Oh boy. I’m getting on my soap box again so buckle up boys and girls. I try and stay off of it, but with this particular topic it’s such a rich sea of constant writing opportunities it’s just hard to not capitalize on them.
What you may be wondering is it that keeps my creative writing pot over flowing?
The world of “health” and wellness companies. I’ve had a thing or two to say about them before. I’m sure it won’t be the last time either.
The products are sold by your next door neighbor, the friend you do yoga with or the sweet grandmother down the street.
Once they sign up they become health and wellness experts overnight.
Actually, they just regurgitate what the company spoon feeds them in propaganda.
Listen, I’m not knocking someone who’s trying to make a few extra bucks. Their intentions are well meaning. I know lots of people who do. I’m just suggesting you might not turn your health care over to someone who doesn’t know squat about most of the things the company tells them to promote or say.
Maybe your blood sugar is just fine and if it isn’t your neighbor isn’t the one to consult.
If you need energy maybe, perhaps, your nutrition needs adjusting and you don’t need supplements of some kind to give you “energy” ( which can translate to nothing more than “natural” speed in some products) maybe you need to lose weight to feel more energetic.
One company vendor posted a screen shot a customer had sent. The customer was proclaiming “how much energy he/she had and they hadn’t even taken their Adderol!” ( Adderol if you don’t know is a legal, controlled substance taken by many people but it’s a legal “speed”) Whatever natural thing was in the product made them feel like they had taken their meds.
That made me raise my eyebrows…a lot….well… there’s LOTS that make my eyebrows shoot off my face sometimes.
Ok well I’m getting to my main point for today. One company is huge on talking up “gut health” and telling you that you need all these products cause you’re more sickly than you realize without them. This company’s literature is loaded with all kinds of “issues” or “problems” you can have in regards to gut health. But I must say, what’s set me off on todays tangent is something I read earlier and it was a meme that said…
“Anxiety is not all in your head. It’s actually in your gut.”
WHAT?! WHAT?!
I desperately wanted to ask if it was a “for real” post ’cause it just was so… shocking to me… disturbing.. that someone would believe that or say it. Like.. do you know anyone who has anxiety issues? I couldn’t imagine telling the person I know who deals with it that it was only “in their gut”.
And I guess I was disturbed that someone would be so casual about a mental condition to use it in a meme that was designed to get you to respond so they could say… “well hey! I have all these products to fix your awful gut and it will fix up your anxiety too!”
Are. You. Kidding.
It honestly bothered me all day on lots of levels.
I have done a bit of my own research on this topic… and let’s just say in a huge way the jury is still out on the topic of “gut health”. There are lots of opinions and thoughts and there is still a lot of discussion on it. You can find various writings and articles but like anything out there, you’ve gotta consider the sources.
Ok but first, simplified, what on God’s green earth does that REALLY mean?? Here’s my definition for you so we have something to work with here.
“Gut health is anything pertaining to your digestive working system.”
Everything we eat passes through the GI tract. The tract is lined with a thin, sticky mucous and it’s lined with millions of bacteria that live, grow and metabolize ( digesting and absorbing) in what’s considered a complex ecosystem comprised of both beneficial and harmful bacteria.
So ideally, we eat foods good for us, it processes through our amazing organized system and in the GI tract the food is broken down and nutrients are delivered via the small intestine into the blood stream.
When we feed our body good foods it operates in optimal form.
However, let’s face it. Many don’t. Sometimes life is going on and we don’t eat as well as we should. So yes, you can have issues or problems with your “gut” ( and I really hate that word, just throwing that out there)
If eating poorly is a lifestyle then there can be many common problems that you may deal with:
Gas, bloating, diarrhea, constipation, abdominal pain, inflammation, cramping, indigestion etc.
Wow, that all sounds fun, right? Some people might just come to assume it’s what they have to live with, that it’s normal for them.
You really don’t have to feel that way. And you really can keep your money and not buy the snake oil to “heal” you.
Our bodies were made to function on foods and not man made supplements. Healing your gut, for the most part, can be helped with improved nutrition and better eating habits.
Here’s a fun fact for you….within 20 minutes of eating whole healthy foods you can begin “healing your gut” as the bacteria in your bowels divide every 20 minutes on average. Meaning what you eat either feeds your body health promoting bacteria or non healthy bacteria.
The type of food you eat is a powerful weapon for health.
And a few other tips/suggestions to get and stay healthy:
Probiotics. The natural way to get them would be through foods. Yogurt is a wonderful source, make sure to choose ones that say active or live cultures.
Fermented foods like sauerkraut also have a high level of probiotics.
Avoid use of antibiotics unless necessary. These destroy your “good” bacteria.
Eat less refined sugars.
Lower stress levels.
Exercise.
Eat a healthy daily diet.
So here’s the thing that these companies leave out. There is a small nod to diet or exercise with them. but it’s more about “buy and use our stuff to be healthy and feel awesome.”
The list of problems their products promise to help and fix is staggering. I’m waiting to hear it cures cancer next.
Let’s keep in mind, at the end of the day, they are a marketing company and everyone is out to make money.
They aren’t telling you that good nutrition should be your goal. They aren’t telling you exercise will help you have energy, change your lab results, or help with your moods.
They are saying… hey, eat what you want and use our products to help you….why should you have to change?
If you don’t change your behaviors and your eating habits there is no product that is going to fix those problems and the only thing you’ll lose is your money to the snake oil salesman.
Rant now over.
sassyfitnesschick 