The War on Health

There is a war on health. Through misinformation, lack of education and flat out manipulation. Because a sick population, out of touch with who they are, who rely on their government, is an easily controlled one.

Most people go to doctors who treat symptoms, slapping bandaids over health concerns and hoping for the best.

That was me once upon a time and it was just as exhausting as it was disheartening. I grew sicker, not healthier.

When you are out of touch with yourself, you can’t hear that voice, that intuition, telling you that something is clearly wrong here.

When do doctors try to understand why you have an infection, instead of just treating it?

When do doctors try to work out why you might be having trouble with infertility, instead of just giving you other options?

When do doctors work out why you have pain during menstruation, instead of shoving pills down your throat?

When do doctors ask more questions and get to the root cause of any kind of infection or disease?

When do they encourage you to learn more about how any system of your incredible body works and supports you?

They don’t. Most don’t. In fact, it’s not even taught to them and they’ve stripped personal responsibility from us.

It’s designed that way. To cause confusion, misinformation, lack of information and a total disconnect from our own bodies.

Go back through history and look at the people who set up and controlled the education system and they people pulling strings in universities and higher education. They don’t want people empowered.

People empowered can’t be controlled.

When we are disconnected from ourselves, we are disconnected from society. There is no unity. No community. No uprisings. No one asking questions and holding their government accountable.

So our first job in this phycological war we are in today needs to be to learn and reconnect with our own bodies.

The first thing we need to understand is that our body is a whole working machine and each part influences and effects each other. What we consume with our mouth, ears and eyes, how we think, what we think, how we feel... all of this impacts us on a cellular level - physically shaping us causing either harmony or dis-ease.

Read that again. This is your key.

Literally everything we do and don’t do impacts us on every level. Our body is interconnected in every way.

Once we get our head around that, we can start looking at how to change our health and understanding of our own bodies and give it the best chance to heal naturally and thrive. There are three areas to focus on that can help you build a strong foundation. These three things will help in nearly every area of your health and wellbeing.

1. How you manage stress.

2. How you fuel your body.

3. The impact of your environment.

STRESS

Stress is a hardwired, physical response that effects our whole body and it’s a huge, epidemic issue today. It’s actually the leading cause of chronic illness around the world.

There’s many factors in the stress response, but let’s look at cortisol. Our body naturally produces cortisol through the adrenal gland which is well known as the “stress hormone”. It’s actually a natural steroid that your body makes that helps regulate different systems and keeps us healthy. However, in times of stress, your adrenal glands are triggered to produce more and those levels peak giving us that fight or flight response. That in itself is not a bad thing, because it gives us a boost of energy, clarity and focus to get through that moment.

However, continued or chronic stress wreaks havoc on our body causing things like fatigue and trouble sleeping, increased anxiety, digestive issues, weight gain, higher susceptibility to infections, dampened immune function, memory problems, high blood pressure, aches and pains and hormonal issues. It can also lead to hypertension, shrinking of the brain, damaged organs, chronic disease, depression, Alzheimer’s and heart attacks.

So a lot of very bad things.

Prolonged high levels of cortisol, or chronic stress, can result in adrenal fatigue where your adrenal glands don’t produce enough of the hormone to support your body. This can cause low blood pressure, low thyroid function, fatigue and sleep disturbances, brain fog, blood sugar imbalances, depression, lower immune function and inflammation.

Our stress response is also passed on through generations, two generations deep, particularly through women. How we support our wellbeing while pregnant and even before pregnancy will impact our children and our children’s children. This is because, as females, our eggs are formed while still in the womb, so the mother’s health directly impacts the growth and health of not just her own child, but also future children through female lines.

It needs to be a priority every day to balance and normalise our cortisol levels to keep the systems of our body balanced, healthy and functioning well and we can do that through very simple, natural stress management.

Stress management is a really, really big deal.

MANAGING STRESS

Physical activity: releases chemicals like endorphins and serotonin that improve your mood and have a huge, positive impact on stress levels, anxiety and even depression. Sweat is also great for helping your body detox from the everyday chemicals that block up the systems of our body.

Bonus tip: make sure you are not wearing deodorants that stop you sweating and sometimes lycra can actually have a negetive impact on your ability to sweat as well. Sweat is your friend! It’s a natural detox pathway for your body - extremely important.

Simply going for a brisk walk or jog gets your body moving and helps clear your mind. Joining a group gym for support, encouragement and social connection or even getting involved in a sport all have amazing added benefits on stress levels too, because human connection is equally, if not more important. Make sure you add some kind of physical activity into your day.

