Are you guilty of being a bit intense, full-on and irritatingly passionate about wellness?

Rather like I assume this child is!

Do you find yourself obsessively talking about the wonderment that is your vita or thermo mix?

Compulsively making bone broth and offering it to everyone that steps foot into your house – even vegans?

Oh … and do you find yourself cursing when margarine or paracetamol advertisements cross your path?

Oh to be bitch-slapped by Batman’s himself.

Yeah? Well that makes two of us.

Heath excites me. From excitement grows a mighty passion – and a very verbal passion at that. In my early ‘health epiphany’ days, I believed that everyone should be aware that you can make incredible ‘cheese’ cakes on a base of cashews. That it should be basic knowledge that you can add spinach to your smoothies without it affecting the taste! I was particularly vocal about the latter. Until I tried one myself, I was skeptical of the humble green smoothie. I didn’t want others suffering this same hesitancy and thus delaying the chance to find joy in the green smoothie life.

I became obsessed (and I mean OBSESSED) with medjool dates and felt it my responsibility to heavily promote natures caramel.

“A caramel with vitamins, minerals and poo-pushing fibre … get around it!” I would say.

Then I started dipping said dates in cashew butter and it was complete “STOP IT!”, “Shut the front door”, “can’t even deal”,  how is something this fan-freakin-tabulous good for me? kind of territory.

Then of course there was my coconut devotion. Once I discovered coconut oil I never looked back. Learning about an oil that was;

• a natural antimicrobial
• nourished every cell membrane in the body
• heat stable
• and could be applied topically as a moisturiser, face cream, lip balm, after-sun treatment and about a zillion other purposes

was like finding liquid (or solid – depending on the temperature of your pantry) gold.

I tried fresh young coconut water and flesh and instantly understood what the fuss was about. Seriously don’t be put off by bland, sickening tetra-packed coconut waters, get yourself a real young coconut and relish in it’s hydrating sweetness! The remaining flesh can be scooped out to make a creamy chocolate mousse or coconut custard – I shitzu not!

Oh, and it was such a relief to learn that coconut milk and cream aren’t full of ‘bad fats’ (I’d like to have a harsh word with whoever first decided to demonize the humble coconut) and that I could feel good about indulging in creamy coconut curries or coconut jasmine rice (topped with plenty of avocado – nom, noms).

Actually, I’m still very vocal about my affection for this tropical fruit -okay, well botanically it is a drupe but the aim of this post is NOT to get technical about plant origins and biological terminology.

Anyway, my point is that the world of whole foods, gut health and feeling high on life is a glorious place. It’s like a massive party that you want to share with everyone you love – except at this party you get high on raw cacao and drunk on kombucha. And when you’re in party-mode you tend to forget that not everyone is interested in attending the party.

I know right? Who are these people?

Some reckon the venue’s too far away. They doubt they’ll have time to attend. Some feel that attending would be too big a step beyond their comfort zone. Do you see where I am going with this analogy?

It’s tricky once you know all of this information not to spout forth with your new found knowledge. You want those around you to be informed so that they can make informed decisions. You just want everybody to know better so that they have the chance to do better.

We are all doing whatever we are doing for whatever reason we are doing it. Most of the time it’s because of education, habit and learned example. Half the time people are unaware that they’re unaware. They don’t know that they don’t know better. Some call this willfull ignorance, insisting people need to wake up and start looking for the answers. I am not one of these people.

All food should be real and natural. Nutrition shouldn’t be complicated. Society, thanks to marketing – and secret agendas of big companies – has become far removed from what true nourishment actually is. Enter pseudo-healthy breakfast cereals, modified milks and ‘low fat’ yoghurts stage right.

These days we really do need educators, mentors, role models and thought leaders to get us back to basics (and by basics I mean REAL food). Simply following the status quo wont suffice anymore.

Back in the day, following the status quo meant eating fresh fruits and veggies from the garden, eggs from your own chickens, meat from farmers down the road and freshly squeezed milk from the neighbourhood’s nearest cow. Today, to be informed, you need to invest time and energy into finding out the truth.

As a health nerd (and I mean nerd in the most endearing way possible) you have the chance to challenge perspectives and change the world’s health! … But tread gently.

Remember back to the times when you genuinely believed that margarine was better than butter – thanks to the heart foundation tick and dietitian spokespersons? Or when you took it for granted that conventional breads and cereals really were nutritious staples in the diet. When you counted calories rather than nutrients?

And then there was the transition phase, when you started to become informed. Remember how overwhelming it was and how there was that slight temptation to bury your head in the sand. I know that I didn’t want to believe that weet-bix was damaging my gut lining or that frozen yoghurt wasn’t actually a healthy dessert alternative (the truth can hurt).

Now that we are reflecting on our past, lets remember that many people are right back where we started (or worse). It’s not fair to judge or speak self-righteously. We are lucky to be free of modern nutrition misconceptions. We aren’t better, we just are fortunate enough to know better. Perhaps the best course of action is care for ourselves and lead by example, hoping others will follow suit.

Be your message – those who feel called to follow will follow. If someone genuinely wants help and asks for it, then direct them to the research you read that helped you wake up to common-sense self-care. This is not a plea for you to go into full-speed, overdrive health-nerd jargon … preach it with me “I am kind with my message. I am gentle with my message. I am loving with my message”.

Act rather than speak and when you do speak, proceed with genuine excitement (without the preachy tone). Others will respond to your enthusiasm, and listen if you humbly educate rather than lecture.

Work on yourself first, and then by example, maybe you will influence those around you … and then maybe, just maybe, they will influence those around them too (and so on and so forth).

When we throw a stone in a pond we can be certain that we will create a ripple effect  – but we have no control over how big the ripple will be. All we can do is throw the stone and hope for the biggest and best possible outcomes.

The stone that you throw is the message you speak – toss gently.