We aren’t just ignoring the elephant in the room. We’re feeding it and pretending to be surprised when we step in a big pile of elephant dung. It isn’t our health care system that’s broken, it’s our health.
We are in a health crisis. Let’s not trot out the statistics, we know them and we have ignored them for years. Let’s instead take a good, hard look at the realities involved and ask ourselves “What are our options?”
One of the big issues with the modern medical approach is that we largely treat symptoms and don’t delve deeply into underlying causes. Families are in distress over the cost of diagnosing and treating those symptoms. What we should be doing instead is addressing the root cause of poor health. Our healthcare system approach is the same. The high cost of medical care is the symptom and the poor health of our population is the cause. The sooner we address that truth, the more quickly we will reach a resolution.
Whole Foods Heal.
As a plant lover, I know that seeds cost less than plants and plants cost less than buying someone else’s harvest. This translates perfectly to the solution for our health crisis. Our daily healthy habits are the seeds that yield a lifetime of vibrant living as the fruit. Working with our bodies when something goes awry by using herbs, acupuncture, food medicine and other natural modalities are the plants that will still yield a good harvest for us.
There is already an amazing number of people in the US that have moved towards eating whole foods, growing what they can and eating locally. People are rediscovering plant medicine. They are spending time in the garden and interacting with others and consciously choosing low impact, sustainable lifestyles. They are leading us forward into the new “good old days.”
We call it a lot of different things: permaculture, resiliency, homesteading, urban farming and living sustainably are just a few ways we identify our lifestyles. The common denominators of the “returning to the land” rush are healthy eating, time in nature and interdependent connection with others. This lifestyle also promotes planetary health in myriad ways.
Every day people join our Meetup group and come searching for more information on how to live this way. The people living this lifestyle are in general happier, healthier and more satisfied with their lives.
You might be asking why everyone isn’t doing it? There are many who aren’t aware of this type of living. We still have children and adults that don’t know what a zucchini squash is, or even a tomato. For most though, I believe it’s simply a matter of habit and conditioning. We’ve grown up in a world that chooses convenience and expediency in our meals, and our palates were trained for sugar, fat and salt.
The more people pivot back to real food and all it entails, the easier it becomes to find the age old, natural rhythms of living and better health. GrowSocial is a platform that will help with that by creating a space for people to share information, seeds, plants and sell, trade and teach each other. www.growsoc.com
Will it help our health crisis if more people had access to the healthier lifestyles? Of course. How do we get there from here? I think it’s up to those of us who have already found the bliss of resiliency and interdependent community. We are the leaders who will move others forward. Much like a garden, it’s a ground up operation and our part is to continue to plant the seeds, nourish the system, and trust that the harvest will come. Thank you for being that person for all of us.
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