Generational Health

In the last newsletter, we talked about how we have more access to health information than ever before, yet overall health is declining.

In this newsletter, I will share two fundamental reasons for this struggle and propose a new way of thinking about health.

Two reasons:

1. Focus on the Individual
2. Lack of Culture

1. Focus on the Individual

Our current health paradigm centers on the individual.

Your six-pack abs, your 12-week weight loss program, etc...

None of it is sustainable and more importantly, none of it is transferable.

These kinds of health programs are tailored to the individual but do not consider the family.

You can't even sustain it, not to mention the fact that your kids and husband aren't interested in your new juice diet.

(Obviously, there is a place for individual treatments for specific issues. That's not what I'm referring to. I'm referring to a healthy lifestyle, not treatment of specific medical issues.)

The health industry's hyper-focus on the individual is indicative of a culture that exalts the individual.

But God thinks in terms of generations.

Insight 1: We need to frame health in the context of our family line. This fundamentally changes the motivation and approach.

2. Lack of Culture

"Culture eats strategy for breakfast" - Kirk Wayman

If your pursuit of health is just a strategy (diet, meal plan, program), it won't work.

The health industry offers up strategies with no culture. Without culture, nothing changes.

Why?

Think of it like law vs. Spirit (old covenant vs new).

The law tells you what you're doing wrong and what you should be doing, but it's powerless to change you.

Sound familiar? "Don't eat carbs" "Don't eat until noon" "Eat salads for lunch"

The law.

The Spirit is "I will put my law within them, and I will write it on their hearts."

This is culture. Culture resides in the heart. It follows from values that shift behavior at the level of desire, not duty.

Insight 2: Culture has to be the driving force in our health pursuit.

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With those two insights in mind, I want to propose a new concept.

It's called: Generational Health.

Away from the individual and toward your family line.

Away from programs and toward culture.

If we approach health through generational thinking with a culture-first mindset, we can effortlessly thrive in the area of health.

To start, instead of asking: What diet should I go on?

Ask yourself: How do I create a culture around food in my family that my children will embrace and carry on?

To do this, here's what you shouldn't do:

• outsource your food culture to food corporations who have no interest in your health
• force yourself into restrictive diets that you can't sustain and no one wants to participate in
• eat foods you hate but think are healthy

So how do you start?

Here is a counter-intuitive first step:

Eat your cravings.

You can't build a culture around something you don't enjoy.

So step one in building a food culture that you can pass on is eating what you love to eat.

(This thinking will require understanding basic food principles as well as letting go of the "dogma" thinking around food.)

Eating what you love creates motivation and energy (via the dopamine pathway). The positive feedback loop is critical for longevity.

Fresh sourdough pizza, raw milk blueberry ice cream, grass-fed burgers with melted cheese, full-fat yogurt with chocolate protein that tastes like pudding, and fries made from potatoes cooked in ghee.

Yes, pizza, burgers, fries, and ice cream can all be healthy and good!

Note: What I'm speaking about is not using food for pleasure in an "escapism" way. If you currently have destructive eating habits, chances are your cravings have been hijacked and need some resetting. But this doesn't need to be a painful process. All foods can be nourishing when prepared right.

Getting Started

Make a list of all your family's favorite foods.

Upgrade and swap ingredients to make it nourishing and delicious! (we'll go more into this in later newsletters).

Start a family recipe book that you will pass on to your kids when they start a family.

Don't worry if kale is not on the list. You don't need to eat kale to be healthy.

What have you done to build a food culture in your family?

Write back, would love to hear!
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Here's to building generational health,

-TOMMY