Politics block accurate health info from reaching the public because of money. Americans are very confused about what type of food they should eat and its no wonder since the media is flooded with contradictory and reductionist health and nutrition information. This is an issue created by the way collusive capitalism allows the tremendous influence of the industrial food industry, the diet industry and the pharmaceutical industry to influence food policy and medical education. Why is this so? Frankly, there is no money in the simple message that a whole-foods plant-based lifestyle and physical activity lead to health. Also, in the decade of post-grad medical education doctors receive, most physicians are only exposed to a few hours of nutritional science. Mush of their education, and the education for nutritionists and registered dietitians, is funded and/or facilitated by the food and pharmaceutical industries. 

Perhaps to best understand the situation, lets consider what money is LOST to these industries when an American is healthy. 

• A healthy person does not require monthly medications such as statins or insulin to treat chronic conditions over decades of their adult lifespan. 
• A healthy person does not require chemical or radiation therapy for cancer or high-risk surgery to treat heart disease. 
• A healthy person doesn’t pay for one unsustainable yo-yo diet program after another year after year, convinced the issue is their willpower. 
• A healthy person doesn’t spend money every single day to buy processed foods made from our commodity crop surpluses of corn, soy and wheat. 
• A healthy person dose not consume multiple sodas a day at a 90% profit margin to the manufacturer. 
• A healthy person does not eat fast food every day for lack or time or money to make better food consumer decisions. 

The food industry, which devotes vast sums of money to advertising, lobbying and political contributions, wants everyone to believe exercise is the key to health and weight maintenance. Because of this influence, our collusive federal government has adopted the food industries party line asserting that “all foods fit” and exercise is the primary avenue to attain health. This bias is regurgitated into national food guidelines and school lunch programs. Dr. Richard Carmona, former surgeon general during the Bush administration has even testified before Congress that bureaucrats routinely silenced him against speaking out against obesity. 

Thank you to everyone that joined us for yoga today. Check out this fabulous infographic describing the benefits of cultivating a regular practice both in the short and longterm. Namaste!

The kind of food we eat is the food that is most profitable. The profit margins for soda are 90%. The profit margins for produce are 10%. Fresh fruits and vegetables comprise only 2% annual U.S. food sales. 

Toxic food is cheap and good food is comparatively very expensive, as it is not artificially subsidized by the federal government. People with the least amount of money eat the most calories in our society because we have created a system where the most calories are the cheapest. Most processed foods are man made concentrations of sugar, fat and salt that contain way more calories than any food found in the natural world. These foods can easily contribute to a diet so high in calories, burning them off in a single day is actually impossible. With soda, the body has a hard time recognizing liquid calories. The worst part of these foods is that they are also addictive - foods high in fat and sugar provide the release of opioids in the brain. Nature delivers whole foods as nutrient complexes on purpose, not concentrated isolates like high fructose corn syrup that wreak havoc on our blood sugar control mechanisms. 

Because many people fail to see the correlation between quality nutrient dense foods and good health, they cannot justify the investment of money and time to buy and prepare the foods we need. Cooking in the home – the best single thing you can do to improve your health – is not commonplace or valued in our society. Quantity has become the most important measure of food quality but as long as you are starving on a nutritional basis, you will remain hungry regardless of the amount of calories you consume. People tend to eat based on the amount served to them on a plate and restaurant portions are 5-7 times the amount of food we need. We need a paradigm shift to value eating for nutrients, not calories. 

In America’s toxic food environment, only 1 in 3 people can maintain a healthy weight. Regional differences are different shades of terrible. A child born in 2000 has a 1 in 3 chance of being obese. If that child is of color the chance in 1 in 2. In America, less than 1% of citizens qualify for the 7 factors of ideal cardiovascular health. 

Thank you to everyone that joined us for yoga today where we reflected on cultivating an internal focus. 

Below are the strategies for self-focus during yoga that were shared throughout our practice. 

“The wise man lets go of all results, whether good or bad, and is focused on the action alone.”

Bhagavad Gita

Being You in Yoga Practice
"Whether on or off the mat, you have the opportunity to live more into who you are. Here are some tips for being you in yoga practice:

• Show up on your mat with the intention of giving yourself the gift of being present in this moment.
• Close your eyes as much as possible (and when it’s safe to do so) during your practice to help you stay inwardly focused.
• Use your breath to synchronize the movements of your physical body from one asana to the next.
• Approach new poses with curiosity, an open mind, and a playful heart. Remember that at one point in your life, you didn’t know how to ride a bike and now it’s effortless.
• When given instruction on a pose you find challenging or scary, have the courage to ask the instructor for guidance. That is what they are there for and they will be happy to help.
• Take new asanas one step—or phase—at a time. Don’t rush into the full expression of a pose just because someone else is doing it.
• Honor where you are today. Some days you will be stronger, some days you will have more or less flexibility, and other days you will have better balance.
• Look for correlations between your practice on the mat and how you’re navigating your daily life. Where are you feeling strong? Where can you practice being more flexible or cultivate more balance?
• Acknowledge and appreciate the beauty of those around you and then immediately come back to your mat.
• Have fun and BE YOU!

