Words For Your Younger Self

Social media is ripe with dumb things to get engagement, and this one did make a great conversation starter.

Give your younger self advice the best advice you can in four words.

It was in a community of like-minded people; women of a certain age who strive for healing, less of the world and more of the natural. One of my personal favorites read ‘say no to him’.

I began to consider my four words. What advice should we hand to generations that come after us? There are so many stories and skills being lost as generations before us pass away. I’m freshly, keenly and painfully aware of this.

I thought about what my mom’s four words would have been. Probably don’t be in debt. I lost her this summer. I was honored to have cared for her at the end of life and she is behind every reason I question ‘healthcare’.

Then I thought about what advice I wish we’d all had generations ago and quickly decided I would tell my twenty year old self to consume fewer man-made things.

My journey into more natural products, foods and medicines has been a slow and long process. My mom had Type 2 diabetes since the late 90’s. All her sisters did also. As a young adult, I believed it was inevitable that become diabetic. I wanted to put it off as long as possible, so I was active and watched sweets. My belief now is it’s completely preventable and reversible. But not by living on man-made things.

It’s taken thirteen years to get about one thirteenth of a percent of the knowledge crunchy people have. But I’m forever thankful I met the right crunchies. (what I used to sarcastically call people that read ingredients on food, buy organic and make their owns sunscreens and deodorant)

One of the first things that stuck with me was ‘if you can’t pronounce it, your body can’t process it’. Boom, that makes so much sense. Little lightbulbs have been coming on since, They pop up everywhere now and keep getting brighter, but it’s a hard awakening to realize everything we’ve been taught about caring for our bodies is a big fat man-made lie.

The good old days and good old ways of our ancestors have been lost, to new and improved, but maybe we should have never veered from their self-sufficient and non-processed ways. They didn’t have the health problems we have today. They also didn’t have all the marketing and propaganda non-stop. There are so many voices screaming from all directions urging that we need/want/desire this or should buy/eat/drink that.

Real health takes a lot of drowning those out and listening to your body. It takes an open mind and a willingness to consider that what we’ve been taught wasn’t the best advice. It takes a few crunchy friends too. Here’s a few lies mine have opened my eyes to:

• Fat is bad for us. LIE. Our skin, our organs and especially, our brains require fat to perform well. Things that contain healthy, natural fats are usually one ingredient and few syllables. Beef. Eggs. Chicken. The fat-free fad that came along, sounded good. But reading the ingredients on a box of anything labeled fat-free is frightening.

The right kinds of fats help us process the sun better. Oh, by the way, sunscreen might be worse for us than the sun. A very recent discovery for me is that consuming seed oils may make people more prone to sunburn. So far, I haven’t found anything to disprove it.

• Face products made of really expensive things we can’t say make our skin better. LIE! The health of your gut actually has the biggest impact on your skin, not the long ingredient list on fancy face creams.

• Gluten-sensitivity and celiac. Why are so many people so wrecked by gluten now? This one fact checks (which is really just an opinion, right?) as partly true. Gluten may be a problem for many, but how the gluten was grown can be a problem for all. Wheat grown in big agriculture environments has likely been sprayed with glyphosate. Glyphosate is a pesticide known for negative effects on humans and animals. It causes cancer, at worst and massive inflammation, at least.

I speak in generalities purposely and every body is different. Not everyone tolerates or rejects the same things. Knowing our bodies well is key. Paying attention to them is paramount. Ingredients we can’t pronounce shouldn’t be the main part of things we slather or snack on.

Which brings me to what we are putting in our guts. Oh my, this is the biggest of all the big lies. I love some fast food fries, thick syrupy coffee creamer and sweets of all sorts. The truth is though, they are addictive and I crave them. Now, when I have them much, afterward my body says ‘oh, honey, why’d you do it?’

• Things marketed as healthy is the lie that concerns me most. Let’s talk Cheerios. Marketed as healthy, but are they? Really? I’m not one to site studies and resources and all that but I do have a visual for this one. Here’s how I decipher a Cheerios ingredient list. This is the actual list:

Whole Grain Oats, Sugar, Corn Starch, Honey, Brown Sugar Syrup, Salt, Tripotassium Phosphate, Canola and/or Sunflower Oil, Natural Almond Flavor. Vitamin E (mixed tocopherols) Added to Preserve Freshness. Vitamins and Minerals: Calcium Carbonate, Vitamin C (sodium ascorbate), Iron and Zinc (mineral nutrients), A B Vitamin (niacinamide), Vitamin B6 (pyridoxine hydrochloride), Vitamin B1 (thiamin mononitrate), Vitamin A (palmitate), Vitamin B2 (riboflavin), A B Vitamin (folic acid), Vitamin B12, Vitamin D3.

This is how my brain sees it: Some oats, okay. Sugar, a starch, then another kind of sugar and one more after that. One, maybe two seed oils and what the heck is tripotassium phosphate? Vitamin blah, blah. That looks like a propaganda trick to me.

Then I look up tripotassium phosphate. It’s safety data sheet says plenty for me.

The dangers of man-made things we call food is a nine million word essay all on its own, so I won’t go into how loathsome it is that marketing drives food choices for us. There’s a gluten-free version of Cheerio’s now. Marketed to the hilt, but it’s the exact same product, they never had gluten in them.

When it comes to what we’re putting in our guts, if is has an advertisement ~ it’s not good for you. Bottom line to be healthier in general, consumer fewer man-made things.