FAKE WELLNESS this is a relatively new term I’ve coined to encompass a disturbing trend I’m noticing in today’s culture. It’s by no means intended to make fun of the situation, but more to bring light to a poor trend that’s developing.

Let me start with a simple story to paint a picture. Last week I was at my gym, @windycitycrossfit, of which I’ve been a member for 8 years. I absolutely love this place! Anyway, there was a 7 to 8 month pregnant mom working out doing fairly heavy squats. These were heavy enough that it made me think of a couple male friends who would have been jealous.

I was extremely disturbed when I found out the mother had no intentions of having a natural birth. It make me think, this is like wellness fraud…or fake wellness. This mother was doing everything she could to maintain her fitness, health and or looks. It made me wonder why she was uninterested in having a baby start off life in the safest way possible!

Natural birth is much safer for the baby and mother. Additionally, it ensures a significantly better change to start breastfeeding and have a strong immunity as compared to birth’s with interventions, such as ptosin, epidural, c-section, etc.

I’m not saying these procedures don’t have their place but that should be the exception, not the norm. Unfortunately, natural births are NOT the norm these days. So, why is it that this mom obviously is very interested in wellness, going to a highly specialized $200 a month personal training club, but does not see it worth the time to educate and train to have a natural birth?

Personally, I thinks it’s lack of education and/or lack of good advice from the OBGYN. These days you even hear nurses and friends saying “Hey, you don’t have to be a hero ya know!”. UM, yesssss…you DO need to be a hero! Not for you to be proud of 6 pack abs but to say, hell yeah, I trained my body to have the best chance to have the safest and healthiest start to life for my baby! This is why we teach natural birthing classes at our clinic. My wife, Moncia, is our trained Bradley instructor. Go to bradleybirth.org to learn more.

Want another story of fake wellness/fraud?

I saw this yoga instructor friend enter our local Whole Foods, after her class, and the first thing she did was wipe off the handle of the cart with a wet wipe to kill the invisible bacteria. Did she not know that antibacterial wipes are terrible to use? Does she not know anything about true immunity even though she is a yoga instructor? Does she really think her body is that weak and defenseless to our environment? I call this type of person FIT SICK…they look healthy on the outside but their immune system is very suspect.

ABUNDANT ENERGY Workshop

If you would like learning more about avoiding the pitfalls of FAKE WELLNESS in our culture, then you will love our next organic community dinner workshop called ABUNDANT ENERGY. This event is going on Tuesday, February 24th at 7pm. It’s being held at Mrs. Murphys’ Irish Bistro on Lincoln Ave. There is only room for 25 more guests, no cost for members of our practice, but you must RSVP by the 17th by calling or visiting the office.