At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you can wrap your leg around the back of your neck or hold a handstand in the middle of a busy intersection. Yoga is about connecting to, integrating, and being you. It’s about showing up exactly as you are and allowing yourself to express in whatever way feels authentic in the moment.

There will always be distractions, and your aim is to find your center in the midst of all that’s going on around you—on and off the mat. There will always be beauty and inspiration in those around us and the key is to find that within yourself. Stay in your own lane and on your own mat. Just be you."

Tris Thorp
Vedic Educator and Lifestyle & Leadership Coach

Tris Thorp is one of today’s leading experts in the field of emotional healing. Having spent the last decade traveling the world, being trained by and sharing the stage with Dr. Deepak Chopra in the field of consciousness and mindfulness-based practices, Tris has a real gift for integrating the ancient spiritual teachings with modern-day mindfulness to help people all over the world let go of their past and create an empowered new future.

In Clean Food, Terry Walters explains the differences between what we now eat and our Grandparents' food supply by stating “their food supply was not as adulterated as ours is today and likely did not travel as far or as long to get from the farm to the grocery store to the table. They did not eat processed or fast foods. Their meals were balanced and prepared fresh daily.

Fields were not sprayed with herbicides and pesticides to the extent that they had to be unfarmed for entire growing seasons in order to be brought back to life. Animals and fish were not fed steroids, growth hormones, antibiotics and pesticide-laden foods.


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​Produce was not genetically engineered or grown with pesticides so that it could be harvested at reduced cost and increased productivity; nor was it picked and then shipped across the country, tossed around in cases, placed on grocery shelves and intended to appear unblemished and freshly picked weeks later.”

Our industrialized food system has been a major contributor to the obesity crisis in this country, which now costs $190 billion annually in treatment costs alone. According to United States Department of Agriculture data, the average American now consumes 600 more calories per day than in 1970. Most come from the added fats, sugars and refined grains commonly found in highly processed foods and junk foods—soda, frozen pizza, donuts and scones, burgers and fries, and the like. These additional calories have overwhelmingly come from corn (corn starches, corn syrup, high fructose corn syrup, feed corn fed to livestock), soybeans (soy proteins, vegetable oils, salad oils, partially hydrogenated oils, and fryer oils in fast-food restaurants) and wheat (refined flour). These three crops account for the vast majority of crop acreage planted in the United States.

Thank you to everyone that joined us for yoga today where we closed with this poem by Robert Frost. 

Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening

Whose woods these are I think I know.   
His house is in the village though;   
He will not see me stopping here   
To watch his woods fill up with snow.   

My little horse must think it queer   
To stop without a farmhouse near   
Between the woods and frozen lake   
The darkest evening of the year.   

He gives his harness bells a shake   
To ask if there is some mistake.   
The only other sound’s the sweep   
Of easy wind and downy flake.   

The woods are lovely, dark and deep,   
But I have promises to keep,   
And miles to go before I sleep,   
And miles to go before I sleep.

Robert Frost

In the last 75 years we have industrialized our food system based on commodities. If you look around the supermarket, there is the illusion of food diversity and choice, but really, almost all packaged foods are clever rearrangements of our commodity crops: corn, soy and/or wheat. 
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In “Our Unhealthy Food System,” David Wallinga, M.D., M.P.A. explains, “When talking about our [industrial] food system, we are referring to everything from the farm to the plate—food production, harvesting, processing, marketing and distribution. Industrialization describes the increasing tendency of economists, policymakers and agribusiness companies to treat farms as rural factories, with off-farm inputs (energy, antibiotics, synthetic fertilizers, genetically modified seed) marshaled in the service of producing caloric energy (feed corn and starches, soybeans and refined flour). Industrialization also describes a system in which economic return is paramount—more important than concern for the public’s health, the potential health effects of pesticide exposure, the long-term resilience of the land where crops are grown, and the methods by which food is processed and delivered.”

We are so excited to be starting a new yoga winter session January 14, featuring two class times every Sunday at Ways to Wellness. Full class details are below; I hope you can join us!

