Maintaining a healthy lifestyle is not difficult when things in life are going well. But, when stress rears its ugly head it is so incredibly easy to lose focus, succumb to weakness, and find comfort in hedonistic urges.
As you know, I am not one for orthorexic approaches. I believe they are too rigid, doomed for failure, and do not provide room to enjoy everything life has to offer. But, I do not support living with complete abandon either. Finding your path to genuine health requires finding that delicate balance that allows you to simultaneously meet all of your nutritional, emotional, and cultural needs.
Nourishment is all-encompassing and attaining genuine health requires constant vigilance in all aspects of your life.
It is not easy.
There are too many distractions – especially in this day and age.
What’s more, many of these distractions are engineered by people who couldn’t care less about your health and instead make loads of money by creating opportunities for you to simply give in and indulge – in whatever way that means – drugs, alcohol, food, whatever. When you find yourself in moments of weakness (which you most certainly will) and you are on the brink of throwing it all to hell, your final line of defense is the community that you have built around yourself.
The Importance of a Supportive Community
Cooking and eating nourishing food, exercising, getting enough sleep, and maintaining low stress levels are essential. But, a major part of your health plan must also entail surrounding yourself with people that support your work towards achieving and maintaining health.
If you have people in your life that do not support your journey then there are two actions you must take:
- Share your vision for your health with them and, if they still don’t support you then,
- Find other people that do.
Period.
That’s it.
Yes, I realize that this is easier said than done. But, it is crucial to your success. You cannot do it alone. And, you shouldn’t be expected to.
There are far too many well-funded, strategically implemented forces working against you. Whether you are trying to lose weight, get your blood sugar under control, fight addiction, or simply feed your family nourishing food, you are literally battling a $1.5 trillion food industry with all of its marketing/advertising, strategy, lab-created flavors, empty promises, absurd dietary guidelines, and the confusion and guilt that comes with all of it.
No, you cannot do it alone. These days you need an army of support to simply live a healthy life.
How Your Community Supports You
When the right people are in your life they provide support in countless ways. The mere act of sharing your goals with them creates a relationship where they can hold you accountable. When things in life get too insane for you to think and act with your own best interest in mind they can be the voice of reason when you need it most. In fact, I would argue that these people are perhaps the most important component of your health journey.
When it comes to health we are literally battling for our lives.
These people are your life support.
What to Look for in Your Life Support Team
As I wrote this blog I was constantly reminded of our incredible team at the Modern Stone Age Kitchen and how they work tirelessly to nourish each and every person that comes through our door. They accomplish this not just by the nourishing food they create from scratch but, also equally important, the atmosphere they create. The more I considered this the more I realized that they are a fantastic model for the life support community I am talking about. In fact, what Christina and I look for in our team members provides a clear lens to view what you should look for in your own community.
Who we hire
We don’t exclusively hire trained people from the culinary world. In fact, since the modern industrial food system is so screwed up and the problems associated with it are so deeply embedded in the culinary world, being a part of that system is not an advantage. We are trying to buck the system.
Hiring seasoned chefs and other restaurant workers that have spent their entire careers embedded in this system requires a period of unlearning followed by retraining. Moreover, age, sex, and gender make absolutely no difference.
Where they were born is irrelevant.
Where they are in their own health journey doesn’t matter as long as they share a similar vision of what constitutes real health.
No, we don’t need highly trained chefs, accomplished athletes, or toned models with six packs. We simply need:
- Dedicated,
- Honest,
- Kind,
- Patient,
- Hard-working people who share in our mission and vision.
Nourishing others is hard, monotonous work. But, it is also important, rewarding work. We can train how to shape bread, grind meat, stretch cheese, and ferment vegetables. Those are the easy things. The backbone of the supportive community we are building are the character traits mentioned above. These traits are incredibly powerful and have allowed us to build our small family business into something that can actually make a difference.
Our Community is Your Community
Are you dedicated to improving your health but haven’t yet developed that supportive community?
Don’t worry!
Feel free to lean on us – we are here to help!
If you need a smile, a hug, or words of encouragement stop in and let us know! Christina and I will do everything we can to ensure we always have a team filled with people creating a healthy, welcoming environment for you.
Consider us a part of your life support community. xoxo
Summertime Drinks – MSAK Style
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