I had the opportunity to appear on Rogers Daytime TV this morning as part of the Green Connections Networking group I belong to. I wanted to link being healthy with being green and sustainable.  I have been part of this great green group for over a year now and am so impressed with the personal conviction that each of us shares towards living in a more sustainable way, no matter what our business segment is. I have noticed that people who take care of themselves also have a higher propensity to make greener choices overall in life. I prepared a multiple choice fact sheet to work with for the interview segment that I believe might be of interest to you as readers.  I have highlighted the correct answer.

1/ In any given week, how many employed Canadians are unable to work due to mental illness?

100,000                     250,000                     500,000

2/ The economic burden of mental illness in Canada per year is estimated to be:

50 million               25 billion            51 billion

(this includes health care costs, lost productivity and reductions in health related quality of life)

3/ Tobacco is the leading cause of premature mortality in Canada. Smoking is responsible for what % of deaths:

5%                    10%                  15%

4/ Childhood obesity rates have more than doubled in the last 20 years.  True   False

5/ Eating fresh seasonal foods lowers the intake of what:

Salt   Sugar            Preservatives      artificial colouring      all of these

(Large amounts of energy and resources are used to manufacture and package foods as well as transportation to the store)

6/ Skip bottled water:  What % of bottles actually gets recycled in the US?   75%       50%      25%

(that’s without taking into account the health effects of plastics like PET, PVC and BPA on our hormonal systems or the overall high cost associated with bottled water)

7/ In 2010, what % of working adults described their lives on most days as “quite a bit or extremely” stressful?

27% extremely and 46% quite 

That’s 10 million Canadians! Or 73%

8/ Insomnia – what number of Canadians aged 15 or older have trouble sleeping?

1 mill         2 mill         3.3 million   (1/3 of Canadians)

Green is not just about using recycled cans and having solar panels. We must expand our minds to allow the caring of our body to be part of a sustainable universe. When we feel healthy, we can project healthy thoughts and act in healthy ways to each other and the planet.

Here’s a link to learn from our wise children!

How is stress affecting you? I work with clients to identify what their body is communicating to them via negative symptoms and facilitate the elimination of the core disturbances. Do you need support understanding your bodies messages. I’d love to hear from you. Please feel free to leave a link back to your own blog too if you have one, via the commentluv feature here on the site.

Until next time,

Karen