10-11a Sundays | All-Level Vinyasa Flow
Noon-1p Sundays | Beginner Yoga 
Location: Ways to Wellness (formally Raindrop Yoga) 9 White's Bridge Rd, Windham
Class cost: $12

ALL-LEVEL VINYASA FLOW
Every Sunday from 10-11a join me for All-Level Vinyasa Flow, providing a welcoming and inclusive environment for all mobility levels. This class offers a unified flow featuring many modifications throughout to offer beginner, intermediate and advanced tracks within the same yoga practice. This way the flow is appealing to both students new to yoga and seasoned yogis alike. I will also employ music and yoga philosophy class themes, such as being present, non-attachment, self-care, Ayurveda, etc., via quotes and readings weaved into classes to teach students about the other seven limbs of yoga, beyond just asanas. This approach tends to both the mind and body in a single class, offering students exposure to mindfulness and stress reduction techniques. To me personally, yoga is a way to focus on constant evolution and growth with regard to my self-care, and I hope to pass that philosophy onto students. Since class is offered at the Sunday morning timeframe, and appeals to all levels, this is a great one to attend with friends and family members.
 
BEGINNER YOGA
I believe that yoga is for everyone and every type of body so I am so excited to start teaching a weekly Beginner Yoga class every Sunday from noon to 1p. Beginner Yoga is taught assuming students could be walking into their very first class, or just getting back to regular movement. It therefore fuses gentle yoga poses, stretching, Restorative poses and many modification options. Classes also feature in-depth demonstrations to introduce poses, with both visual and audio cues, as well as content about what body parts and muscles poses hit. In this way I hope to covert a community of people new to yoga, impressing upon them the countless wellness benefits students reap with a regular practice. Class will also weave yoga philosophy throughout class that focuses on beginner dharma content to teach students about yoga beyond asanas. Such topics could include the meanings of common yoga terms such as Namaste and Om, the many health benefits of yoga, committing to a self-care practice, Chakras, and seasonal or emotional wellness themes. I often like to quote something I read, “you are new to yoga for the first ten years you practice,” because that really puts things into perspective with regard to the sheer scope of things we can learn and teach that are part of yoga. Beginner Yoga cultivates an environment free of intimidation, reinforcing that yoga can be highly variable to meet the needs of any student demographic.

ABOUT YOUR YOGA TEACHER
Katie Engels studied Vinyasa yoga with Chanel Luck at Radiant Yoga Boston to complete teacher training, and has been teaching yoga for two years. Katie’s yoga classes weave yoga philosophy and music along with asana (the physical practice of yoga), to cultivate a warm and welcoming atmosphere for new and seasoned yogis alike.

Why Does America Struggle with Such a Preventable Health Crisis?

The answer is very complicated and most frustratingly, it has a lot more to do with our environment than failings or lack of willpower on the part of the individual. As many have observed, if you “go with the flow” in America, you will be overweight or obese. 

This does not mean, however, that individuals are powerless or that we should accept this with certainty as our assured fate. Education and wellness coaching can go a long way in empowering individuals to swim against the current towards better health and wellness. 

This blog post will explore some of the issues that tangle together to make healthy living in this country so elusive for the majority. 

The more you learn and know about the environment in which we need to make food, activity and ultimately health decisions each day, you more you realize weight issues and obesity can not be blamed on a failure of individual agency or willpower. We are not doomed, but understanding the issues described below is imperative for the individual to have a chance of navigating themselves and their families towards health. In America, health is the ultimate “knowledge is power” issue of our time. 

Our Very New Toxic Environment is at Odds with Our Evolution
In the last 75 years, we have created a toxic environment in America that is incompatible with the way our body’s needs have evolved. Our modern world is characterized by excess energy reserves hard to avoid and this abundance of calories is evolutionarily new. For 4 million years humans have inhabited an environment of food scarcity so we are programed to eat as much as possible when calorie dense foods, such as meat, become available. 

This hardwiring allowed us to survive food insecurity, and even famine, but in our current landscape of overabundance, the instinct becomes disadvantageous. Food is now obsequious everywhere in America – we see it at gas stations and bookstores and vending machines are present at every school and workplace. This is another new development and it provides us with unrelenting external cues to eat. 

We are also designed to walk several miles a day in search of food, water, and firewood—as indigenous people do to this very day. Since our bodies depend on this activity to function properly, our new sedentary, indoor lifestyles cause chronic discomfort, pain and arthritic conditions for the 1 in 4 American adults that get no physical activity at all. 

Additionally, up until the very recent past, people lived and worked in dwellings without the consistent temperature control of central heating and air conditioning. That meant that many calories consumed in past generations where expanded to maintain the body’s internal temperature. 

These biological factors put us at odds with our new food supply, which has become completely industrialized during the same period of time. Stay tuned for upcoming blog posts that take a deeper dive into the health and wellness issues that arise as a consequence of our industrialized food system. 

Explore Wellness Coaching to Combat These Issues 
Learn more about developing your own personalized formula for heath and wellness to combat these issues by working with a Thrive Wellness Coach.