Sad arthritis overheards

Acme towers is located on a bustling main street in a small but busy town. Everyday I sit at my desk with the backdrop of life’s boisterous symphony coming from the street below. Usually, nothing much changes from the droning of cars but today I heard something so sad.

A young woman who was out on a shopping trip with her little girl of about 4 years of age, was asked by her little princess if she could go to a shop further along the high street. The sweet and softly spoken response, couched in love and adoration for the little girl, wasn’t a sweet message at all. It was a message of suffering and pain.

She replied “We can’t go up to the shop today darling because mummy’s legs will hurt.”

I immediately rose from my chair at the unexpected answer from the young woman of about 24 years of age.

I thought that was so sad and whilst the little girl wasn’t disappointed, or at least did very well to hide it, she obviously and instinctively knew that poor mummy’s legs would hurt if she was made to walk the extra distance and that would make them both sad.
There was no way the little girl would want her mum to be sad or in pain and as she looked up at her mum a little smile spread across her face.
The little girl readily agreed that going to the shop under those circumstances was out of the question and the pair of seemingly happy and beautiful little souls went on their way.

How is this possible?

That encounter left me wondering.
How have we let ourselves become immobile shadows of what we should be, and how does that affect our children and loved ones?
I can only imagine the anguish of the little girl on hearing about her mums pain for the first time.

The situation that unfolded seemed well rehearsed and the little girl didn’t appear to be in any distress when faced with the less than perfect options now available, but I couldn’t help thinking how this might affect her attitudes as she grows into an adult?

This probably seems like I am overreacting because everyone went on their way in an understanding manner, but how is it right that people should be so ill that they can’t walk a few hundred yards to a shop. Furthermore, why should our children have to be burdened with the weight of sick adults in an age when we supposedly have all this science and medical knowledge.

This thought began to trouble me and I couldn’t help but imagine the children of the great tribes of the world asking their mothers for food and mother returning with the answer that there will be no dinner today because my legs hurt.
That situation would mean certain death, so why do we settle for this in our modern lives and is our love of convenience robbing us of the need to be active?

If this world was a better place

I know the world isn’t perfect , but this isn’t the world I remember when I was growing up?

Sure, there were sick people and poorly people, but there has never been such massive amounts of people stricken by long term illness. Currently the UK has 2.7 million people on long term sick or disabled benefits, and if that’s not bad enough things are about to get a whole lot worse.

The number of people with three or more long-term conditions (co morbidity) is predicted to rise from 1.9 million in 2008 to 2.9 million in 2018. Just think about that!

In the next four years the UK will have more sick out of work people who are afflicted by three or more diseases than we currently have sick people in total!

In the next four or so years we’re going to see around half a million people fall into dependency on the state through a series of life changing illnesses.

Do we call this progress?
Think about that for a moment because if that is not progress it has to be the opposite of progress. We do have a growing population and a more toxic environment, but we should be doing better.

What happened to the strong?

I can only imagine how the little girl felt when initially faced with the proposition that her world, her provider, her protector, her mum was suffering with physical pain and some kind of limiting sickness?

Hardly reassuring for a young mind is it?

For most of us, our parents are towering icons of strength and power who we see as invincible super heroes. Yes, that’s a nice romantic notion of a role model to have when your growing up and something I was lucky enough to experience, but equally, I realize that’s not the reality for all families.  It seems that this most favorable experience of growing up is becoming more and more rare.

I feel pretty annoyed with the system and the food industry for killing our super hero’s! We should all be annoyed with the way this world is working out, or at least be pretty dissatisfied with the progress of the human race.

The really worrying thing for me is this.  How are we going to help others avoid the trap of disease?
I was a very robust individual who delighted in strength and physical prowess. I trained every day to achieve health, but despite my good intentions and hard work I failed to achieve lasting health. Put simply I was ill informed and making the wrong choices. Drinking, staying up late and eating the wrong foods all contributed to my sudden onset of illness and I was powerless to arrest the decline, no matter how hard I tried.

If I was trying so hard to stay well and couldn’t, what chance does someone else have who is sleepwalking into ill health.

Parents aren’t suffering alone

Generation X was probably the first generation in our history to be poisoned in the womb or to be genetically challenged from man made toxins, pollution, processed foods and all manner of other things before they were even born. That is quite a statement and some may disagree with it but the facts are that generation X isn’t doing so well and negative changes in our DNA are increasingly being observed.

Just look at the figures above if you need persuading.

