About

Hello!

As the name hints at, this blog is about the environment, and about nutrition. I find those two topics to be highly intertwined, and two of the most stressing problems that we face today. I also believe that we can improve both at the same time.

The blog started out as a project that I worked on in one of my classes: International Public Health. I thought, “what could be more international, and more related to health than the food we eat and the means through which it is produced?” While the semester and this project is over now, the issue is still one of my core concerns. While I have moved towards the clinical aspects more than Public Health (metabolism, nutrition, immunology, stress), the fields are not mutually exclusive. It is a systems problem, with an incredible amount of causes, but also solutions. I believe that we first need to recognize that even though we have mentally plagued obese people starving from malnutrition on one side, and famished people on the other – both sides are under chronic disease fire, and that both sides are failing to be adequately provided with one of the most simple prerequisites for life. We need to recognize the immense number of underlying causes of these conditions. We need to start valuing health, so that our demands can re-shape the system that provides our food. We also need to ensure that the system obtains those goods in a sustainable way from that other system that we all depend on, called planet Earth.

Too much of our resources (time, grains, money, lives) is being fed into a food industry that does not seem to pay much attention to health, and into a health industry that does not pay enough attention to the food we eat. How can we maintain a healthy earth (humans and animals included)?

The paper I wrote was about 1) America, 2) Factors that influence the development or exacerbation of chronic diseases – here, diet, 3) Why do we (they) eat this way if it’s unhealthy?, 4) What are the options to prevent or even reverse NCDs by means of dietary choices?

It became a 30 page paper that I in the end became dizzy when I looked at it, but I learned a lot.

Now that the blog is not a school project anymore, the contents are likely to include more of my personal journey through the field of health, although most likely what influences me will be the things that I’m currently studying (addiction, nutrition, philosophy, mindfulness training). This means that mental disorders will be mentioned more, as will physical exercise. At the moment, I’m crazy about yoga, both on a personal level and concerning it’s potential applications in treating or ameliorating symptoms or conditions.

I hope you’ll find something of interest on the site, and whether you agree or disagree, please do let me know through commenting, or, concerning (health-related, vegan) ads and reviews, shoot me an e-mail at eva.elvelin@gmail.com.

Peace!