As I mentioned in my Contact page, I write articles for the article marketing site, Ezine articles. Below is one of the articles I wrote for the site a couple of months back. As African people, we probably have the worst diets I have ever seen outside of the SAD (Standard American/Standard Aussie Diet) which in truth can’t be beat in terms of the amount of stuff that goes into the mouth vs how little of it is actually food. I am on a campaign to improve the way we eat and the way we live so this one is for those of you who have millions of excuses not to get your butt in shape. To find the original article click here.

In this day and age, it is taken as a Universal truth that we need to eat healthier and exercise in order to increase the quality and quantity of our lives. This means eating regular servings of fresh vegetables, fruits, nut, grains, seeds and any natural food mixed in with regularly moving and challenging ones body. So why is it that so many people end up eating so much junk and live such sedentary lifestyles? One major reason: excuses. Below are some of the common excuses used to justify living life at a much lower level in this important area and rebuttals for every excuse.

1) Life is Short. I want to live now!

Well then first of all, congratulations for making your life shorter. This life has so many wonderful things to be experienced, seen, heard, touched, smelt and felt. If the only way you can find to experience happiness is ingesting the poison that is junk food, isn’t that a sad indication of just how empty your life is? Perhaps, try nourishing your body a bit more so that you have more energy to go out there and live, really live.

2) I Don’t Want to Live that Long Anyway

Whenever some people come up against the obvious argument that moving and feeding your temple prolongs your life, they immediately rebut with:

I don’t want to live that long anyway. Why would I want to live till I’m 90 just to have rickety bones/ bad posture/ be a burden…..etc etc etc

Here’s the deal. Eating healthier not increases the quantity but also QUALITY of your life. If you want to avoid having the rickety bones, bad posture, huge hospital bills NOW, let me suggest that you put down the junk and get yourself to the local farmers market. To see the extremes of what can happen if you don’t nourish yourself, watch the movie La Vie En Rose and let that be a lesson to you.

3) I Just Can’t Quit/ The Food Tastes too Good

That’s why psychology and the science of persuasion was invented: to allow you to have greater control over your body and mind. For most of you, this is an untested hypothesis. You have not tried EVERYTHING YOU KNOW OF to change the way you think and feel about certain foods. There are a plethora of therapies, groups, blogs, books and resources that you can use to change the way you look at food.

In addition to that, you can substitute most of the junk in your life with much healthier alternatives.

4) It’s Just Too Hard

Guess what, so is everything of value in this world. If something is of value in this life, it can only be achieved by hard work. You perform the hardest task of all: you go to work 40 hours a week (probably more) just so that you can have enough money to live. Surely if you can make that much sacrifice to have monetary resources, you can use these resources to nourish your temple. Why gain all the money in the world if you’re carrying it in an obese, unhealthy body?

Something to think about.

I was the only testosterone filled individual today who happened to be sitting in a cooking class somewhere in Melbourne. As the discussion wandered from food and a healthy lifestyle to bras and breast cancer I had brief moments where I let my mind wander. In those moments I thought:

What Would I Do If I Were the Minister of Health?

Philosophy

First of all, the whole point of the ministry would change. Currently, the objective of Western medicine according to my investigation is the prevention and curing of disease. Until a few years back, such a method of describing the purpose of medicine appeared sufficient. That is of course until I began to study the work of raw vegans and naturopaths and alternative medicine practitioners who somehow embedded the idea in me:

The point of medicine is to maximize the quantity AND quality of life.

With that in mind, the Ministry of Health would exist:

To take (insert name of country here) on a journey to improve the quality and quantity of life, through returning the body to a place of balance and working in line with the cycles of the body and nature to optimize the person’s experience of life and ensure that they have nothing but a positive nourishing impact on the world around them.

Some Random Policies

Among the policies I would institute:

1) Classes on relaxation from kindergarten all the way through to University: Everybody needs to learn how to unwind without needing to ingest narcotics or engage in self-destructive behaviour, so let’s teach them how. (Hell, even I wanna know how)

2) Classes on having the best relationships: How many people would we save from ulcers if we had a class on how to be a good partner in these wonderful life-long things called relationships.

3) Effects of the Environment on the Body: How does food affect the body? How do electromagnetic fields affect the body? How does stress affect the body? How can we guarantee nothing but good effects on the body all life long?

4) Ways to minimize the effects of synthetic chemicals on the body:According to the story of stuff, there are over 100,000 synthetic chemicals in use in the environment today and almost none of them have ever been tested for their impact on health. Well, I wanna know!

5) How to be Happy: Come to think of it, scratch that. I would actually create a ministry of happiness where we would research – what a concept!- what happiness is and how to get it. I don’t think we can afford to leave this to chance, I think if we scrap all the Ministries of Roads (in Africa do they really do anything other than award huge contracts to Western multinationals) we should have enough for a Ministry of Happiness.

6) The Best Diet Research Project: This would be a center dedicated to finding the optimum diet for each and every person based on nutritional requirements, genetics and lifestyle.

7) How to Have the Best Sex Ever: We’re all either gonna do it or get opportunities to do it so we may as well learn how to be the best at it.

So what would you do if you run your own ministry? I would actually be curious to know so if you have any ideas drop me a line or leave some comments below.

Beeee bleeeeeseeeeed and bleeeees otheeeeeers,

Mwangeeeeeeee

Dead Prez – Happiness