Permahealth

Before I get to permahealth, has anyone heard of permaculture?

permaculture: an agricultural system or method that seeks to integrate human activity with natural surroundings so as to create highly efficient self-sustaining ecosystems (via Merriam-Webster.com)

Seems to me that "permahealth" might be the next catch-phrase for "a system of health that seeks to integrate human health with natural foods and solutions to create a highly efficient, self-sustaining health system"...of sorts! At least that's how I'm coining the word. :)

Joshua and I have sought opportunities for continuous improvement in our marriage...including our habits (of eating, purchasing, etc.). Soon after I was diagnosed with triple negative breast cancer, I began seeking alternative health providers to balance out my Western medicine docs and treatments. It was my choice and something I'm glad I researched and pursued.

During my neoadjuvant and adjuvant (before and after mastectomy) chemotherapies, I was particularly hell-bent on focusing my food intake around alkaline (pH-balanced) eating habits. While I wasn't able to do a test on two bodies going through everything at once, I know that changing my habits did NOT negatively effect me. So that leaves two other options:

1. my lifestyle choices did not effect me at all
2. my lifestyle choices positively effected me

I've made the conscious choice to believe in #2.

If nothing else, the changes we've made feel good - and right for us. There are things I notice now when I'm out and about that I didn't before. For example: the heavy smells of perfume and chemicals in stores and on people. I've become used to non-toxic solutions at home and am caught off-guard when bombarded with them outside my home.

I've long wanted to share these changes, baby steps, improvements, and learning opportunities with blog readers. Similar to the Q&A series I did in 2011, I'll be occasionally putting out a "permahealth" update. Please ask questions or share your own experiences by commenting on these posts. I'm curious to know what you all are curious about!!

My hope is that these posts will be informative, educational, and spur you on to make some changes in your own life.

Here's the first tidbit I'd like to share with you all:

Do you know how to de-code the produce at your local market?
From this post at Organics.org.