Minimalism: stress and anxiety actually have a link to mess and clutter, so this was one of the first things I trialled to reduce stress and it had a pretty huge effect. I started with physical “stuff”, the clutter and mess in my home and got rid of the things that didn’t really serve a purpose in my life and didn’t bring me joy. We really don’t need nearly as much as we think we do.

However, pretty soon I realised it’s not just physical stuff that clutters up our lives, but also the noise, social medial, news, consumerism, activities, programs, to-do lists, appointments and even some toxic relationships. So look at every area of your life. Work on one area at a time and do a stocktake. What is absolutely necessary and adds value and joy to your life and what doesn’t? You will be shocked at what you might be hanging onto that is holding you back and causing unnecessary stress in your life.

Meditation and journaling: there is so much noise and busyness in our society and it’s so rife that stopping and “doing nothing” is very much uncomfortable and looked down upon. People want action, hustle and constant connection.

The thought of being “unplugged“ from everything can be intimidating. We are so disconcerted with our own silence and so out of touch with our own wellbeing, because we simply don’t stop in the silence and feel into ourselves. Constant noise and busyness is detrimental to our brain function and health. We need to stop and check in with ourselves to know how to support ourselves and to literally rest our brain.

Spend some time each day journaling in a quiet place, writing down your thoughts, feelings and plans. Sometimes sitting in silence and getting everything out of our head and onto paper changes the course of your whole day for the better.

Mindset: words and thoughts are things that hold more power over us than we might think. If you say or think negative things about yourself, it’s time to change that story, because the way you think and speak creates emotional patterns that you pass down through generations – just like our stress response.

If you need less stress and judgement and more positivity in your life, it starts with a positive mindset. A positive mindset starts with how you speak to and about yourself even before you start believing it.

What story are you telling about yourself and how can you improve them?

Grounding and self care: getting out into nature and finding a hobby or something you love doing supports our physical and mental health in powerful ways. For example, the earth’s surface actually has a type of electric current which communicates with our own electrical environment within us to help normalise and stabilise the systems of our body.

Mindblowing, right? It can help with stress, emotions, sleep and even things like pain. So walking on the earth barefoot has incredibly powerful benefits.

Making space in your life for self care, time for yourself, hobbies and things that fill you with joy is also an essential part of looking after your mental health and wellbeing. Often in our busy society this is not considered a priority, but if we don’t fill our own cup, we can’t expect to be able to fill anyone else’s. As the popular saying goes, you can’t pour from an empty cup. Make time for yourself.

Sleep and sunshine: it's absolutely essential for our bodies to rest and rejuvenate. Sleep is when our body's do most of it's detoxing and repairing. Especially our brains. If we aren't giving our body a chance to go through it's normal processes with the right amount of sleep, nothing else will function normally. I'm sure we all know how sleep deprivation feels, especially the parents. It's literally used as a form of torture.

What can impact sleep? Certain foods and drinks (avoid caffeine and sugar), screens (turn off all screen at least 30 minutes before bed), lack of exertion (make sure you've fit in some exercise during your day), EMFs (protect your home from EMF's, turn wifi off at night, switch devices off or to airplane mode), your room (a cool, pitch black room with white noise has been shown to be the best environment to promote sleep).

Prioritise sleep. Calm your routines a few hours before sleep. Then when you wake up, open your eyes to the sunshine. It's triggers those good hormones to start producing. We are taught to fear the sun, but it's actually extremely vital. Vitamin D impact every system in our body, physically, mentally and emotionally, bringing everything back to harmony. So avoid sunscreen (which is full of harmful chemicals) and sunglasses and absorb those glorious rays responsibly.

Essential oils: these volatile aromatic compounds are a kind of life essence of nature. They heal and protect, they nurture the plants, trees, flowers, herbs and fruits that they are produced by and are part of their reproductive cycle. These compounds are made up of different, naturally formed chemicals that also interact with our own natural bodies. That’s why a walk out in nature can be so powerful for our wellbeing. Studies show that when we are breathing in those incredible compounds, even when they are diffused, they calm our mind, our body and release tension that causes dis-ease among other things.

Just keep in mind that the essential oil market is unregulated, so there’s a lot of “pure essential oils” being sold that aren’t pure at all. By diffusing impure essential oils you are diffusing more synthetic chemicals that will be detrimental, rather than positive for your health. Make sure you do your research. Where are the oils coming from, how are they being grown, harvested, distilled, tested and bottled? My personal recommendation is doTERRA Essential Oils.

