Tuesday 9 June 2015

Do I need to be a doctor, a hippy or a cancer-patient to be a wellness guru?

What is a wellness guru? Surf the net and you'll find a plethora of candidates - predominantly young females with surprisingly little credentials and either a celebrity status (think Gwyneth Paltrow's blog Goop) or a serious illness (think Belle Gibson, oops, except she didn't actually have cancer!). Parking the fact that it is unfathomable to me that someone can lie about having cancer to generate blog followers, the fact remains most people want "an answer" to wellness that is not dripping with difficult-to-understand medical lingo nor does it require us all to move to the nearest commune to burn incense, participate in ear candling and only eat green things!

Where is the balance? Do I believe the Pharmaceutical and Supermarket Giants who manipulate me, incorrectly label products to sell higher-margin items and want to poison the world so we're dependent on their medicines? Or do I believe the inexperienced hippies who wouldn't know their @rse from their mouth when it comes to cleansing rituals? The internet, blogs and the media are saturated with options and with information but they're not really clear on "an answer". Given this, people like me start exploring, researching and inevitably reaching out so they can find a digestible solution...and when you're sick you need 'an avenue' - you need a strong belief that there's a pathway to wellness.

The one 'answer' I have been able to glean thus far from my cancer travels is that, contrary to some conspiracy claims, the medical fraternity indeed supports the value of a healthy diet, regular exercise and the reduction of stress (of course in addition to their surgical or pharmaceutical medical management programs):
* "Each year, about 589,430 Americans die of cancer; around one-third of these deaths are linked to poor diet, physical inactivity, and carrying too much weight."
* "Physical inactivity is the second greatest contributor, behind tobacco smoking, to the cancer burden in Australia".

I'm excited by this - it's accessible (I don't need to crush the horn of some nearly extinct Rhino afterall!). Now the exploration becomes - what are 'healthy food choices' and what constitutes 'regular exercise'? Here are my starting points:

1. Healthy diet = HEALTHY EATING PYRAMID (refer http://www.nutritionaustralia.org/national/resource/healthy-living-pyramid)
2. Regular exercise = ABOUT 30 MINS PER DAY of moderate to vigorous activity (refer http://www.health.gov.au/internet/main/publishing.nsf/Content/health-pubhlth-strateg-phys-act-guidelines/$File/FS-Adults-18-64-Years.PDF)
3. Reduce stress/be more mindful = well now here is a can of worms....back to the meditation classes for me?

So do I qualify now as a 'wellness guru' - I'm 38, I'm female, I have Breast Cancer and I have an 'answer'...oh, and I have a blog!! I'm not a wellness guru...I actually don't think there is any such thing! It all comes down to your definition of "well". Am I well if I am happy and loved but riddled with cancer or do I need to be 80 and rich? I think I'll set about defining what "well" looks like for me before I go striving for "guru-dom".

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