Your Health is Not a Right, It is a Commodity
What do you think of when you think of ‘health’? Do you think of big muscles? Glowy skin? Skinny waists? The simple definition of the word is to describe someone that is free from any sort of illness or injury. They can freely pursue different physical activities and their mental and emotional state provided a reasonable range of emotions. That’s it.
But in recent decades, health and wellness have been increasingly commoditized. There’s always a new workout class, new health food, and new tools to supposedly make you healthier, more athletic, glowier, or skinnier. Whether you follow the gritty crossfit type paths, or the zen wellness faction, there are a whole slew of products and events that come with it.
Being ‘healthy’ by today’s definition is expensive and perpetuates an ideal that isn’t only unrealistic, but for most, unattainable.
In the U.S. specifically, health has been commoditized within an inch of its life. Physical health markets itself as requiring a whole plethora of things that are most likely at best, overpriced and at worst, completely unnecessary and even harmful to one’s physical health. Gyms and fitness classes are still cropping up everywhere and in varied, ever more niche formulas. Your average fitness class will run you at least $20 per class, with ‘premium’ companies like SoulCycle charging $34. And if you go the personal trainer route? Forget it. What do you need to workout at the gym? Workout clothes of course. Pull on your $100 leggings from Lululemon and get started!
And it doesn’t stop with the gym. Companies such as Goop market expensive cleanses and products to affect your aura, your skin, and any other system you have that apparently is in need of an expensive remedy because anything else just isn’t as effective. Detox teas and hair vitamins without approval from any formal regulatory body run rampant across social media platforms. Start adding all these costs up and you’re spending hundreds, if not thousands on physical health.
Even though nearly all of these things are unnecessary, they are increasingly being framed as the opposite. Marketing and influencer culture are great at convincing people that they don’t have the best new things, and as such, aren’t as healthy or beautiful as they should be. And they are especially good at convincing teenagers and younger demographics which contributes ever more to insecurity and the consequent capitalism that profits from it.
Mental health proponents are scarcely any better. They frequently extol the benefits of meditation books and apps, therapy, confidence workshops, or carving out your ‘productivity time’ at work, but they overlook the fact that for the average american, most of these aren’t even possible.
First off, most of these solutions cost money. Our healthcare system is not set up in a way where these resources are readily available, which allows for whole industries to crop up in order to fill the gaps.
Secondly, mental health also costs time. Mental health demands taking control of your time in a way that few jobs in the U.S. actually allow. Even for me, someone who is reasonably well off - I could never implement half of these productivity or peace of mind ‘hacks’ because I’m not completely in control of my schedule. I can’t block off my morning for ‘personal productivity’ because my client demands my presence during those hours. It is impossible for anyone who has a boss to implement these because we are subject to outside forces that dictate whether we get paid and are able to support ourselves.
The fact that health has been commoditized so widely here is the result of a couple factors:
1. Lack of education. Our health education in schools and beyond is woefully lax. We are taught that exercise is good, that a food pyramid exists, and that we shouldn’t have unprotected sex. But we aren’t taught how to nourish ourselves consistently and cheaply. We aren’t taught how to create a workout program that is safe and enjoyable. And we aren’t taught how to look at labels and research products to make sure they are safe and productive for our needs rather than ridiculous, potentially dangerous scam products (laxative tea anyone?).
Because we aren’t taught any of this, we are easy targets for those aforementioned scam products. The market preys on our ignorance and we let it.
2.The work lifestyle that America promotes is the grind - hardly beneficial for any type of health. But this is compounded because a whole industry has sprung up around mindfulness and relaxation and disconnecting. If we actually lived like normal people and got an appropriate amount of time off, we wouldn’t even need all of this because we would have time to take care of ourselves and wouldn't be burnt out constantly!
3. Lastly, the industries of sickness and of wellness feed each other. In the U.S., Healthcare is ridiculously expensive but preventative measures - including the aforementioned education - are not prioritized which then allows for people to get sick, therefore they have to spend money on drugs, health solutions, and other treatments in order to have a hope of getting better. Additionally, this system will almost always fail to address the root cause of someone’s issues so that they must continue to purchase products and services to barely keep themselves running.
So what can we do? We know nothing and we are stuck in systems that punish us. Unfortunately for us, the only solutions here are more work. The bright side is that most of the work can be done up front and can serve you for a lifetime.
The first thing is to look at yourself. Are you unhappy with anything regarding your health currently, whether it be mentally or physically? Or are there areas where you simply want to improve or build yourself up? Write them all down.
Next comes the hardest bit - research. This shouldn’t be hard, but it is because there’s so much misinformation out there. Write your goals into google and start reading. However, learn to check your sources! Any conjectures should be backed up by experts (doctors, personal trainers), or resources like science or medical journals.
Last, wrap back around to yourself. Just because something is scientifically promoted and ten celebrities like it does not mean it will work for you personally. Health is a very intimate journey and it’s a lot of trial and error. But it’s worth it. You don’t need to be doing ‘the most’ here. If you are in touch with yourself, what you need, and what works for you, then you won’t be sucked into every new expensive trend that comes along because you’ll already be on your own customized path to health.
Personally, when I think of health, I think of a happy, active grandma who is able to take care of herself, play with her grandchildren and her family, and still pursue anything she wants. I keep that image in my mind and that’s how I make decisions for myself when it comes to my health. So far, it hasn’t steered me wrong.
And in the meantime - VOTE! So many of these issues are tied to our broken systems in America. Systems that allow for the rich to always receive premium care and education, and for the rest of us to flail around and hope we figure out enough on our own to stay alive.
Girona, Spain, 2019; back before health was exposed as the U.S.’s biggest failing