The engine warning lights are on. What will you do?
Metabolic health is a term for the health of our body’s systems and processes which work hard to keep our body in balance. When these aren’t working as they should it can lead to chronic diseases such as Diabetes, Alzheimers and Cancer.
Think of your metabolic systems as the support network for your home, if they don’t function well it has the potential to create all sorts of dysfunction in your life.
Think about this:
What would you do if your car’s engine warning lights came on?
What would happen if your electricity was cut off?
How would you respond if your rubbish stopped being collected?
What would you do if your child's nursery/school closed down?
How would you react if you or the person(s) you live with can’t do any DIY/Housework/Cooking?
What if your ATM card just stopped working?
For all the above, you would take action to find a solution so life could continue effectively. Some might take longer to resolve than others but you’d work on them until they were sorted. Your health should be no different.
Symptoms are our warning lights
The symptoms we experience are our body's way of telling us something is off. Headaches, joint pains, weight gain, fatigue, PMS, broken sleep, constant colds, low mood, anxiety, feeling “hangry” and beyond. Often we ignore them or just learn to accept them. Sometimes we might pop some pills to try to move on.
However, if we listen to the symptoms, we can explore these early warning signs and take action to get things back on track. To improve our health and reduce our risk of chronic disease.
Why does it matter?
With 1 in 2 people now developing cancer and an estimated 3 million people currently in the cancering process, projections don’t look good. People are getting sicker at younger ages.
Look around. Who do you know who has/had cancer, dementia, diabetes, or a heart condition? This shit is real!
Many of these diseases are now being called lifestyle diseases because how we live our lives directly influences our risk and pathway to disease.
The amazing thing is our body is an incredible machine with an innate ability to heal if we give it the right environment to thrive.
Why wait until the chronic disease hits? Listen to your body, acknowledge your symptoms and think about what you could be doing to actively improve your lifestyle and your health.
We are all different and there are so many factors that influence our health beyond what we eat and how much we move. So before you start feeling like you need to get down the gym, it can be helpful to consider all potential lifestyle factors and what’s most important, and possible, for you right now.
Think about stress (both physical and mental), home environment, toxin exposure, mental health, working hours, cultural & societal pressures, connection and life purpose.
So look broad and think deeply. What’s impacting your health? What small change can you make now to start investing in yourself?
If you’re curious to know where your vulnerabilities and imbalances might lie so you can get to work on strengthening them. Get in touch!