Why Farmers Make the Best Patients
It was early in my practice that I met a young eager farmer who would go on to become one of my best patients. His common sense approach to health was something of inspiration.
I asked him one day if he was taking any vitamins or minerals to which he replied “now why would I spend all of that time and energy tending to my fields and carefully spreading fertilizer but not provide myself with any fertilizer? Of course I take vitamins. I give my sheep weekly selenium injections to help them prevent cancer since our soil is so depleted here. I give myself a shot too the first Monday of the month.” He said with great conviction.
While I am not promoting the use of monthly selenium injections, I am promoting a philosophy or belief in our personal responsibility for our health and the health of the planet. Our communities and our country are rich with these wise farming families who have not succumb to the delusion that we can abuse our bodies and our environment in all makes and manners and then sit back and “take a pill for that”. Their respect for the earth and their deep understanding of their role in health are something that “city-dwellers” could learn a lot from always but particularly as we begin to lean into a season where we all sit holding our breath to see what will happen to the spread of this global pandemic.
As the summer rolled on, we slowly crawled out of the massive “time-out” the planet had put us in. We had all been literally and figuratively “sent to our room to think about what we had done”. One of the most important lessons to come out of this pandemic is the necessity of taking responsibility for your health. There is NO pill for this. This virus was cruel and selective in its effects on people who were in the weakest health. While many of these people have little to no control over their vulnerabilities (age, autoimmune conditions etc.) there are many lessons that can be learned around how we look after ourselves.
How we eat, how we move, how we sleep, and how we think all have profound impacts on our overall health and resistance to disease.
Social distancing and proper hand washing are just two important aspects to keeping you well. Lets hear the messages our wise farming friends have been trying to remind us of while we have developed an amnesia around self-care and community-care. September is a perfect fresh start. Support your health in every way you can. Eat whole food as local as you can get them. Stop eating sugar. Get moving even if it is a gentle daily stroll. Turn off your devices and go to bed in good time. Take time daily to quiet your mind. Limit your exposure to the news. Take micronutrients. Laugh as often as you can. Treat yourself as lovingly as you treat your gardens and you will cultivate a resistance that cannot be purchased in a pill. This fall, lets all think like a farmer. Your health is your harvest.
If you would like to book a time with Dr. Pam to create a personalized health plan email us: hello@thewombwoodstock.ca.
