What is making our Modern World Sick? Part 1

This is the trillion dollar question facing our modern society. What is making us sick?And how can we fix it?The modern world has a major health problem on our hands and It's a problem that we have to solve as individuals before we will ever see a change at large societal or government levels. We have been sold a bag of damaged goods over the past few decades as to what is termed "healthy." This misrepresentation has played a major role in the overall decline of health and ultimately happiness in America. From fake foods, to toxic lifestyles, to chemical laden products, to being scared of the sun, to being scared of our own shadows at times to be triggered by the news. We need a concentrated effort on pursuing more education and spreading information and knowledge about the many pillars of real health. As we know, knowledge becomes power and power in hands of the individual is important in bringing more awareness to what is potentially making our modern world sick. And eventually awakening more people to what real health looks like. And how it can be pursued,

I want to first define here what Health is, what Sickness is and what Thriving is. Because all are important factors in our quest for optimal performance for us as humans contributing as much as we can to our society, to our families, to our business and to our communities. We are all truly made for more. It is everyone's duty to place your individual health first and continually work to become the healthiest version of yourself that you can be. For if we fail in getting our minds and bodies into a thriving mode to perform optimally we can truly never live up to our full potential.

So with that being said here are the definitions of Health, Sickness and Thriving.

Health: The state of being free of illness or injury both physically and mentally.

Sickness: The state of being ill, a disordered , weakened or unsound condition.

Thrive: To grow and develop strongly, to flourish.

The words healthy, fitness and wellness are thrown around alot and without any meaning placed behind it. I am not talking about just having 6 pack abs or being skinny. Actual health encompasses way more than those aesthetic features. It's a combination of both external and internal factors and internal and external aesthetics. We see true health all overall mind, body connection that makes us 9 pillars of health. The nine pillars of health are as follows: The mind, the physical body, nutrition, habits, stress, food & water quality, sleep, purpose in your life, and level of consciousness. These pillars of health have to all be attended to with intention or we will see what we are seeing now in terms of the decline of health in our country continue at an even more rapid pace. These pillars and the bedrock of our health and they are being attacked all day, everyday. We are sold fake foods that are termed healthy, we are stuck at a desk for 8- 10 hours a day under fluorescent lights or staring at a screen, we are becoming more isolated and polarized purposely by the corporate media and social media, we are becoming even more sedentary in our daily lives, we are becoming infertile and have a lack of purpose in our lives all the while being drugged to the gills. A question I often ask myself is when did you feel you were performing (mentally & physically) at your absolute best? What habits, actions, thoughts, work and food were your consuming and creating during that time? An answer to this question is key to becoming, finding or creating our healthiest self.

To further paint this picture of where we are at currently in America in 2022 let's examine the following stats:

Obesity Rate: 43%

Testosterone Levels: 40% have low T

Rx Meds: 50%+

Depression: 28% of Adults

Time Spent Inside: 97%

Time on Phone (daily) : 6 hours

Job satisfaction: 85% unhappy

Live paycheck to paycheck : 65%

Workout Regularly: 18% of adults

Sleep Disorders: 70%

Meals consumed outside the home: 50%+

I don't know about you but I find these statistics a bit disturbing and should serve as a wake up call to where we are at presently. It's a turning point, a new age can be ushered in if we choose wisely. An age of real health and real changes for the better. But it will be hard, it will be challenging, it will have people talking about you, it will try you.

I believe that we are made for more. We are not put here to work at a desk for 8+ hours a day for someone else. we are not meant to consume fake foods cooked in seed oils wrapped in plastics, we are not meant to have to fall back to Rx and non Rx pills and other vices, we are not meant to live a life without purpose or connection or community, we are not meant to sit on a couch every night and binge Netflix, we are not meant to be triggered or offended by everything and live in a constant flight or fight mindset.

We are meant to pursue a higher purpose, to train and test our minds and bodies in a taxing way daily, to seek discomfort in order to grow, to be apart of a community that raises others up, to eat real local food and to have the freedom to do what we want, when we want. Lets grow the conversation around just that. Part 2 coming soon.

-Austin Monteiro 8/1/2022