My Health and the Health of the Planet

I've been feeling sick lately. I've been thinking about the different crises we're facing because of us. With that comes anger, disappointment and a need to blame something, someone.

Our planet is at stake and it's hard for me to know that I'm part of the problem. It wasn't until I started experiencing the side effects of stress and anxiety that I had a moment of fulfillment. Since all this time I have been worrying about the health of our planet, I forgot to take care of myself.

I've been eating more, sleeping without rest, and I've noticed that my energy during the day is diminishing. My yoga teacher told me that I should do some research on Functional Medicine and I made an appointment. The doctor said: “Your body needs to be balanced again and that starts with the stomach. Only then will your body give you the power to heal.”

So with that in mind I started a detox diet. I gave up carbohydrates and lactose for a month. After that I will be able to see how my body reacts and how the energy I should be having is turned on and enjoy life as it should be. The goal is to find a personalized nutrition plan that works for me so that my habits fill me with vitality.

I began to wonder: Why does the number of people with diabetes and cancer continue to grow over the years? Why are we so stressed all the time? Why do we continue to self-medicate to calm down, as if it were something normal?

I know that dieting is not one of our favorite activities. I don't want to lose weight. I want to gain muscle and energy. I want to feel physically healthy and full and this involves making some sacrifices, but more importantly, it involves a long-term transformation. Reorient and redefine who I want to be.

As I get older, I want to be strong and I want to set an example.

Do you know why the planet is unhealthy too? Because we haven't given him enough time to detoxify. To process greenhouse gases and regulate global temperature to be in constant balance. The speed at which we are operating is such that a healthy environment is not sustainable. This is also what is happening to us.

It is not possible to separate our health from that of the planet. They are correlated. We need, very seriously, to think about health when we think about the climate crisis, the economic crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.

The way in which we have raised awareness about the environment has not echoed on an emotional level because when we hear the word “mitigate”, the first thing we think about is the sacrifices we have to make to restore levels to the way they should be.

This is similar to being on a diet. If your only interest is to lose weight, do you really think you're thinking about your long-term health? No, you just want to look good for a wedding or event and then go back to NOT being on a diet...

What I'm saying is that if we started thinking about the need to heal our planet the same way we think about healing our bodies, this would probably lead us to a more sustainable future.

For more information on the links between a healthy lifestyle and a healthy planet:

• “Healthy People, Healthy Planet”. OECD, 2017.
• “Our lives depend on a healthy planet“, WHO.
• “The planet's health is our health: why healthcare must go green”. World Economic Forum, 2020.

Monica Lafon is an independent environmental journalist. He obtained his degree in Journalism and Political Science from Concordia University and his master's degree in Environmental Policy from Sciences Po Paris.