Obsessed with health... and forgetting the basics

We live in a fascinating age. The same person who doesn't sleep more than 5 hours a night because she's scrolling until 2am, now only drinks alkaline water filtered through quartz crystals. Because, of course, the pH of the water is what will save her intestines from the ultra-processed food she ate at 11pm.

There's a new fear every week. Aluminum in deodorant? Cancel. Microplastics in water? Panic. Gluten? Satan. Milk? Only if it's oatmeal, but handcrafted by a monk in Nepal, because the packaged stuff already has "stuff" in it.

And don't worry, I'm not saying we shouldn't worry about what we eat. But we need to talk about priorities. Because there are people who know by heart how many ppm of heavy metals organic lettuce from a trusted farm has... but then they eat three meals a week in a rush in the car, haven't moved their body for months and think that sleeping is a waste of time.

It doesn't make sense.

Clay filter? Yes. But does it also filter mental garbage?

We filter our water. We filter our deodorant. We even filter the type of rice we eat. But we don't filter the amount of pseudo-scientific crap we consume on Instagram. And that should be a concern.

Because the problem isn't the aluminum in antiperspirant (which, spoiler: barely even enters the body). The problem is a sedentary lifestyle, lack of energy, chronic sleep deprivation, fast food disguised as "meal prep" and the constant stress of wanting to be healthy without really knowing what that means.

The health formula

Health is not in alkaline water, nor in fluoride-free toothpaste. It is in:

• Move your tail regularly.
• Sleep at least 7 hours a night (and not 5 plus two naps with a blue filter on your cell phone).
• Eat things with more color than brown and beige.
• Have a more functional relationship with your body than with your air purifier.
• And, by the way, use deodorant.

Less panic, more practice

If you want to change habits, go for it. But do it through information, not through fear spread by someone selling a product at the end of the video.

Yes, the environment matters. Yes, food matters. But if you’re living in a constant state of alert about the “invisible poison” in the supermarket, and you can’t do 10 squats without huffing and puffing… well, it’s time to rethink your priorities.

At the end of the day, health is not a detox. It’s a construction. And it starts with simple, boring, and un-Instagrammable things: lifting weights, going to bed early, eating vegetables, and dealing with stress without needing 8 supplements a day.

Rita Gomes
Personal Trainer BMS