Paint by E numbers from Jamie Thompson on Vimeo.

Health is not a ‘God given right’.  Health, or the lack of it, is in discriminatory.  Some of us are born healthy, some not.  Those born healthy rarely appreciated their precious gift.  Instead, they obliviously let it slip through their fingers like the passing of their years.  Ignorance is the main reason.

Others less fortunate (potential examples include Vegetarian campaigner Linda McCartney and athletes too numerous to mention) work hard at being healthy.  Yet regardless, still die young of disease.

It has become a given that ‘we are what we think’.  I believe I am healthy, therefore, I am.  I reinforce this belief daily by ‘acting as it’ and adopting appropriate positive actions.

If we accept that another given is ‘you are what you eat’ then rubbish in = rubbish out.  Conversely, quality in = quality out.  If we understand that principle, even at a basic level (and most people do, especially when it comes to their motors), why is it that many people seem hell bent on finding new ways to sabotage their health?

As always, it comes down to a combination of 3 E’s, economics, education and environment.

With continued educational cuts, schools sold off playing fields leaving children without a safe environment to exercise.  This has had a major impact on managing calories in versus calories out resulting in malnourished fat children.

In addition, with the demise of Domestic Science lessons we now have a 3rd generation who do not understand the value of nutrition or know how to cook.  It could be argued that neglecting these basic survival skills is tantamount to neglect.

Worse still, Jamie Oliver aptly demonstrated that many children simply did not know the name (or the taste) of everyday garden vegetables.  That’s in spite of living in an era where we readily and cheaply, source out of season food and indulge in an abundance of new hybrids.  What a terrible legacy.

Countless generations have in the past handed down their individual cultures customs, skills, traditions and knowledge.  Not any more.  With parents working increasingly longer hours, less time is spent as a family.  Consequently, children increasingly learn and are influenced by TV and the Internet where food companies are the biggest and most powerful advertisers.

It’s a bizarre world we live in when you consider how our once nutrient rich soil has been depleted and the rational behind how land is divided up.  What is grown and the primary need being one of feeding animals over humans?

We’re aware that some of the world’s population is starving.  Yet the western world devours ever ready, artificially coloured, synthetically flavoured, deliberately addictive food considering it normal fare.  That’s before considering the side effects of nuking a hidden cocktail of growth hormones, additives and chemicals in the not so trusty microwave.

The pharmaceutical industry deserves a quick mention too for selling tablets for every ailment (inc. side effects) from indigestion tablets to acidic people through to angina tablets to thin the blocked arteries walking around waiting for a heart attack to happen.  After all, there’s less profit in curing people!

Of course the UK and US are unique in that a 1/3rd of their populations are considered over weight.  We have adults weighing half a ton, teenagers weighing 20 stone and eight year olds weighing 15 stone.  Even our pets are joining in the eat to the death game.

At the same time, we have uber-thin models and the size zero argument being ‘debated’ in the fashion industry but promoted in the tabloids.  Subsequently, many people are prepared to hijack their health in order to be the slimmest they can be (peer pressure).  However, the average metabolism and life style diet doesn’t allow many to achieve this unrealistic, caricature like body image portrayed in the glossies.

This leads to both physical and mental anguish as yo yo dieting kicks in at an increasingly younger age.  We don’t fully appreciate consequences of size zero on long term health, reproduction, mental health etc., but tests show it’s a retched and lonely journey often resulting in a range of disabling eating disorders and addictions to food.

Never before has the health industry enjoyed such a healthy bank balance.  Health stores cannot stock shelves fast enough with the fat busting, appetite suppressant pills and red, blue and green unproven ‘superfoods’.  For contradicting advise, turn to the many diet, cookbooks, celeb videos or plethora of TV cookery shows.

Celebrity chefs and nutritionists ply their trade as the new rock stars.  Their fad diets religiously copied.  No longer the prerogative of the rich, plastic surgery is the new must have quick fix be it a tummy tuck or a full body lift.

The NHS struggling to deliver has set new boundaries (depending on funds available) regarding who they will and will not treat (smokers, alcoholics and obese cases), preferring instead, to treat people perceived not to have intentionally abused their body.

I’m keen to explore given that the answer to all this is so simple;

How many people would willingly make the necessary changes and take responsibility for enjoying improved health and longevity?

When I run my Positive Mental Health workshops, as a brainstorming exercise, I ask two volunteers to stand up and each hold one end of a piece of string.  We then debate our life expectancy (usually around 76 yrs) versus the average age of the group (usually 30 – 40’s).  We then turn that into a percentage, cut the string accordingly.  The string that represents the life already spent drops to the floor.  The remaining (often shorter) piece of string is the rest of our life.  So we discuss what we want to be, do, and have with the time we have left.  More of the same?  No.  So, we set about discussing the desired changes we want, how we’re going to get there, what’s stopping us and plan how best to move forward.  A simple but powerful exercise.