Sustainable World Citizen
There is more and more talk of sustainability these days. We hear it in the news and across social media; companies are creating sustainability departments, or hiring sustainability consultants; and we see it branded across food items at stores—but what does that mean to us as individuals? How would it look to optimize ourselves as sustainable citizens of the world?
We wrote an article a while back about climate change, and referenced a research paper that took a look at just what exactly the individual can do to lower their carbon footprint. The “Big Four” were:
Plan to have less children
Live car-free
Avoid air travel
Eat a plant-based diet
Making these decisions a working part of our lives is a big step in the right direction, but we feel there is another aspect of being a Sustainable World Citizen.
Sustainable Health
With two-thirds of the western world either overweight or already suffering from diet-related chronic disease, health is an area where sustainability also needs a lot of improvement. As our world population grows larger, grows older, and gets sicker–it is putting a great burden on the healthcare systems of the world. In a society where we can often feel like we are at the mercy of large corporate agendas, taking charge of our personal health has become a revolutionary act of change we can make in the world. Unfortunately, in our experience, improving diets and exercise regimens is not as easy as many in the health and fitness industry make it out to be. At the root of much (if not all) of chronic disease is emotional stress and varying degrees of underlying personal trauma. For many people, disordered eating has become a coping mechanism to deal with stress and emotional pain.
Being Part of the Solution
Addressing these emotional stressors in our lives puts us in the solution. They are not “problems to be solved,” but simply “problems to be addressed.” Looking at them, and naming them, takes their power away. Working through them is a lifelong journey. In our experience, once a start is made, it frees up all kinds of energy that can be applied to further self care in the form of better food choices and exercise.
No method of self discovery is better than another, but we will give you our two favorite books that have helped us:
Scott is a big fan of Dr. Nicole LePera’s “How to Do the Work: Recognize Your Patterns, Heal from Your Past, and Create Your Self”
Lennart is a big fan of Steven Pinker’s “Enlightenment Now: The Case for Reason, Science, Humanism, and Progress”
A Place to Start
Once you have gained some awareness about what is triggering different eating behaviors, we have some tools that we think are very effective when it comes to changing your eating behavior:
Don’t drink your calories
Focusing on eating mostly real food (no list of ingredients)
Save sugary treats for one “cheat day” per week
Try microworkouts–four short workouts per day, before each meal
Experiment with narrowing your eating window to 12 hours or even less: skip breakfast, or finishing eating for the day by the afternoon
In many ways, the world is designed to make us sick. Taking our power back by addressing emotional triggers that affect our eating, and then making good decisions about what we eat and how much we move, is a revolutionary act. It is part of a holistic approach to sustainability that can lead us to becoming Sustainable World Citizens. Let’s leave a better world for future generations.
Until next time
Scott and Lennart