What is the most valuable thing in your life? Some might say that it is a relationship… others their stock portfolio or house. Philosophical types might say something more abstract like “love”. I would say that it is my health. When I have a toothache, I don’t really care about anything else at that moment, but getting it fixed. The wealthiest person in the world would be very unhappy if they had a serious disease or chronic pain. Without your health everything else becomes difficult or even impossible to enjoy.
This is a short guide to health off-the-grid. The truth is that our current health care system is totally unsustainable. Last month I spent eight days with my girlfriend who was in the hospital. Some of the equipment and technology was truly amazing. However with resource depletion going at its current rate most of this techno-magic will not be available to the average person within a few decades, possibly sooner. So it’s important that we find ways to take the best of current modern medical knowledge that we can apply ourselves and combine this with ancient knowledge, folk remedies and healthy living habits so that we can continue to live healthy and happy lives no matter what happens.
When people ask me what they can do to prepare for the future, my number one answer is to get healthy and learn how to become your own doctor. Our society is way too dependent on doctors. Personally it’s a rare day when I go to one. I had some wisdom teeth removed about six years ago. Before that it had been about 10 years since I gone to one needing stitches after a small mishap with a cutting knife. I have gone to a chiropractor during this time. Currently I am 47 and as far as I know In excellent health. If I had health insurance I might go in for a checkup, but I don’t feel any pressing need to do this.
To most people my age this is unthinkable….How can I get away with this? There are two basic reasons: a healthy lifestyle and being unafraid to treat myself when conditions arise. I seldom need health care, but when I do, I can generally treat it myself or with the help or advice of a holistic health practitioner.
A healthy lifestyle consists of a number of different things. The first is having a good diet. This can mean different things to different people as our body chemistries are all different. I have researched diet and its place in health quite thoroughly, both through books and trying different things out. I have found some general principles that I believe would apply to all people no matter what their body chemistry. While I am open to changing these as I attain new knowledge I firmly believe that applying these dietary principles would help most anyone to achieve a higher level of health than they currently have. Here is a short version of each. I encourage you to research these more on your own.
1) Drastically cut down or eliminate cooked oils. Doing this one thing will make an enormous difference in your health. Cooked oils are very toxic. The exception to this is coconut oil which does not break down under heat as readily. If you must cook with oil in a stir fry or recipe try to use coconut oil. Luckily it tastes awesome! Eliminating cooked oils will likely have a drastic effect on your diet as so many of our foods have cooked oils in them….baked goods, jarred salad dressings, anything deep fried, many processed foods…luckily most of these foods are not so good for you anyway so by doing this one thing your diet will benefit in many ways.
2) Eliminate cooked/pasteurized dairy products. Pretty much all of store bought dairy is pasteurized. Since most of these come from diseased factory farms this is probably a good idea, however pasteurizing dairy turns it from healthful to toxic. Even organic pasteurized milk is unhealthy and not suitable to drink. If you really want to eat dairy see if you can find it raw locally. Raw milk is illegal in many states. I buy mine under the table from a neighbor with goats. I find goat milk much easier to digest than cow milk. Look here to see if there is a place near you where you can buy raw milk: http://www.realmilk.com/where.html. Once you have the raw milk it is easy to make raw cheese, yogurt and other raw dairy products on your own. Many health food stores will sell raw cheese.
3) Buy organic. Yes it costs more, but will pay off in the long run. Regular produce is poisoned! Organic food is not only not poisoned but tastes better and has more nutrition. Many people try eating organic and give up because of the higher cost and they don’t see immediate health benefits. The truth is that toxic residues in non-organic produce takes years and even decades to store up in your body enough to cause problems. If you stop eating poison every day it will greatly increase your health in the long term. I’d also like to mention that most everyone can afford to eat organic. It is a matter of prioritizing how you spend your money. If you view it as important as it really is you can find a way to afford it. Also having a garden is an excellent way to get inexpensive organic produce.
4) Start eating superfoods every day. One way to look at food is how many calories it has versus how much nutrition it gives you. The optimal foods will have a low calorie/high nutrition content. Processed sugar for example has high calories and zero nutrition. A bowl of rice has high calories and some nutrition. A tablespoon of spirulina has very low calories and very high nutrition. By eating superfoods you are flooding your body with nutrition making it not only more healthy but less likely to crave high calorie/low nutrition foods. Some superfoods to consider: spirulina, blue green algae, maca, goji berries, raw cacao, chia seeds, hemp seeds, raw honey, bee pollen…there are many more that you can find…just google “superfoods”.
5) Eat more raw food. This can be easy…just have some fruit and a big salad every day and that is an excellent start.
There is more to say on this subject but in my opinion these are the most important things. Just doing these five things will boost your health….guaranteed!
There are other factors in good health. One is exercise. You don’t need lots of exercise but you do need some. I never got much exercise until I started homesteading…now it’s nonstop! But just going for a vigorous walk every day will kickstart your metabolism.
Another factor is eliminating stress. If you have a stressful job or stressful relationship reconsider it. Over time stress is certainly one of the largest factors in health and longevity.
A final component I’d like to mention is environmental issues. I strongly suggest eliminating chemical products from your life. This includes everything from shampoos, house cleaners, personal care products and more. Start shopping for these things in your health food store. Yes you will pay more, but the long term benefits will be substantial.
Getting some healthy habits will go a long way to maintaining excellent health. I will be covering part two of this which is becoming your own doctor in my next post.
Hello. We're Shiva and Kala. Welcome to our occasionally updated blog! On here we'd like to share a bit about ourselves and our adventures in homesteading. We've moved to North Carolina and very busy rearranging our lives to live off the land. We're still rather new to homesteading, but eager to learn and share what we are learning. These are strange times we are living in, but we believe they hold plenty of promise along with the peril. If you are new to our blog, we recommend reading the article 
Kala has recently been diagnosed with stage 3 endometrial cancer. We are pursuing alternative cancer therapies with an experienced Naturopath. She is doing really well and we are very confident that she will have a full recovery. We are currently accepting donations to help defray the cost of her treatment which is not covered by insurance. If you would like to donate just click the button below. It is much appreciated!