As a fitness professional, and a conservationist by heart, I believe a healthy planet is directly related to the health of the people on it and vice-versa. 

 

Heredity & Environment

Most health conditions are a result of the interplay between heredity and environment. Heredity is something you cannot change, at least for now. Some people have higher risks than others for certain health issues just because of their heredity. This doesn’t seem fair, but it is reality. That doesn’t mean it is certain either. Whatever cards we have we keep. But unlike 5-card stud poker, those cards can change. The other main factor is the environment. Environment can be controlled in many scenarios, which is really important to note.

 

The many factors that contribute to our health

A major environmental factor to consider when dealing with wellness is air quality.  What food and liquids we put in our bodies also has a significant effect on our health. Even how much we move greatly impacts our health. Knowing how important our environment is to our health is critical when understanding how unhealthy we are as a society. I want to express how simple this is by giving a few examples to show the correlation between having a healthy planet, how the health of the planet affects our health directly, and how it all starts with us.

 

Here’s an analogy…

As a fitness professional I’ll use an analogy that is in my industry. It’s like the difference between a naturally gifted athlete at the top level of competition versus an athlete that had to work much harder to get to the same level. Maybe the first athlete comes from a long line of generational talent in basketball. They never had to work as hard and everything came so easy. This basketball player was built for it and became one of the best basketball players in college hoops. Then you have the second athlete who is maybe undersized. They had to work and use every tool they could get their hands on to get to that level of competition. Slowly adapting and becoming one of the best players in the country.

Which athlete does better at the professional level?  I always repeat the saying “hard work beats talent especially if talent doesn’t work hard”. I tell you this story to show how important the environment is. The same is true with health. I believe we can get to that next level of good health if we put in the right work.

 

Exercise can help to create a healthier planet

There are many factors that contribute to physical health such as diet, exercise, habits, and environment. Yet there is one modality that has the ability to decrease the risk of cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and obesity by 25-35%. It’s free and simple… it’s called exercise!

Exercise can significantly change your life and it has for millions of people. I’ve personally had the luxury of witnessing this beautiful transformation many times. It’s the best perk of my job and also why I continue to do it today!! This alone can help Mother Earth if we do it together. Maybe we walk more and drive less. Riding a bike is common, especially in the cities. Or maybe we start gardening. There are so many things we can do that supports a healthy planet and our other home, also known as the body.

 

Air Quality

If we drive less, then our air will be cleaner. The air we breathe is one of the most influential environmental factors when considering health. When we breathe in oxygen we are also getting things that are attached to the oxygen molecules.  Sometimes toxins are attached and enter our lungs which in turn, enters our bloodstream. We take in a lot of air everyday. Therefore, many things can accumulate in the body. Do you see the connection between air quality and health? 

 

Water

The same is true with water.  60-70% of our body weight is comprised of water.  So, all the chemicals or toxins that are in that water are also being absorbed into our bloodstream which can even affect our DNA.  Dumping waste and polluting our water may be good for certain businesses, but it comes at a cost. All of our cells and structures in the body are a byproduct of molecules assembled from the food we consume. Using unnatural fertilizers, pesticides, and chemicals not only affect our health but can be passed onto offspring. You could hit everything on this list if you were riding a bike to your organic garden that is in the crisp clean mountain air where the water is pure. Doesn’t sound realistic, but we can have some version of that!

 

Healthy People, Healthy Planet

Most of the things in this blog are things you probably already knew. I’m not trying to break open some “new-aged” type of thinking. I just want to put the energy out there. The more energy I put into healing myself, Mother Earth, and helping others, the better I feel. My ultimate goal with this blog is to raise awareness so that together we can start focusing on health. It’s simple. I think as a society we focus on financial wealth too much. I do think it is important, yet if we are all sick and can’t use our wealth for anything other than medical bills – wouldn’t it be pointless? So many people are dying everyday from poor health that is from either an unhealthy diet or too little exercise. I dare you to look up how many people die every year from obesity related health concerns.  Yes, there are many other things that are important but let’s start here.

 

 

 

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