Why is it difficult to keep a healthy physical body?

How we take care of our physical body and our children’s one has a big impact on our life experiences, growth, and on how we manage all the other planes within – the emotional, mental and spiritual one. Without good health we cannot really achieve much in life.

Food and movement are fundamental for a healthy and robust body. For many this might sound familiar, right?

However, how many of us do really take care of what we eat? When we put the wrong fuel in the car, it can create issues with the functioning of the engine until irreparably damaging it with no other choice than to dispose of it. It’s not just about filling up the tank. It’s about putting in the right fuel. The kind and amount of fuel can make a big difference.

We are all ‘machines’ that require the right nutrients to function smoothly. What we need, how and when we react to things vary according to our personal and unique bodies. We hear and talk about being unique, but in practical life, we all consider ourselves the same.

Does a standard perfect diet exist?

This is why I don’t believe there is a standard perfect diet and lifestyle that is right for everyone to be in good sustained health. Not every individual may need to drink two litres of water per day or have ‘five-a-day’ as widely advertised all around. Some might need way more and some just little. The important factor is to keep hydrated and have a wide variety of foods by eating every day/week something different with a good mixture of texture and colours too. Learning to observe and to listen to your specific and particular body’s needs also helps to not exceed a certain amount of nutrients – that poison and create intolerances or malfunctions – and keeps an inner balanced flow of energy.

Everything in nature works so perfectly in harmony and balance. Human beings are part of this too. Many scientists and researchers have shown, and are still discovering, how every vegetable, animal and mineral has a purpose in the circle of life satisfying one or more specific needs. Rudolf Steiner, among others, in one of his lectures about nutrition and health, explains how nutrients work in our bodies by observing how they work in nature themselves and how this can help us to balance our organism.

Time

Doing research, becoming aware of what our body needs by trial and error, buying good quality ingredients and most importantly, preparing meals takes time. Eating in a restaurant, fast food or buying a ready-to-eat meal at the supermarket that takes a few minutes to cook in a microwave, requires little effort. Cooking a meal from scratch by using organic ingredients, definitely demands more effort and time. When I talk to friends and acquaintances about this, I often hear them saying: “But I am too busy. I really have no time!” preferring to turn to ‘tasty (because full of sugar, additives, salt and fats) and immediate’ solutions to stuff themselves rather than prioritising their health. The same happens when fighting obesity that comes from bad habits, opting for ‘miraculous milkshakes/pills’ to lose weight rather than working on what initially caused the problem.

Power and Money

Unfortunately, the influence of power and money are detrimental to our health too. Both drive, manipulate and change the way we eat and think, and most importantly what we put in our tummies. Through adverts, puppet masters such as fast food chains and supermarkets in particular, program entire populations by pulling strings as they wish to satisfy needs that in reality shouldn’t even exist making us addicted and ill in the long run.

Laura Schmidt – sugar scientist and UCSF professor of health policy – talks at TEDMED about how companies hook us into eating unhealthy food and “why we can’t stop eating them questioning whether consumers have real freedom of choice”.

We often choose processed, sugary and GM foods, looking for deals and bargains to satisfy our pockets forgetting about the real purpose of eating and thinking to be immune from consequences. Unfortunately more than often there is very little or no real and live sustenance in those kinds of foods. Some may be interested in calories but still very few are interested in ‘Nutrients’. This, in fact, is very often an important point to consider when doing a vegetarian, vegan or similar diet. I am a kind of vegan myself but I know many vegans and vegetarians that don’t eat healthy at all! The consumption of processed food, alternatives to cheese and meats, sugary products, refined flours and especially ‘ultra-processed food’ that is ready-to-eat or ready-to-hit, contain little real nutrients (or none) and some (or mainly) substances and chemicals that harm organs and create diseases in the short and long run. Just to name a few, these are preservatives, hormones, antibiotics, artificial colours and flavours, pesticides, industrially produced fats and sweeteners.

Joanna Blythman, a food journalist, gives some insights in her article here of what we actually get when we buy even lettuce from very well-known food stores. Unfortunately, we slowly poison our bodies to then seek help from medicines to temporarily fix issues (sometimes irreparable) without getting to the bottom of the problem and not considering that drugs have their side effects too. We compromise health now by saving money and time to pay the price later and with high interests.

We created a mentality where it’s OK and normal to exploit nature and produce foods with harmful chemicals, hormones and processes with no care for the environment or the impact these products have on people. We tend to nurture and demand immediate gratification not thinking of the consequences. We allow others to brainwash us. Some might blame others or even complain but still without taking any personal action hoping that everything will be solved by itself. 

But why do we allow this to happen?

Can it be because it’s just easier? We are getting less and less used to fighting and working hard to get what we need and deserve preferring to ignore our real priorities and hide behind lies. 

Moreover, the worst thing is that we educate our children to do the same creating a vicious circle with no way out. 

I think everyone should seriously reflect on this.

So, here are some ideas and solutions

We can start with little steps by prioritising what is truly important and finding the time to work on it with no shortcuts. 

• Avoid as much as possible supermarkets (especially on an empty stomach) and fast food. Buy at your local fruits and vegetable shop and local farmer – at least you can ask and try to find out what they put in their products.

• Buy organic or if possible, grow your own vegetables (in your garden or renting an allotment) and involve your children too!.

• Plan the menu in advance for the week making sure you get different kind of nutrients for each meal of the day (starting from varying your breakfasts). Be playful and try new things. The internet is a fantastic source! Cook more complex meals the day before or over the weekend. This will help to avoid temptation when tired and hungry after work.

• Again involve your kids when planning, cooking your meals and washing dishes even if they are very young. It does take a bit more time but it is a very worthy investment for their future.

• Plan to have once a week or every two weeks your favourite fast food or fizzy drink so you don’t feel frustrated while starting to learn how to be in control.

• Do physical movement on a regular basis (our body is made to move!), walk with your children when you can. Cycle, swim, run. You do not necessarily need to go to the gym to do so. Yoga is an amazing way to release tension, reinforce muscles, become aware of yourself and learn how to breathe (breathing regulates our whole body and allows us to control our emotions and mind). Children should learn how to practice some yoga and meditation too, so it becomes part of their routine.

• Question things, do research. Teach yourself and your children the importance of healthy eating, choosing to find time and buying real nutrients over money and immediate gratification.

• Respect nature, take responsibility and understand the consequences of choices and actions. Children can help you more than you could imagine on this! Involve them in your changes and research. By trusting them, they will also build confidence and self-esteem. They will appreciate more their food fostering responsibility too (especially when they help buy the ingredients, cook and clean afterwards).

We take our health and body for granted getting into bad habits and unaware dependency. It is our responsibility to prioritise health, making the effort to find time and money to choose nutrients over filling. Respect, love yourself and your environment so you can then focus on the other aspects of life to find true fulfilment and growth.

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