FUELLING YOUR BODY

You know that saying “you are what you eat”? Well we are the health of our cells which are literally the building blocks of our body. Who we are and our diet and everything we consume literally form those building blocks.

If you were a builder and you were building a brick home, what do you think would happen if you missed out ingredients when forming the bricks? Or threw in some extra, cheaper bricks made of wet sand? What kind of house would you have built by the end? Not a very strong or safe one, that’s for sure.

It’s the same for your body. If you do not fuel your body well, if you “build” with sand bricks, you are not going to enjoy a strong and healthy life, and that has a significant impact, not just on you, but your loved ones too. In order to give your body and your future a fighting chance, you need to fuel it well, because you literally are what you consume.

So how do we know how to fuel our body with so much conflicting information out there?

My tip for you is to just make it really simple and really natural. The closer you are to nature, the better you will feel. Avoid sugar, processed foods (especially fast foods), additives, preservatives and artificial flavours as much as possible. Eat as much local, organic fruit and veg as you can. Grass fed animal products are the best choice and filtering your water has become a necessity.

Of course, living this way is very difficult for many of us, so make the swaps where you can and learn to read the labels! Every swap means less of a toxic burden on your body and a much healthier future.

Also consider swapping out your cookware, because a lot of chemicals we consume leech into our food through our plastics and other toxic products. Swap plastics for glassware and avoid aluminium foil. Get rid of “non stick” pots and pans and change to stainless steal or copper.

Don’t overwhelm yourself with changing everything overnight. Stick to simple swaps. Always remember that small changes make the biggest impact. Instead of thinking “how can I eat healthy”, think “how can I fuel my body the best today”? Flipping your mindset will help you fuel your body so you can thrive.

YOUR ENVIRONMENT

Our skin is the largest organ of our body and we can absorb 60% to 70% of what we come in contact with and then it only takes 26 seconds for that to be found in our bloodstream, impacting organs and cells – not great when our homes are full of toxic, synthetic chemicals. We are also breathing them in and that’s an even faster way for synthetic chemicals to damage our body and hinder it from thriving.

Synthetic chemicals are much easier and much cheaper to manufacture and they are in nearly every product we purchase today. Our homes are filled to the brim with them! We are taught to believe we need a different chemicals for every part of our home! A moderate estimate in studies that have been done is that we are exposing ourselves to over 700,000 toxic chemicals every day.

The scary thing is that no one is doing research into how all these different chemicals, this toxic cocktail I like to call it, effects the human body. What we do know is that each of these toxic chemicals can negatively impact us in some pretty major ways. Respiratory issues, digestive issues, immune issues, hormonal damage, neurological disorders, infertility, birth defects, behavioural disorders, DNA damage and so much more.

All these chemicals and heavy metals build up in our body and stop it functioning the way it needs to in order to support our health.

To get a picture of how much our health is being attacked through our environment, we need to understand that when it comes to our products today, we are not being protected like we assume we are. Products do not require testing according to Australian legislation. They are only required to list all the ingredients on the label (unless they have an exemption, like the Pfizer vaccine).

Well, everything except any lists of chemicals that come under “fragrance”, “aroma”, “flavour” or anything that might give away a “trade secret” – and there are a lot! That's the loophole these companies use to get away with using all kinds of harmful chemicals in the products we use to spray on ourselves, into the air we and our families are breathing in, walking on, eating off and living inside.

Today we absolutely cannot just browse the shelves at the supermarket and trust that whatever we purchase is going to be safe to use. Especially for our children!

A couple of years ago now I decided to throw out every cleaning product and personal care product that I knew had some kind of synthetic chemical. That same week I felt a major shift in my body and my health, to me that was absolute proof that these chemicals have a pretty major impact on our bodies. Synthetic chemicals are a huge factor in whether or not you are giving your body a chance to thrive.

Swap your cleaning products, personal care products and makeup for natural options. Filter your air, add indoor plants to clean the oxygen, diffuse pure essential oils. If you don’t know a lot about essential oils, please ask - there are a million ways to incorporate essential oils into your life that will drastically improve the quality of everything and support your physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

The closer you are to nature, the greater chance your body has to truly thrive and the more connected you will become to your own health, mind and body. And remember, even small steps are still steps in the right direction.

This is just the beginning. When you get started on this path, your understanding of yourself and your health grows exponentially, opening doors and pathways you didn't even see before.