in the last few days I watched a video from Johann Hari it was a TED Talk and he was talking about
anxiety and depression and then I watched the video from Dr. Berry talking about hepatitis C
I'm gonna link both of those in the description below but watching those two videos got me
thinking about the way that we treat illness here in North America I want to share three issues that
came to me from watching these videos that you can solve right now in our medical model Dr Berry
talked about how researchers work really hard to try to find cures to illnesses that we have
doctors want to give us the cures that researchers find but then
the intermediary there so the people that give them money
don't find that good for business apparently if we are given a one and done cure like what they
found for Hepatitis C that's bad for business because I'm better and I move on with my life
this issue is very apparent in the weight loss world if everybody knew that the foods that they
were eating were actually designed to cause you to eat them uncontrollably and not be able to stop
at minimum I believe we would stop feeding those things to our children and I say that
with confidence because we don't allow our children to drink or smoke but let's take
this idea one step further I actually believe that 50 of the population would stop eating garbage if
they knew for sure that the medical issues that they were living that the weight that was Rising
was being caused by the foods that they were eating and I say that with certainty because
every person who's not keto or carnivore or low carb in any way as soon as they try to get their
weight under control what do they do a low fat diet when did we learn that we learned that back
in 1970 that's not the natural thing that we've been doing for thousands of years it's the thing
that we've been doing for like 50 years yet go on a diet people do low fat the second problem that
we have is that we believe that medication can solve any problem that we're having
a great example of that is anxiety and depression despite people living abusive situations financial
problems or even being isolated as we saw over the last few years we offer them medication to
ease their suffering now don't get me wrong a good doctor is going to offer you medication and then
encourage you to get therapy but the problem that I see is that first of all if the medication works
so I take the medication and I feel better I've just been told that the problem that I'm having
is a chemical imbalance in my head pointing out that means that I'm much less likely to even think
about going to get counseling now because I solved the problem but the other problem here is that as
a society we shame people who get counseling which now means that if the medication doesn't
work or heaven forbid if the medication makes the situation worse which does happen the person
because we shame therapy is much more likely to try self-medicating than they
are to push forward and do the therapy now that they're feeling even worse it's scary because
when we drink smoke other substances eat do other activities that push that dopamine hit
we feel better and the person then has this message happening that well I tried taking what
the doctor gave me that didn't work therapies for losers but doing this activity whether it's
drinking something or eating something well that makes me feel better why wouldn't I just
keep doing that Wellness Warrior we pretend like bad things don't happen to people even
though when you turn on the news we see that bad things are happening all the time the odds are at
some point something bad is going to happen to me or you real world problems struggles catastrophes
lead to anxiety and depression and the only way to truly solve anxiety depression fully is not just
medication it's solving the actual real world scenario that the person is living and I know
that there are going to be a lot of people who are going to say oh but some things cannot be
solved everything can be solved even the passing of a person there's a solution to that we block
ourselves from engaging the solution but there is a solution to that the third thing that I want to
talk about is the fact that we do not rely on each other anymore as a society we don't rely on each
other it used to be the common understanding that it takes a village to raise a child and
that was born out of the understanding that as a parent I can't have my eyes on my kid all the time
as a parent I might have domestic things I need to do I might have work things I need to do and that
we would need other Village members to step in and help us out we live in nuclear families today
and this idea of Independence and I can do it all by myself and I don't need anybody's help
is messing with our ability to make great choices
but is it really what's best for our mental and physical health to be this independent
back in 1943 Maslow develops his theory of the hierarchy of needs and honestly I think
every armed chair a psychologist and marketer quotes this hierarchy to explain why we do what
we do and yet somehow when we really need to solve problems that are happening with us that's when we
ignore it we pay no attention to what heart what what Maslow was trying to get us to understand
I want to break it down for you our motivation is tied to our basic needs and our growth needs
if our basic needs are not met we're going to feel motivated to try to get those needs met and then
