Your Mum is a plant

Imagine a plant. A wilting plant. Maybe its the shrub in the front of your house, or a flowering plant out the back.The leaves are yellow, dry, brittle. It’s still alive, but its seen better days.

What’s the first thing you would think of if you wanted to keep that plant alive and healthy? Water. Exactly right. Everyone always says water. Every time you see a wilting plant, you think water.Why didn’t you think drugs or surgery? Why didn’t you think, “what pill or potion can I give that plant?”. Why don’t we just surgically remove

the yellow bits, without finding out why they turned yellow in the first place? Because we know that a plant is a part of nature. It only requires natural things for survival.

We’re plants. I’m a plant, you’re a plant, even your Mum is a plant. There is nothing in that plant that cannot be found in us. Basically, all living things are made up of the same atoms, and elements. It doesn’t matter if you are a plant, a human, a cheetah or a giraffe. We all share the same atoms and elements- carbon, oxygen, minerals etc. We share the same atoms that people from the other side of the world breathed out. We are dinosaur flesh, and dinosaur tears.

I’m not the only crazy one that thinks about this.

Why is this relevant?

Lifestyle related diseases are the biggest killer of people in America and Australia. In the western world for that matter. Heart disease, stroke, obesity, diabetes, depression etc, and the medications and treatments for these diseases. These are the major killers of people in the western world. And they are preventable.

It’s important to remember,the quality of your life is diminished when you have these lifestyle related diseases. A major portion of your life will be lost to pain, GP visits,costs of medication, hospitals. Where’s the fun in that? Doesn’t sound like the life I would choose. Over 10 percent of your life, living in misery. Over half of all bankruptcies are due to enormous hospital bills.

I have a better vision for my life, and the lives of my family and friends. I have set some health goals. Not for next week or the summer coming up, but for the long haul. For 20 to 60 years from now. My goals are to be the oldest guy catching a wave at a local break. To ski and snowboard with my grand kids. To play basketball as long as I can. I want to enjoy my career long after many of my peers have retired. I want to have a retirement that is full of action and adventure, not wasting away in a rocking chair. And if we do it right my friends and family will be right there with me, healthy and happy, for the long haul.

I also have a goal to write one blog post a week on the subject of health and wellness, and where true health comes from.

I learned this plant analogy, and a few others, from Dr James Chestnut, a mentor of mine. I have found them helpful as a reminder that we are not separate from the environment that we live in. This plant analogy has become our compass. It guides my family and I as to what we should do to keep our bodies healthy. “Should we eat those chips that come out of a bag full of preservatives and man made chemicals that we can’t even pronounce”, or drink that sugar filled soda? Or, “should we supply our body with something from nature that our body will recognise and that will provide us with the nutrients we require to survive”?

Next week, we’ll dive deeper into this plant analogy, and maybe bring some other analogies into the mix. My goal is to give you a different way of looking at your heath, and the health of your family.

Your comments are most welcome.