Why Health And Wellness

I wasn’t raised as a health freak or anything close to that but growing-up, I ate a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. I walked a lot and I didn’t eat much meat. I grew-up rural Jamaica so everything around me was natural. We ate fruits for snacks straight from the trees. Breathe fresh air. Everywhere had lush vegetation (no weed smoking), beautiful hills, animals, rain water etc. Those things I believe helped to make me a healthy and strong adult although I was very sickly and fragile as a small child. So sickly that I didn’t attend school until I was six years old. My family thought I wouldn’t live pass my childhood. Thankfully, I outgrew the illness(s) after I started attending to primary school.

Growing-up, I always saw people visit our home to ask my mother’s advise on which herb was good for what. They would wander off together with her showing them herbs all over the property. Mama learned the skill from the older folks especially her granny. I was never interested though. I never tried to learn any of that herbal stuff but mama was good at it. Back then, I always prided myself with the saying that the only bush/herb I drank was fever grass (lemon grass) and mint. Nothing bitter for me either. Zero interest, Zip!

I moved to the parish of Manchester in Jamaica to attend high school and while there I took an interest in food and nutrition. Actually, it was more than an interest, more like a calling. I was good at it. I got every top award for that class through my high school years. I could cook well. I understood nutrition and biology very well so, I learned the material fast. Natural aptitude is what I think they call that. 

The interesting thing about my scholastic experience was that the high school I attended was privately owned and operated by a religious group so no meat was allowed on campus. At that time the High School and a 4 yrs College shared the same campus. All had to abide by the same rule. I learned to cook and eat everything vegetarian while I attended not just high school there but also college on said campus. Over the period I lost my taste for most meats. I only liked chicken and fish back then. I became a veggie girl of sorts. 

I carried the lifestyle and discipline with me through my life. Eating healthy and exercising regularly was a way of life for me from Jamaica to New York. I stopped eating chicken a few years after I started living in NY because it made me sick frequently. I loved chicken so that was not easy decision to make. Many years later, I can truly say, I am very happy that I did!

My Purpose

Which brings me to the purpose of this introductory story… I lost a lot of friends and relatives over a fairly short period of time from health related issues which were curable or at least controllable. I still remember the first time someone with diabetes fainted in my presence and I caught her and laid her out on the floor, jumped over her quickly to get some orange juice to drench her so I could bring her back to consciousness. I never saw that before and I was rattled by the experience, to say the least.  

I remember young cousins who died from cancer at young ages. I recall the gut wrenching pain I felt when I called my good friend a few days after we were out shopping at the mall in Yonkers, NY and his sister answered his phone. I enquired about his whereabout as we were supposed to return to the store that day. She informed me that he passed away the day before. I wept uncontrollably for days because I noticed he was more thirsty than normal when we were out together. He drank his drink, then mine and was still thirsty. His thirst seem unquenchable. Bust we laughed, talked and went on with our shopping. Not suspecting the danger that was lurking. Although I noticed that his behavior was a little strange with the excessive thirst, I didn’t point it out to him at that time that something my be seriously wrong so he should get medical help (not that he would listen), but I would have felt better if I had pointed that out. In retrospect, I really wish I did something or at least say something. His memories are still with me because he was really a great friend. The life of the party type.

Over time, it became clear to me that if I knew something valuable but never shared it to help others, it was not worth knowing at all. In other words, If my knowledge is only to keep myself healthy, then why weep when my loved ones died around me because of health related issues? I made the decision to change and play an active role in helping people to stay well. As more and more of my friends and relatives became diagnosed with cancer and other preventable diseases, the weight of looming deaths and sickness of my loved ones motivate me even more to give service where I am needed most.

Today, I beam with joy when I coach participants to lose weight and make healthier choices that and it actually works! When I teach someone how to break that “I cannot lose weight code”, I get excited.  When I receive the thank you calls or notes from people whose lives I helped to make better, they give me joy and satisfaction. They add meaning and purpose to my life. I feel like I am really on the right track of impacting millions of lives and making a difference. Twice within a few months I have been thanked for my interventions that have brought two persons back from despair and set them them on a path of emotional balance and self-actualization. The ability to care for people and to empathize is not possessed by all so I consider it a blessing.

I consider the wealth of health and wellness knowledge I gained over the years as a gift given to me to share with others. I didn’t choose it. It chose me!  Today, I waste no time to help anyone I can, whenever I can. I believe that if I am able to help someone to eat better, feel better hence live a little longer, then surely my living will not be in vain.