What 6% of Americans Do
Are you one of them?
As I consider myself The Empowerment Coach, many are aware that I officially am a board certified health and wellness coach. As I do my continuing education, I listened to a webinar with Chris Kresser…
…that brought to light how many Americans are not taking care of themselves. Unfortunately, I’m not surprised by this. All we need to do is look around, not in judgement but in observation and many of us can see it.
What I was surprised by is the percentage of Americans that are taking care of themselves that this webinar shared. A number much lower than I thought.
According to the CDC, 6% of Americans engage in what is considered to be the top health behaviors. Only 6%! This is why we have an epidemic of chronic disease — with my certification in functional medicine, I will add the term also of dis-ease.
Functional medicine, unlike conventional medicine, looks at the root cause. It’s about bringing wellness to a patient. Conventional medicine will diagnose a patient with high blood pressure and treat accordingly.
Functional medicine will look into WHY the patient developed high blood pressure. The factors that brought the patient to this condition. Then look to take a patient on the journey of change to actually heal it. Not just medicate.
Where conventional medicine will look at disease, functional medicine will add also to that dis-ease. The emotional, mental factors that play into any illness in our bodies. What’s happening in our lives, comes out in our bodies…
Stress causes inflammation, which is a factor in disease. And right now, anyone not feeling stressed?! I feel things actually heating up in my life. How about you?
We can’t control anything except ourselves and how we react.
So, in these continuing out of control times, let’s take some control.
You with me?!
Are you one of the 6% of Americans that have a healthy ‘diet’ OR are you eating the Standard American Diet (which is SAD…and it is indeed). Are you living a healthy lifestyle with healthy behaviors?
Are you nodding your head, or laughing at me? Do you feel the SAD diet actually makes you…happy?! That you can’t live without it?
Following the Standard American Diet will give you the Standard American Diseases ~Ocean Robbins
So if you motto has been: “I am here for a good time, not a long time..”
Then I ask you, “What if the time you are here becomes the best of times with the best quality of life? Where we do not fall apart with age, but continue and/or become strong and well?”
What if I told you that adopting just 5 health habits can extend your life span average by 13 years?! And better quality of life with these adoptions! This is what Chris Kresser shared based on a large study done in 2018:
- Maintaining healthy body weight. (link for BMI)
- 30 minutes of exercise — moderate to rigorous (link for tips)
- Not smoking (obvious)
- Not drinking excessively (though he did not share, it’s usually 1 drink a day for ladies, 2 for men — I personally drink only occasionally and I feel my body/brain functions better in doing so.)
- Following a “healthy” diet (link for an article of mine where I share tips)
If you look at this list and feel that it doesn’t matter what you do as our genes control our destiny, conditions and diseases just run in my family…
…I ask you to open your mind to the science of epigenetics.
Epigenetics is the study of changes in organisms caused by modification of gene expression rather than alteration of the genetic code itself. (dictionary on Google)
What this means is that we have control in up regulating (activating) or down regulating (silencing) our genes. Our environment — how we eat, live, think, process stress, etc. all play in how our genes respond or don’t respond.
Bruce Lipton, Ph.D takes epigenetics even deeper, adding it’s not only our environment, but our perceived environment. I love this! It makes a difference if you view the world in a negative way or a positive way. Brilliant!
Epigenetics has the potential to change your life by making you happier and healthier, with a greater sense of spiritual well-being. ~Bruce Lipton
As some will say, changing your habits for healthier ones may not be easy, but it’s simple. I’d rather take the judgement out of it, but like the impact of this statement. We tend to overcomplicate things — this is not complicated!
If I look at the 5 changes listed above, removing #3, as I never was a smoker, I can relate to the other 4 and remember a time when changing those habits felt like I was the pooper at a party.
I was here for the good time (as quoted above) but I ultimately wasn’t having a good time! I didn’t want to make changes, but I didn’t want to continue to live as I was. I was tired, sick a lot, overweight, stressed over what to wear and embarrassed by how I looked.
When I look back, basically I felt out of control…
In these out of control times, want to get some control? It starts with you. I ask you to open your mind and at least apply one change to a healthier version of you. Take it in baby steps.
And when you do, I hope that you might feel as I did — I had nothing to lose and everything to gain.
Yes, I had to lose some of those habits, but ultimately in doing so I gained freedom in how I was feeling! And when you start choosing to be an advocate for your health, you are better able to:
- manage stress
- reduce toxic burden
- realize the benefits of play
- realize the benefits of time outdoors
All important factors for us at any age! Think of how you might have felt when you were a child…when it might have been easier to enjoy life.
Won’t you come join me?! Take a baby step in moving forward? I hope so.
Here’s to you, enjoying your life! Feeling great, looking great — making the second half of your life, the best half.
Until next time ~
Sending you light, love — health and wellness.
Be Well,