Disease is now considered to be one of life’s givens and a travelling companion on our journey, but why on earth do we accept this as the norm? Disease and ill health are not normal! The balance needs to be set back in the favor of long term wellness.
Together we can educate ourselves and our offspring about how this busted experiment in “living” has turned out and help to prevent future generations from being stunted by ill health before they even get going in life.

Shockingly, we are now expected to live shorter lives than our parents and are expected to accept it without questioning any of the people who were supposed to be protecting us during this age of special scientific discovery. It would seem that our irresponsible behavior and that of our parents has heaped a toxic burden on our offspring that is now beginning to truly take it’s toll.

With the help of the ad men and food companies we unwittingly walked slap bang into this mess, or did we?

We knew diet was killing us in 1939

Weston A Price knew the dangers we were facing as early as the 1920’s and wrote extensively on the subject in his books on the degenerative changes caused by the western diet and processed foods.
Nutrition and physical degeneration is a towering work of observational science, but did anyone take the time to consider the serious problems that Price set out in his book and why weren’t the findings heeded?

You can read the book for free here:

Nutrition and Physical Degeneration  A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets and Their Effects BY WESTON A. PRICE, MS., D.D.S., F.A.G.D.
I don’t know the answer to that and I’m not placing blame or judging anyone for the failings of society over many generations because it isn’t right to do so. Our job is not to blame the past but to look to our future. The systems we trusted have let us down, just as much as how we have let ourselves and each other down in our duty to look out for each other.
The human race can move on from disease and start living in sustainable natural ways that support health and cooperate with nature.

Lets be the change we want to see in the world.

I would love to see a serious campaign from celebs and other influential people to promote healthy eating and consumption of fruits and veg. Why can’t that happen? Why can’t we have the natural produce industry step up and market its wares to the population in effective ways. Fruit is expensive enough so money shouldn’t be a problem. There is definitely enough good will in the health and wellness industry to create a charitable organisation to do this kind of work and promotion?

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if we saw informative health led commercials for fresh fruit, oranges, pineapple, pears, apples and broccoli with detailed descriptions of the life extending properties and health benefits we could expect if we added these beautiful gifts into our diet. Where do Beckham and Bolt and Ronaldo and Gaga, stand on this issue?

All of the billions of pounds poured into health care hasn’t stopped our young mums or their offspring from falling ill, never mind the rest of us, but together we could make a serious dent in the problems that face us by proactively promoting change.
The females of our species are a precious and fertile bunch who hold the key to our very survival. Special care should be taken to protect and preserve their health and well being, but that said we all need nourishing with natures goodness and we need to start giving some love back to this remarkable planet.
The young lady I observed wasn’t in the most amazing physical shape and she didn’t look to be a slob or a lay about. She appeared to be a nice, normal, bright young mum who was a little overweight and had maybe made some wrong choices. I wondered if she had been taught how to live well or if commercials for fresh produce could have changed her life.

Did she look for answers or was she content to have them provided for her?

Maybe I should have gone down to her and shared some love and information… Why didn’t I?
I usually offer help to people I see in the street who are struggling with movement problems.  Why didn’t I rush out and say something this time?
Maybe the shock and need to communicate these feelings in a post overtook the need to help?
I have made many great friends by offering a few kind words or some valuable advice, but ultimately it is a time consuming and inefficient way of helping when there are millions suffering daily,. And besides, help isn’t always well received, no matter how well intended.

To be honest, I felt like crying!  There was also a deep feeling of urgency to come and share the story and some healing information with my lovely readers who want to listen.

I love how life reminds us to take more action with every such incident and lesson that comes our way. Oh how I wished we could all take the time to stop and listen to life and accept it’s lessons without ploughing through life on our unthinking journey to the doctor’s office.

Maybe we should all take more interest in each others lives and offer helpful advice as a matter of course when we see people struggling? The loss of our communities and the institutions that used to support them hasn’t helped with the easy proliferation of knowledge, but that new level of separation shouldn’t stop us from being human enough to offer a kind word.
It seems that spreading information is our new best duty?

Ask yourself this question…

How many sick people do you know.?
I know three people in their thirties who have MS and one in their 20’s!! I am currently trying to help 5 people of various ages who have cancer and need advice to help them eat more healthily, not to mention the hundreds of people I speak to who suffer from arthritis. I can bet you there will be another sick and tired person coming my way for advice in short order, but where are we going so wrong?

What was the little girls proposed destination?

The sweet shop.  :/