up with dampness on my chest and spots on my face… to most hummus would be seen as a healthy option, for me now it clearly is not. For someone else consuming it really would be a healthy option for where they are at and so rather than consuming by trend it is important that we actually build a relationship with our own bodies so that we can read what feels right for it and what does not.
Very true Michelle – and build a relationship with good too. However the perception of âhealthyâ is interesting in itself. I can not imagine a lion or other such animal in nature putting things into the healthy and unhealthy basket. They just follow their body.
Great conversation to have which really exposes how far most of us have strayed from living in a way that supports our bodies to maintain their health and vitality and how people can be challenged by the ‘healthy’ choices of others.
It also challenges the basis or foundations of what our âprofessionalâ careers rest in, if in fact the bodies delivering such information are not as a whole reflecting vitality and joy.
It is shocking to think that being healthy and being in good health has actually become the exception rather than the majority.
What you have shared so beautifully highlights the fact the meaning of what is healthy, as far as food is concerned, has been skewed so badly that anything that is actually truly healthy and supportive for the body stands out, and is more likely than not to be commented on, as it simply isnât ânormalâ. A few years ago, a co-worker repeatedly told me to go have a decent meal â not too sure what decent meant but at that time I didnât ask, like I would today. But things are certainly different where I work now, with all the staff always noticing the very healthy food I eat, commenting on how healthy it is, how yummy it looks, and in some cases, being inspired to bring the same for themselves. A totally different âperception of healthâ.
So many meetings have loads of biscuits and other sugary ‘treats’ at them we are very normalised in our unhealthy choices that is true. But it is really common in the UK for people to be healthy but yet that doesn’t seem to equal vitality and that is where we take it back to quality of the way we live rather than focussing on what we eat or drink etc.
“It seems quite strange to me when I see someone who is âqualifiedâ in a physical or mental health field or holds a position of importance or power, yet their body, movements and manner do not show signs of good health and vitality” – yes, irrespective of fanciful spoken words or qualifications the discordance of ill movement always comes with a smell that exposes itself.
What I first think of, is how is this person really going to be able to fully pass on the information if they are not talking their walk. We can all talk and say whatever we want but the real affect and inspiration of what weâre presenting needs to come from a body that lives it.
It’s not uncommon these days to be the odd one out if you eat healthily. Just yesterday I met up with some friends and health, weight, what to eat and what not to eat were all topics of conversation and yet all except myself were eating cakes. So, we do know what’s good for us or not but make the choice to have it all anyway.
It is true everyone knows but many are caught up in something like an addiction and seemingly canât help themselves. I know I had many such food issues until I discovered Universal Medicine and Esoteric Healing which removed those addictions. I also found that in the long term discipline, control and knowing what I SHOULD and should not eat did not help the two things that made all the difference were love and purpose.
“…. making supportive food choices that nutritionally support the body is going against a current norm and way of how people commonly choose to eat in society today” And as you comment, the tendency is not to eat to honour our body and its vitality these days, so when we do eat that way we stand out.
Yes, we stand out from the current norm when we make healthy food choices but imagine that there is even more then we can understand true health is.
In my experience, people are eating more and more of the so called, right food. There’s a lot more green on our plates – but we are still not getting healthier. Although people are eating more nutritious meals, we still eat a lot of junk in between. In our lack of awareness of what we’re consuming we eat mountains of junk between our meals and call that snacking. We often don’t know what we have eaten throughout the day and our perception of it is swayed, if we are asked, what did you eat today, I can guarantee you that we will miss out at least 20% if not 50% of the food that has entered our mouth.
“…. one of the presenters said to me, âWhoa, thatâs healthy.” I have had this too at tea breaks when I’ve taken in an apple and some nuts, rather than eat the cakes and biscuits provided. I’m interested in why the need for comment….. .
That it is the ‘norm’ for so many people to be eating and drinking to numb what they are feeling can lead to both physical and mental ill health.
Your blog is a beautiful example of what it means to live healthy. True health is not simply about the colour of a drink, but the relationship we have with our bodies 24/7 and how we prepare for each day. In this case you gave yourself time to prepare for the event, make a nourishing drink, ensure you had all you needed for the day. You also gave yourself enough space to get to the venue without rush or bother. This is living health and is never about one ‘healthy’ element, but how we consistently live in the round.
Isnt it interesting how we highlight anyone who dares to make ‘healthy’ choices because it exposes that we are not so willing to make the same loving choices ourselves.
Those kind of reactions are seemingly funny or innocent but often come with a lot of reaction and force because it often comes from someone who does not choose this level of health for themselves even though they know they would like to give this level of care to themselves. So the comment caries comparison, jealousy maybe but also a warning to better not expose them again…
Taking responsibility for our health in the way you describe does raise eyebrows, especially when we make it normal to prepare our own meals and beverages in advance of events or for work. Regardless of what people say, when we do, we offer others a reflection of a truer relationship with our bodies, one which loves, supports and nourishes.
“Why do we even have a perception of what âhealthyâ is and why is it not just embedded into the way we live?” what a great question, it shows how we are living in a way that is anything but healthy and now healthy is the new way as people want that – but why are we not healthy in the first place? My experience is when I can’t cope I turn to what is unhealthy for me – in terms of food, conversation etc. so perhaps we are all living and not coping with life let alone not truly enjoying it?
It’s true we are, generally speaking, accepting a standard of living that has little or no true regard for the body. WE are treating the body more and more as a functional machine and then wondering why there are mental health problems. Mental Health is dependent on the chemistry of our body and the connection to our soul. WE really all need to take responsibility for this and if we were to do so – With the support of energetically responsible professionals – I feel sure, we could gradually turn the mental health problem around.
It is fascinating the more we observe life and other people and how we either react or respond to each other. So often we can hear these little comments which often come across as a put down but maybe coming because the other person is essentially reacting to what we are bringing/reflecting to them and so out of jealousy that they are not making the same choices we hear the comment(s) to cut us down, even though what we are choosing maybe completely normal and natural.
My family and I have been drinking water for many years now. It has become the norm because we have made it the norm and don’t think twice about it. I have always had remarks and responses to it as being healthy but that is only because I am being compared to that which is regarded as not healthy. It is simply a choice that supports our bodies.
Why is health not defined as, âthe body working in its true optimal and vital order, each part working in harmony and joy with all othersâ? Is it because most of humanity have no clue to what this feels like to have a body that is vital and deeply nurtured and nourished due to the lack of respect for our bodies and lack of honesty of our ill health choices that adversely affect our bodies.
When we live in a truly healthy (for us) way it does sometimes confront people as it can expose where they are not taking care of themselves. I expect they would have felt your care and the whole way you conducted yourself. Personally, I would not drink a green juice as that would not be healthy for me â we all have different requirements so should never judge or impose on each other.
What a great start of this blog to mention how a large part of mental health is related to how we take care of our physical health â that is so true and so obvious once stated and yet it is not so commonly stated.
Mental health issues are on the raise, I guess this could be a result of many people not being aware of what causes this illness and therefore, we may be making choices without consciously knowing that are contributing to this illness.
To have both mind and body working in harmony with each other is a marker of true health as opposed to the signal of ill health which is often the opposite in the sense that what we think works at odds to what we feel.
How far we have slipped was there for me this morning when a work colleague asked what was in my breakfast as it looks so healthy.