This is inspired by a great author called Paul Chek (one of my favorite health and fitness coaches). Many of these points are the root cause of many of the problems he and we deal with in relation to our clients health and fitness. Paul believes our society has moved too far away from nature... i believe you only have to look at the health of our environment and the health of individuals to KNOW that he is right.

The top six health issues faced by modern society are lifestyle driven and therefore preventable. It makes sense that a society driven by economics, TV and convenience places unnatural stresses on the bodies and minds of it’s people. The mass media, corporations and governments have concerned themselves more with the almighty dollar than the well-being of humanity and our home - the earth. These entities spew forth massive amounts of "education", "information" and "promotion" about stuff, fashion, celebrities, products and "health" according to how much money can be made from such spew - not how much value they can offer our society and the individuals within it. The point is - it is absolutely necessary to wear a big filter over your eyes and ears and to consciously choose where you will garner your information and education from. The fact is much of the drivel coming out of the media, corporations and governments will do more to move you further away from better health, fitness and life.

Maybe there are some lessons to be learnt from society’s that have been crushed by western civilization? The Aboriginies and American Indians to name just 2 - lived in harmony with nature and would have continued to do so if not interrupted. As things stand now we have ruined many of our soils, polluted our air and poisoned much of our waters. And now our bodies are following suit! Despite modern technology and medicine - the incidence of cancer has more than tripled in the last 50 years! Consider this wisdom form Chief Seattle:

"This we know. The earth does not belong to man. Man belongs to the earth. All things are connected. Like the blood which unites one family. Man did not weave the web of life. He is merely a strand in it. Whatever he does to the web - he does to himself."

Getting back to nature to exercise and eat is just as essential to your health as it was for tribal cultures throughout history. In today’s society however we need to seek natural movement and natural foods to nourish our existence and we are now in a position where we have to go out of our way to do this. It is easy to get cool "stuff", watches, cars, clothes and products but it is hard to find natural foods and healthy environments. And what do we see more promotion of? We are driven towards more more consumption, more convenience, more technology, more drugs, more pills, more processed foods and that is the reason that stress induced, preventable disease including cancer has more than tripled in the last 50 years! Take a step back - seek nature, seek natural movement and natural foods. By doing this you will not only be investing in your own better health but you will also be investing in organizations and environments that support our health. What you feed (what you give your time, energy and money to) is what you get more of.

Like already stated - we all need to filter out the marketing and money making and focus on what brings us closer to what we want in our lives - which for all - is more health and happiness. We live in a society that can send a man to the moon and yet our incidence of sickness, fatness and stress is at an all time high! We have incredibly intelligent people with masters degrees and Phd’s that would put someone through drugs or surgery (modern medical technologies) before considering  the basics of their health and environment.

Our health, fitness and lives depend on our ability to eat, move and rest well and not on our ability to earn money and fund media, corporations or medical systems that do not bring us closer to health and happiness. Modern society and it’s "education", "entertainment", "Convenience" and "science" are taking us further away from great health and fitness. We have killed more life forms in the last 40 years than all of previous human history - let’s make some changes so that we don’t become another one of the life forms killed. Choose information, education, action, food and lifestyle that you know will move you and those you love towards health and happiness.

Ryan.