Be Healthy, Be You

Recently I noticed the headline, “Live Healthy. Be You.” on a grocery store ad. As I looked at the ad, I was both perplexed and outraged because the entire ad was filled with personal care, cleaning and processed food products that should have a skull and cross bones symbol on the label to warn people of their toxic chemicals! Hair colorant, root cover up, volumizing shampoo, anti-aging cream, skin brightening peel pads, sunblock, insect repellent, lash thickening mascara, fluoridated whitening toothpaste, meal replacement protein bars, cortisone creams, disinfectant wipes, air and body deodorizers, plastic containers, etc. – all promising a more beautiful, slimmer, and comfortable you in addition to offering protection from the “threatening” environment.

A little known ploy of marketers is to create a feeling of dissatisfaction and fear so that we are compelled to purchase items that might help you or your environment be more desirable. Have we ever stood back and analyzed how our sense of value and worth are affected by the mass media’s constant bombardment of “your not good enough, but this will help”? Marketing is a form of brain washing and it has been long known that the more you are exposed to something, the more your brain will accept it as “true” and “needed”.

What does “Live Healthy, Be You” have to do with the advertisement of toxic products? Beauty, sex appeal, health, and individualism appeal to our desire for validation, pleasure and comfort. I can guarantee there is no pleasure or comfort in being overweight, infertile, or having learning disabilities, autism, cancer and autoimmune disease. These escalating health issues are a result of exposure to the 21 billion pounds of chemicals being introduced into our environment each year.

The fact is we don’t need products to be healthy or be ourselves. The less time we spend trying to live up to the media’s idea of beauty by poisoning ourselves, the better we feel about being ourselves. So the next time you read or hear an ad for a product, take the time to decipher how the marketer is brain washing you. Maybe it will help you think twice before you purchase yet another product of empty and even harmful promise. Also consider that our landfills are overburdened with plastic containers that we throw “away” after using the contents – most of which end up in our water supply.

I have spent the majority of my life discovering how to avoid toxins, maintain normal body weight, reduce risk of chronic disease and have abundant, vibrant energy. My life’s purpose is to share this knowledge with as many people as possible. At the Health and Healing Center, we have the A Way Of Life Weight Control program that includes 8 weeks of classes in which participants learn how to improve health, lower risk of chronic disease and attain normal body weight and vibrant energy. Come and join us, so you can truly “Live healthy. Be you.”