4 Reasons The Struggle Is Real With Getting Healthy (And How To Win The Battle)

If you have been on a journey to recover your health in any way, you know that the path is rarely straight and narrow. With a world full of health destroying landmines, and little knowledge on how to avoid them, chances are you’ve been having a tumultuous relationship with your health on a daily basis. It’s not your fault that the dominating systems have been set up to poison our food and drug the symptoms, but it is your challenge to navigate them so you can lead a much healthier and happier life.

Breaking out of this matrix can be intimidating. So many constructs have been set up physically, mentally, and spiritually that sometimes you simply can’t see the solution from where you are standing. You need to open yourself up to a paradigm adjustment and some simple facts that could crack open the safe to the abundance that is waiting for you. While there are no shortage of reasons why people struggle with their health, here are four that can help you understand the game and realign yourself with the health that you inherently deserve and desire.

Peer pressure

Let’s face it, you let the opinions of other people keep you from doing what your heart truly desires. You’re trapped in a group think mentality and don’t want to abandon the safety of the herd, which ironically is on the precipice of a complete disaster. So why would you allow a group of people or a person dictate what is right for you, when you know it is SO wrong?

Chances are, you are afraid to stand out, be different, and you don’t fully believe in your mission to be well if you allow others to negatively influence your decisions. I get it – it’s human to want to belong, be liked, and be safe. However, when this emotional attachment creates more suffering on your part, is it worth it?

The one mental trick that can help you in times of peer pressure is understanding your WHY. Most people operate off will power or discipline, and although that can be helpful, you can’t rely heavily on it long term to make the best choices for you. You need to have a better anchor to your health goals, and this is where WHY power comes in. This is a heavily anchored emotion than will ALWAYS keep you on your path.

Your why might be that you simply want to be healthy and happy no matter what the cost, or that you want to be an uplifting and productive member of the family, or at work. Maybe you don’t want to be in pain and pass away much earlier, like maybe your loved ones did. Perhaps you want to enjoy playing with your kids or grandkids as long as possible, or don’t want age to limit your ability to participate in various areas of life. Whatever it is, your WHY will hold down the fort and not let you succumb to peer pressure (and if your WHY makes you cry, chances are it will serve you extremely well).

So figure out WHY you truly want to be healthy, and don’t be afraid to go deep with it. The deeper, the better you’ll handle the perils of peer pressure.

Cravings

Ever been on a nutritional plan, and about two to three weeks in the cravings start to kick in? It’s natural to have this happen, and it ends up being what usually sabotages people from achieving the true health they desire. Sometimes it simply is a habit that is so entrenched in your psyche that you are literally trained to follow it. This is why your WHY power is so important in the early stages of your health transformation.

However, another huge factor to consider is that our gut bacteria can produce cravings based on what they prefer to consume. Some may crave fat, while others prefer sugar. Researchers have suggested that gut bacteria may seek to manipulate our behaviour by means of food cravings, to get the nutrients they want. Some of this research suggests that these bacteria release signaling molecules that affect the activity of the vagus nerve which runs from the gut to the base of the brain.

According to the senior author of the research, Athena Aktipis, PhD:

“Microbes have the capacity to manipulate behavior and mood through altering the neural signals in the vagus nerve, changing taste receptors, producing toxins to make us feel bad, and releasing chemical rewards to make us feel good.”

The good news is you can change taste preferences by altering the microbiome in your favour. For example, if you crave sugar, complete avoidance of it while adjusting your microbiome to eliminate the abundance of bacteria craving it, can substantially reduce and even eliminate such unhealthy cravings. Unfortunately, if one doesn’t understand this and work through the few days of intense cravings that typically come on (likely in response to the sugar loving bacteria sending stronger signals to your brain, to keep them alive), they likely find themselves falling off the wagon, before any real healing has been done.

In order to crush these health destructive cravings and never look back, we take a specific nutritional and supportive approach through the THRIVE Academy.

Disorganized, confused, and frustrated

A failure to plan, is a plan to fail. But how do you plan something with information overload and so many conflicting and opposing views on what is best for your health?

Chances are, you’re on the inter-webs studying various health professionals and gurus, looking to put the puzzles of your health together. This is an admirable feat, but one that is very hit and miss and often costs you more money and time than you’d care to evaluate.

As someone who spent 3500 hours and $35,000 in the first five years trying to figure it out (and only leaning on ONE source of information), I know the cost to becoming well and trying to do it on your own. Although I never have regretted that experience, I would have much rather resolved my health concerns much faster and cheaper than that. I mortgaged my health journey, and it cost me about 100x more time and 10x more money than it would if I started over with the knowledge I have today. That’s the leveraging power of having the right information and motivation, and that’s exactly how I help people heal themselves so quickly through my THRIVE Academy.

As long as you follow multiple sites and multiple health personalities, the greater the chance you’ll become more confused than enlightened. This is not to say there isn’t great advice out there, but, there is plenty of horrible advice from people who have no experience in healing. If you can’t discern the difference between the two, you’ll be on the path much longer and spend way more money than you want.

My simple advice is to pay attention to those that have proven they can help people heal themselves (long term), and discard some of those that are mostly noise keeping you from finding the path to true health.

Priorities

In a world of shiny nickels and adorable squirrels, priorities have shifted from securing good food and creating a healthy environment, to the latest gadgets, cars, trips, and housing. People much rather be house poor than health rich, and this is a reflection of the clever marketing techniques that have convinced us we should have it all, at the expense of our health.

There is no doubt that becoming healthy requires an investment, but unlike the stock market, there is always a positive return. No one EVER regrets becoming healthy, but many people do regret the wrong stock picks, being house poor, and watching someone in pain and die prematurely. Bottom line, anyone who has lost their health KNOWS that everything loses its lustre when health starts to appreciably deteriorate.

As noted by the Dalai Lama, what surprises him most about man is that he sacrifices his health in order to make money, then sacrifices money to recuperate his health. So many quality years of life lost, by simply not making health enough of a priority.

For those that believe they don’t have the money to become well, then focus on buying the best food you can (or better, grow some of your own), and engage in practice that cost you nothing but can dramatically improve your health, like grounding, meditating, and sun bathing.

This is a very short list of things that make becoming well a real struggle, but on a positive note, millions of people have managed to tackle each of them in stride to become a much healthier and happier version of themselves. Not only that but the struggle to stay sick is no different, and in fact, a much longer and arduous journey than learning how to overcome these four factors, especially in my health program.

Don’t sacrifice your life by resisting change. Embrace the beauty of being well. Decide you don’t just want to merely survive, but THRIVE.

Join the THRIVE Academy!

Sources include:

Healingthebody.ca