Back to Basics
The internet is packed full of influencers, doctors, nutritionists, and scientists (and plenty of other people) sharing information about what they believe are the best things to do for your health. The information from one will contradict another, and it can often feel like no one really knows anything, or that you’re never doing enough, never doing the right things for your health. It’s easy to get overwhelmed.
Now, I know what you’re thinking—aren’t I just another health coach trying to tell you what I believe is the best for your health? Okay, kind of. But also not really. I’m not going to get into the details of what I think you should be eating, how I think you should be exercising, what specific lifestyle changes I’d recommend. What I want to share is just my philosophy on health as a whole and how you can make it easier on yourself when you’re trying to parse through the onslaught of information from health gurus and content creators.
The gist is this:
Don’t overthink it. Keep it simple. Get closer to nature.
Don’t overthink it. The stress of worrying and wondering whether or not you’re taking care of your health the right way and whether or not you’re eating the right things and whether or not you’re following the right advice, can cause more harm than good. If something feels good to you, and makes sense to you, go with it. If something feels not quite right, even if everyone else is telling you it’s fine or that you need it to be healthy, listen to your gut. Even if you do somehow end up doing everything ‘right’, stress can wreak havoc on your health and undo all of the good choices you’re making. So if taking in mountains of health information and trying to figure it all out is causing you stress, turn it off. Even if that means muting accounts that you love to follow on Instagram or taking a break from listening to your favorite wellness podcast. Thinking about your health constantly might be keeping your nervous system from just relaxing and being present, which is one of the most important things for your overall health.
Keep it simple. Eat real food, drink clean water, move your body, go out in nature, get quality sleep, spend time with people you love. While you can always dive deeper into all of those areas—which whole foods work best for my body specifically, how do I need to exercise to achieve certain fitness goals, what can I do to make my sleep even better, how can I nurture more powerful relationships, etc.—the most important part is getting the basics nailed down. If you ever get overwhelmed, go back to that list. Real food, clean water, move, nature, sleep, love. The basics will get you 80% of the way there, and will keep your health on track when life gets messy. Simplicity is the key to long-lasting healthy habits.
Get closer to nature. Cancer, neurological disorders, and chronic diseases are all on the rise, especially in the US. While there’s plenty of research and opinions about why this is and what’s causing it (and don’t worry, I won’t pretend to be a scientist here), I like to just zoom out a little bit and look at the big picture. What has changed the most in the way we live our lives compared to 100 years ago? The biggest way I can think to sum it up is that we’ve gotten further and further separated from the natural world. Our clothes are synthetic, our medicine is synthetic, the products we use in our homes and on our bodies are synthetic, even some of our food is synthetic. Many of us spend most of our time under artificial lighting, consuming artificially flavored drinks and foods to get us through the day, and immerse ourselves in artificial realities to numb the loneliness we feel.
What if instead, we returned to our roots as humans? What if we spent more time outside in natural sunlight, moving our bodies in natural ways? What if we took the time to nurture our communities and strengthen our relationships? What if we saved Western medicine for emergencies (which it’s great at!) and went back to healing simple things with the powerful plants and tools nature provides for us? What if we learned to reconnect to the rhythms of our bodies, the rhythms of the Earth, instead of the rigid structures we’ve created for ourselves in modern society?
Obviously this is just my opinion, but I believe the answer to all of these ‘what ifs’ is simple: We. Would. Thrive.
Of course, this is all easier said than done. Our modern world doesn’t make it easy to achieve this, for many reasons. Where you live and what your income is are huge factors in how easy it is to change the way you’re living. But maybe even more challenging is simply how difficult it can be to go against the norm. People won’t understand, and it can be alienating and isolating at times. But if everyone is doing things the ‘normal’ way, and it’s resulting in more illness and disease, shouldn’t we be changing what ‘normal’ is? After all, the way the average American lives and eats right now has only been considered normal for the last thirty years or so. Our idea of normal is constantly changing, and someone has to be the one to start that change. Why not you?
We can’t ignore the fact that our world is getting sicker and sicker, that WE are getting sicker and sicker with each passing year. The way I see it we have two choices. We can either accept that this is simply our new reality—a world where we expect to develop chronic diseases at any stage of life, and expect that we or people we love will likely get cancer or Alzheimer’s, and expect that everyone we know will be dependent on at least one medication for their entire lives. We can, if we choose, accept this reality.
Or we can stop and asks ourselves—is this really how it’s supposed to be? Why is this happening now? What can I do to change this narrative for myself, my friends, my family? How can we all start to heal?
I won’t pretend to have all the answers. I promise you, no one does. But I can recommend a place to start:
Don’t overthink it. Keep it simple. Get closer to nature.
Start with simplicity. Simplicity in the food you eat, the lifestyle habits you incorporate, the exercise you do. Start with getting as close to nature as you can, one baby step at a time. After all, we are a part of nature. We are not separate from it. I can say from experience that the more I connect with my own body—the more I connect with nature, the more I allow simplicity to be my guide post—the better I feel. And the more sure I am that this is the way to healing for all of us.