when we meet the need the motivation completely Falls away so for example my Hunger need
when I'm hungry I will seek food and then if everything's working correctly when I eat the
food I no longer seek food that's not a motivating factor for me any longer we're going to come back
to this point but first I want to talk about what are our basic needs so of course we have
food shelter sleep all the physical needs the need for safety at home work and in the world
those are basic needs but what we've often gotten wrong is that love belonging and esteem needs are
also basic needs under Maslow's model the problem with getting this wrong I'm going to demonstrate
in an example we get really upset when our spouse does not show us grand gestures of love
and attention and affection and but in fact if my spouse's needs in the relationship are being met
their motivation to try to get that from me is obviously going to be less my spouse is going
to put his attention on meeting the needs that are not being met in our relationship
so this could be friendships it might be work and progressing at work it could be feeling respected
what I want you to think about is the fact that we don't feel motivated to invest in something
that we have what we need of if I'm full I'm not chasing it motivation to achieve basic
needs is highest when the need is not being met and its lowest when the need has been
accomplished what I find interesting though is that our need for friendship family a sense of
belonging connection respect recognition status self-esteem and strength and freedom will not
likely all be met by our partner and certainly not on a daily basis the fact is we're social beings
which means that yes some of these needs are going to be met by Pat but others of these needs are
going to be met by friends and family and and work relationships in all manner of other interactions
that we're having what happens when we are struggling to meet those needs outside of the
home for heaven forbid neither outside nor inside the home we try to self-soothe and this is where I
see the real problem with not understanding what Maslow was trying to tell us that hierarchy of
needs that's in that triangle pyramid where the bottom layer needs to be accomplished before the
next layer and so on and so on up the ranks we don't understand that the only thing that
can truly satisfy hunger is hunger and the only thing that can truly satisfy feeling connected is
feeling connected we do mistakes Wellness Warrior we have a tendency to try to motivate our children
to do what we want by bribing them with gifts rather than letting them learn to do the thing
because of the success they feel in doing the thing remember that when the need is achieved
the child would naturally move on to the next need and then try to accomplish that one as the child
progresses they would be achieving their needs in a socially appropriate way that's actually based
on interacting with people rather than trying to win gifts but we're an impatient Society
and we entice children to do what we want by offering them candy toys and Privileges and then
we're confused as adults when we're chasing food jewelry and cool gadgets as signs that
we're worthy and we give them to ourselves in hopes to make ourselves feel better about our
accomplishments or less hurt by our failures it isn't working our desire to self-sue the food
is actually contradictory to our good health because we are social beings we will succeed
at being healthy when we get back to helping each other because the needs we're trying to
accomplish can only really happen with other people we're trying to solve a desire to be
accepted a desire to feel connected a desire to feel like what like we are part of the group
by eating a cookie or drinking some soda to get that dopamine hit which goes back to this idea
that everything can be solved through medicating us and it can't be because this is a social
request I want to feel connected if we were to share information about the foods that we actually
find healthy the foods that helped us to get our body back strong that would help us because by
telling another human what I did and having them resonate with me as they do it and get the same
result it helps us to feel safe because if you ate it and you were okay and then I eat it and I'm
okay like we're kind of backing each other out hey this is okay to do it helps us to feel connected
because our our Squad eats the same way it helps us to feel like we're friends that sense that
we like each other because we actually took the time to have this conversation
and try to help the other person accomplish a goal that you know that they have or get help
from someone to accomplish a goal that you have being able to talk about the
things that are actually on your mind like if I'm worrying about the foods that I'm
eating or I'm worried about my weight or I'm worried about my health or I'm worried about
whatever it is being able to talk freely about those things my struggles with food
and not be judged or ridiculed is Central not only to solving the problem but feeling seen
our strong Community identity is what allowed us to band together all those years ago and outwit
the much stronger animals on the planet that could have eaten us and we need to band together again
and strategize how are we going to get our health back under control I think the best way to do that
is in a caring supportive environment so click on the link right there let's do this together