It Begins With You

n order to accomplish anything in this life whether it is sustainable living, building tribe, learning to walk a free and independent road, you have to begin....with yourself.  In order to function well, think well, train well and survive, you have to feed yourself well.  
First and foremost we have to begin thinking of food for what it is, fuel and medicine.  For too long we have overindulged ourselves in all the fast foods and marketed products that were supposed to be delicious, simple and sustaining.  They are none of that.  Restaurants are on every corner and every kind of cuisine is available  to tempt us and they do.  I know of people who only eat at home a couple of meals a week and their health has suffered for it. 
We also must navigate all the diets and health experts and mirriad warnings.  The truth is we need to eat as our ancestors did.  There are many who have found and believe that our bodies respond best when we eat diets that match our heritage.  Whatever the case may be and whatever advise you choose to follow know this, our current health crisis in this nation is do to our sad American diet.  We cannot hope to build any kind of future if we are not healthy and our children are not healthy.  
Not only does a proper diet benefit us physically but mentally as well.  Stress, anxiety, depression and the inability to focus can all be tied to diet.  There is a video series that I recommend everyone watch called "The Broken Brain".  While some of Dr. Mark Hyman's materials are solicitous the information contained in the video series is groundbreaking and informative.  He teaches about the gut and brain connection, the impact of toxins on our health, how to heal our bodies and our immune systems and how to personalize our diets and understand our genetics.  
Those of us of Northern European descent come from strong stock.  There is some information published on what they ate and what they drank, meat, fruit, berries, tubors, mushrooms, nuts and let us not forget meade! We are also reminded that they didn't eat three meals a day every day of the week.  There were times of feasting when the hunt was successful and then there was the times when food was more scarce.   There is something to be said for intermittent fasting, it gives us an opportunity to clean the pipes, clean our blood and clear our head.  Ritual fasting does even more but we will delve into that later.  You can begin reading on Intermittent Fasting with this article.  
The last thing I will mention on health is the importance of water.  Plain old water.  It is suspected that 70 - 80% of people are dehydrated.  It is like trying to drive a car without oil....the engine will seize.  It is true of our bodies as well.  Water can fend off heart attacks, muscle cramps and injuries and helps to send waste and toxins through our system.  Drink water.......all day long!!!
As with all things, we must return to our roots, to the foundation of who we are and what we are made of.  Our strength and vitality begins first with a strong and healthy body and a healthy mind.  If you have not done it already, begin evaluating the things you put into your body and begin to give it the proper fuel it needs to operate at optimum levels. You can get all kinds of diet advice from all kinds of resources but the best advice is to eat naturally.  That will be our next article.