Blog Post: Changing the Focus

I have had many successes helping people to reverse their lifestyle diseases over the past year though adopting plant based nutrition. Adding nutrition classes that are available three times a week has been the basis of that success. Many people are finding they have a lot more energy and a lot less body aches. However, we are a very food focused society and much of our social life revolves around eating especially after the children are grown and out of the house. This results in less and less activity and more and more eating and dinning experiences. I am often told in the office that a great part of social interaction revolves around going out to dinner with friends. Changing to plant based nutrition makes this a little more complicated and is often a limiting factor to perceived success but perhaps it is a stimulus for change.

What if we could change eating to a secondary social experience after moving, and not the primary reason to socialize. This takes the pressure off of eating and focuses the attention on movement. This weekend I took part in a community 10K to celebrate Memorial Day and raise money for local veterans. There were over 700 participants with the youngest runner age 9 and the oldest 85 years young. There were families, friends and running groups as well as many veterans of our armed services. I was happy to see that refreshments at the end were watermelon, bananas and pickles as well as the traditional cookies. Not bad. Our practice had two members take part that were new to running each completing the 5K. They had both lost significant weight and eliminated their blood pressure medicines through adopting a plant based lifestyle. They were both over 50 years young. This is a cause for celebration and a call to action for all. There are many members of the practice that are hiking daily on trails for miles as well as cycling over 200 miles a week and walking several miles a day. Their focus is getting outdoors and experiencing fresh air and pushing their bodies to stay fit or become more fit. Their bodies are becoming more strong and fit and their energy is improving instead of deteriorating from lack of movement and an unhealthy focus on the hobby of eating.

I would invite you to make movement a hobby that allows you to enjoy time with others whether it is running, biking, dancing or whatever challenges your body to become more fit and strong. Get outside daily and breath the fresh air. The microbes you come in contact with outside are much healthier than inside. There is actually electromagnetic data that shows improved health coming in contact with the earth’s service and not an artificial surface. The sun is a natural sanitizer and mood enhancer. You are never to old to begin.