Take the Pledge: 2010 Take My Health Into My Own Hands Pledge

With all the dialogue about healthcare reform, I can't help but to encourage all of you to really start educating yourself about your own health and making radical changes and decisions in regards to your health and really learn how to take care of yourself and really take action and stop talking about taking action.

For too long, we have left our health into the hands of physicians who look at us with money in their eyes and a government who only wants to control us with medications and more vaccinations. So I put together a pledge that I am committing to myself and also asking those who desire to be more healthy to take as well.

• I pledge to take care of myself first and foremost before I take care of anyone or anything else and not let anything like time, money, energy, or a person become a challenge in taking care of myself. I know this may be a challenge as I have family, children, etc, but I pledge to understand that my health is my greatest source of wealth and that I can only take care of everything and everyone else once I take care of myself.

• I pledge to listen, abide, and obey what my mind, body, and spirit needs and is thus asking for through and then take action in nourishing it. I trust that the answer or the answers will come and that what I need will be supplied to me so I pledge to keep my eyes and ears open to receive what I am asking for.

• I pledge to educate myself and the ones that I love about our health and its needs through books, classes, websites, webinars, retreats, workshops, radio shows, etc. I understand that information is all around me and that I must learn to decipher what is right for my lifestyle and my needs.

• Because I know food and products free of pesticides and chemicals is best for my body, I pledge to support businesses who manufacture, distribute, endorse, and sell organic products as much as I possible can.

• I pledge to make myself responsible for my health and no longer depend on a physician or a government to take care of my health.

• I pledge to partner with like-minded individuals, organizations, businesses, non-profits, etc in maintaining optimal health.

• I pledge to trust myself and my intuition when making decisions about my health.

• I pledge to surround myself with like-minded individuals who also pledge to take better care of themselves as I know that building community and support are essential tools when transforming one's life.

• I pledge to take big action in regards to my health and the health of the planet. Because I know I am of a greater whole and that any little action on my part contributes to the greater whole of humanity I pledge to do one of the following or support one of the following: start mini-coops, healthy potlucks, dinner clubs, health education sessions in my home, community gardens, a weight loss program for myself and my loved ones, a medication-no more program, a FREE from vaccination child program, learn how to grow my own food, help someone grow some food, write letters to my congressman about getting better food in public schools, exercise with my family members, exercise early in the morning, take time out to meditate for myself, etc.

Make 2010 the best and the most healthiest year for you and your family!

Let's rawk & roll!

The revolution starts at the dinner table!

Feel free to copy and paste this pledge on other websites as long as you use the following blurb below.

WANT TO USE THIS ARTICLE IN YOUR E-ZINE OR WEB SITE? You can, as long as you include this complete blurb with it:
Nwenna Kai is the author of The Goddess of Raw Foods available for purchase at www.amazon.com and the FREE e-book Nwenna Kai's Holiday Recipes. You can get the e-book by signing up for her e-newsletter at her website www.the-guide-to-raw-foods.com. She is the previous owner of Taste of the Goddess Cafe, one of LA's pioneering organic raw food cafes. She is the 2007 winner of the Elizabeth Dole Young Entrepreneurial Scholarship sponsored by Women Impacting Public Policy (WIPP) for her work as a health and wellness entrepreneur. Visit her website at www.nwennakai.com and her blog at www.theguidetorawfoods.com/blogspot.com.

Healthcare Reform: Take Your Own Health into Your Own Hands

The other night I watched the 60 minutes interview with our President Barack Obama and I watched the Primetime Oprah interview with the First Lady and our President. In both interviews they referenced the whole healthcare debacle.

Also recently a good friend of mine asked me why I didn't go to doctors and when I told her that I'm more scared to see a doctor than not, she was shocked and dismissed me as being crazy.

I also found out that my sister pays upwards of about $250 a month for healthcare for herself and my niece and so my mental juices started going about this whole healthcare thing and how we can turn it around for ourselves to benefit everyone.

I tell my personal story about health and wellness in my book, The Goddess of Raw Foods about how sickly I was in my early 20's. I had everything from constipation to migraines, to depression to a thyroid disorder and through the blessings of discovering raw foods, yoga, acupuncture, herbs, detoxing, fasting, cleansing, prayer, and meditation, I brought my mind, body, and spirit back into alignment. That's the short end of the story. It hasn't been an easy journey and it definitely had its bumps and bruises, but now that I look back, I recognize that what I did was I reformed my own healthcare plan instead of relying on a government and a doctor to decide what to do with my life.

I don't advocate anyone NOT seeing a physician. Even though I haven't been sick like that in years, from time to time when things in my life get out of balance and I might come down with something, my mind and spirit intuitively knows how to handle it because I've re-programmed myself to go in and heal myself with the tools and resources that I already know and have.

If I feel like I may be getting a little under the weather, I go and sweat it out usually at a spa or I take a Bikram yoga class. And you know yoga is cheap, sometimes you can go for free. Did you know that sweat releases up to 20% of the body's toxins. That's more than urine (7%) and defecation only releases up to 3% of the body's toxins. The breath releases up to 70% of the body's toxins. Go figure and you can breathe for FREE.

I can tell you that your body, mind, and spirit has all that it needs to heal. The journey, the path, the tools and the resources may seem a bit cloudy, a bit daunting and challenging but like I said nobody said it was going to be easy.

But with all this talk about health care reform I have to encourage you all to focus on reforming your own health and take your health into your own hands and come to your doctor as an informed client. After all, only you know more about yourself than a doctor who barely touches you or looks at you.

What I think my friend didn't realize is that we are capable of taking care of our own health. We know better than any doctor what is wrong and what is right with us, when something is out of balance and not feeling right.

I also think about my sister shelling out all that money for health care and she barely gets sick. She recently had to go to the emergency room because she cut herself cutting up some raw veggies for herself and my niece. Spending $250 a month equals to $3000 a year which could pay for a Vitamix blender ($325), a dehydrator ($125), monthly yoga classes, some acupuncture appointments, a few raw food prep classes, some great books on health and wellness, an air purifier, and much much more.

So my tip for you now is to not wait for our President on reforming your health, step up and transform it for yourself and your family.

My experience with doctors has never been a great experience. Every time I went to a doctor in the past (the last time I saw a doctor was in 2003) I always got sicker and felt worse after the appointment.

Health is more than just herbs, raw foods, yoga, and breathing. A lot of it is mind over matter and the belief in yourself that you can take charge of your own health.

Its the end of 2009 and 2010 approaches us soon, so I encourage you to start to reform your own health care now.