Healthy system = healthy people = healthy planet

I am in rehab right now, because of some chronically disease. And something became clear to me. One, the system is sick. Two, living a healthy lifestyle is good for you and the planet. So I came up with the equation healthy system = healthy people = healthy planet.

There is no new knowledge, it’s something we all know, but it had to be smashed into my face to realize it. And maybe it’s the same for you.

The system is sick

First the system and why it is sick. If this is not the first blog post of mine you read, you know that I am convinced that our system is broken. If this is your first post, then hello and go on and read some more. Being here gave me more proof, our system really needs to change.

Most of the people are here with health issues caused mostly by stress, wrong nutrition and too little sport. “But these are personal issues and has nothing to do with the system, Ian”, you might say. And it is true, but only to a small degree.

Living in a capitalistic, consumerist system you need to be productive all the time and there is, mostly bad, food everywhere. Thanks to cars, e-scooters and elevators we do not have to move anymore. We all know it is false, but the propaganda and peer pressure have us under control. The system needs to convince us that it is good all the time, against our better knowledge.

And it is good in what it is doing. Because there is money to make with sick people. It’s like with drugs, first you make the people sick, and then you sell them the remedy.

The Problem with universal health care

Here or like any country in the world with a proper healthcare system, the system squeezes the working force for the private wealth of the capitalist till the people are sick. Then they go on rehab paid by the public, so afterward they can be squeezed again. And of course they still need to take medicine because you can’t fix a life in three weeks.

The capitalist gets the money, the public pays the bill and the individual is only of value, as long as it stays productive. In a country like mine, with an aging society, even the elderly are put into rehab in order to get the electoral votes.

Don’t get me wrong. It’s good that people like me get help. But it is not the people who need to be fixed, well those who are here need to, but in general. It’s the system of course. We need a system that doesn’t make people sick on purpose to benefit from them. We need a healthy system for healthy people.

Yes, there will always be sick people because of genetics or other issues. And a good system takes care of these people and doesn’t make it worse.

 Healthy people = Healthy Planet

The second epiphany I had, a healthy lifestyle is good for you and for the planet.

The two fundamental rules to a healthy lifestyle are a balanced diet and lots of exercise.

How does a balanced diet look like? Mostly plant based, regional and seasonal food. Which has the smallest CO2 footprint.

And how can you do lots of exercises in your everyday life? By not taking the car. Walk, cycle, even public transit, where you need to stand and walk to get there. All the things that have the smallest footprint in transportation. (Disclaimer: It may not be enough and may need some real training, but it is a very good start.)

Agriculture and transportation are responsible for more than 34% of the global emissions.

We cannot get the emissions to zero by eating mostly plants and don’t use cars, but we will decrease the emissions massively.

Don’t stress

As I mentioned, stress is another big factor making people ill. Reducing stress in our life also is good for the planet. This may be a little stretch, but is still true. Hear me out.

Most of the time, we are stressed because of work. May it be because of the job itself or managing everything around it, or because we do not get enough paid.

Money is the key thing why we get stressed. We need money. To pay our rent or food or something nice. If we didn’t need the money, we would work less or would have a job that we like more, and we would buy fewer things.

And that means less things need to be produced. Equals fewer emissions.

Most of the things we want, we want because of marketing or vanity reasons. We buy them and then they are stuffed away till we don’t have enough space in our apartment and need to rent a storage unit.

So we would need so much less space, if we hadn’t so much unnecessary things. We would be happy.

Healthy system = Good system

We would save on industry and housing emissions.

A good system makes it easy for you to live healthy. It doesn’t bomb you with ads about delicious but unhealthy food, nice looking cars, big houses, expensive holidays, new shoes, and many more things you don’t need or even make you sick.

If you are sick, the good system helps you become healthy or if this is not possibly to have the best life you can have. It doesn’t make you sick, only to sell you meds.

By the way, I don’t think that there is a conspiracy going on, where some men meet and decide how to squeeze everyone. What I described are the mechanics of the system. It just works that way. Of course, there are people who want it to stay that way. They pay politicians a lot of money for that. They control big parts of the media, and they know how to make convincing advertising.

But we can change the system, and a great starting point is in living a healthy lifestyle. Try to avoid stress, mostly it isn’t worth it. Eat healthy with lots of plants and nearly no meat. Move your body, it is constructed for that. Walk, cycle, swim, run, what ever you like.

Even if you think all I have written is stupid. First, thank you for reading this far and second, please take care of yourself. It’s not easy, but not as hard either. And being sick sucks.

Ian DeBay

My name is Ian DeBay.

I am the founder of iandebay.com. I am a content creator, blogger, podcast, YouTuber. This is my blog where I talk about system change, sustainability and other fun stuff.