Health is Political.
The past 18 months, as with any good crisis, has become fuel for a lot of lecturing, unnecessary debate, and of course, corporatized slogans/sayings.
“Health is not political.”
“Trust the experts.”
This crisis has also created advertisements, musical skits performed by late night hosts, rap videos, and dating apps.
The machine in full effect.
This post will not be yet another 2-cent lecture served up to you from the high horse of a writer with no experience in virology or vaccinology. But…we are going to tackle this element of health being apolitical.
It's Bullshit.
We didn’t ask for this. We asked for transparency, clear understanding of the data, consistent messaging, and the admission of mistakes where applicable. If you do not do these things as
a man/woman in a position of high authority and then mandate decisions to the public, you’ve made my health political.
But how do you tackle this very personalized issue and make health apolitical again? As with all flawed
systems: you take it completely out of the equation. Take… out… the system. Build yourself. Live the
healthiest life possible. It’s a free country, a free market (right?).
Your choices are your choices. Just know that every poor meal choice you make, every sedentary day you spend on the couch, glued to screens, burning the candle at both ends – increases the chances you will NEED the healthcare system.
The more you need it, the more you must rely on the experts and heed their advice whether you agree with them or not.
Take Your Health Back
Movement is medicine. Sunlight is medicine. Food and sleep are medicine.
Unfortunately some modern “Medicine” is just drugs.
At The BODY Movement Podcast, our micro/core focus is on pain management, physical therapy and injury prevention through strength training, but our larger focus is on the macro.
Our mission is to educate the public how to make themselves as strong as possible.
Whether you are an athlete or not, you need to train like one, so that you minimize the need or the time you will spend in the healthcare system.
With that being said, there are MANY great things about our healthcare system and even pharmaceutical drugs.
Cancer treatment, heart surgery, organ transplants, joint replacements…the list goes on.
We live longer today compared to any point in human history, but the underlying function and design has long been to continuously treat symptoms, one at a time, never getting to root causes.
Caught in a Loop
A continuous cycle that keeps you coming back as your symptoms progress until the final piece of the puzzle is in place in the form of surgery, full blown disease, or chronic issues that will have you on prescriptive medicine for long periods of time.
This is not corrupt and bad actors out to get you (well… we’ll come back to that at a later date). This is a system taught over time corrupted by the need to extract dollars from us as consumers, not patients.
While our lifespan has increased, the quality of our health in our final years has not.
We live with more disease, chronic ailments and prescriptions than ever. Our medical schools teach graduating classes to test for everything; that most ailments have a cookie cutter solution; and when in doubt, have that patient come back for follow-ups.
This furthers my point even more that health is political. More interactions and office visits equal incremental dollars and the likelihood to find something, anything wrong with you.
Focus on the Fundamentals
So, what’s a “non-birthing or birthing person” (couldn’t help it) to do? Take care of yourself.
NEVER abandon the basics. Sleep for 8 hours. Go to bed the same time every night, wake up the same time every morning. I’ve been doing it for 10 years and never need an alarm clock unless special occasions (travel, appointments, illness) call for it.
Drink a gallon of water per day. Sweat: vigorous exercise 3 times per week. This can include weight training, cardio and walking. And let no one tell you otherwise: training with weights at the right intensity is cardio. Don’t sit all day.
In addition to structured exercise, get 7,000-10,000 steps in per day. Your blood and circulatory system are like a body of water. The more you move, the more your bloodstream represents a fresh, free-flowing river transporting nutrients and oxygen all through your body.
The more you sit, the more your bloodstream becomes like a stagnant pond. Eat whole foods. Whole foods mean food that has one ingredient (we’ll cover nutrition at a later date).
The Benefits
What happens when you do this? Besides feeling amazing, losing body fat, building muscle and stamina?
You minimize the need to get caught in the loop of healthcare. You gain the power to tell your physician “No”; or “provide me with another option.”
You’ll be more likely to need healthcare for acute ailments that come along and not chronic issues that keep you attached to the system. Your immune system response will increase. You will become more resilient to disease and recover quickly.
When all this happens, all of a sudden you have more choice. You have more control. You don’t HAVE to listen to the “experts”. You can have a conversation with them.
You don’t have to cave to social pressure on how to treat your body. You can take the time to evaluate, learn, read and study before making a medical decision. You become empowered.
The B.O.D.Y. Movement
Our podcast is The B.O.D.Y. Movement. B.O.D.Y. =
Built On Developing Yourself. We’ll take lessons from our channel and expand on them here at
Jianchor.
Our goal is to empower you. Build yourself. The rest will follow. I look forward to contributing to the Jianchor blog family and providing all of you with tips, interviews, and links to great conversations on our platform that will make you stronger and healthier.
Let’s decentralize our health down to the individual. Let’s build a strong, health citizenry. A strong base of citizens can move markets; force corrupt systems to become more efficient. That’s how we dictate the market, not the other way around.
Are you ready?
Let’s go.
