The One Key to Good Health?

Here’s the key to losing weight/getting more energy/feeling amazing. Go low fat. No, go low carb. No, just balance your energy input and output. No, manage your stress. No, fast two days a week. No, declutter and clean out your house. No, just embrace your figure — the media depicts unrealistic ideals of what a woman should look like anyway. It’s all about body positivity!

Confused? I’m confused. And I’m a trained nutritional therapist.

Personal trainers say ‘exercise is the most important, as long as you balance your calorie intake, it doesn’t matter what you eat.’ Nutritionists say ‘eat a balanced diet’. Some say ‘it’s the carbs making you fat. Cut down the carbs and the fat will melt off.’ Others say ‘Go low-fat — it’s simple: fat is making you fat.’ Still others say ‘Go vegan. It’s the only way to save your figure, save your health, save the world.’

Even I change my mind on how to help people. Some weeks it’s all about the gut. Then I listen to a podcast all about fasting and restricted eating and it’s all about that. (But it’s never about coffee enemas and juicing. I promise.)

Why health is all of these things

The truth is, health is confusing. There is no single key. Why? Because it is ALL of the keys. You need hundreds, maybe thousands of keys to open that magic lock to good health and wellbeing. And it will take trying lots of different keys before you find the right ones.

Sounds tiring doesn’t it?

But the good news is, when you have found the right combination of keys — that works for YOU — it will be effortless. The fat will melt away. You will have boundless energy. You will feel amazing.

Finding your keys

But where do you start? You think you need to lose a bit of weight but weight loss programmes never seem to work. You think you need to start running but you always get shin splints; plus it’s really boring. You think you need to sleep better, but switching off is difficult; you’ve tried mindfulness and it made you feel like a failure. You’ve read that you should be eating fermented food but that sounds gross and you don’t really know why you need them.

Inevitably you pick things up half-heartedly and drop them after a week or two of trying them out.

Maybe it’s just your destiny — everyone feels tired all the time right? Everyone carries a bit more weight over the age of 30. At the end of the day, you’re not homeless, or living in a poverty-stricken country, or have any major diseases. Mustn’t complain.

But do you really want to look back on your life and realize you felt unfulfilled? What if you are on your deathbed and wish you had taken control of your health in your 30s? Because maybe then you wouldn’t have spent the previous 10 years bed bound and reliant on medication.

So maybe there is no better time to find your keys to better health and wellbeing. Yes it will take effort. And yes there will be some trial and error. But with some expert guidance you might just get there.

And I promise you, you won’t lie on your deathbed and regret taking control of your health now.

This post originally appeared on medium.com

Image credit: Photo by Kyle Glenn on Unsplash