DeHay Savanna

DEHAY: Stop Trying to be “Normal” and Start Being Healthy

Savanna DeHay
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Image courtesy of Carnivore Bar

Intro

Americans are sick. Many are overweight or obese, plagued by chronic diseases and symptoms that just won’t go away. We’re overweight and we get our fast food delivered right to our doors because we are too tired to cook. We think nothing of adding yet another prescription to our medicine cabinets – filled with pills of all shapes and sizes.

Diet and lifestyle are perhaps the biggest influences to our health, yet they are the last things people are willing to change. Most of us are getting sicker and sicker every day, trapped in this unhealthy norm.

Well, I’m sick and tired of being sick and tired.

Aren’t you?

WHAT WE PUT ON OUR BODIES

What we put on our bodies matters just as much as what we put in them. Our skin is highly absorbent. When we apply makeup, sunscreen, lotion, and ointments, those chemicals don’t just sit on the surface; they enter our bloodstream, affecting our hormones, lymphatic system, and organs. The stakes are high. A 2024 study conducted by the National Institute of Health (NIH), found that chemicals in topical products caused serious issues like “endocrine disruption, reproductive disorders, infertility, and fetal death,” (“The dark side…’). Dr. Josh Axe adds that these ingredients can also worsen or even cause skin issues, immunological and neurological problems, and prenatal complications (Levy).

Here are just some common harmful skincare ingredients you want to avoid:

  • Aluminum
  • Benzalkonium chloride
  • Formaldehyde
  • Methylisothiazolinone
  • Parabens
  • Plastics
  • P-phenylenediamine
  • Perfluoroalkyl & polyfluoroalkyl
  • Propylene glycol
  • Oxybenzone
  • Sodium lauryl sulfate
  • Triclosan
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Image courtesy of Paula’s Choice

When it comes to skincare, the best rule is: if your great-grandmother wouldn’t recognize it, don’t put it on your skin. Stick to natural, ancestral ingredients like beef tallow, unprocessed oils (coconut, olive, castor), shea butter, and lanolin. Avoid added fragrances entirely. They are a known endocrine disruptor and can trigger headaches or nausea. Basically, if it is a chemical made in a lab, your body likely sees it as a foreign invader, leading to immune responses, long term issues, or both.

WHAT WE PUT IN OUR BODIES

You’ve heard the mantras: “A balanced diet.” “Everything in moderation.” “All foods fit.”

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These phrases sound reasonable, but they break down the moment we apply them elsewhere. Would you say a high protein snack is “healthy” just because you ate it with a cigarette? Are drugs okay if you take them in moderation?

This mindset creates excuses for poor health. And today, questioning this ideology is often deemed judgemental or fat-phobic. But the facts remain:

  • Wheat and grains can spike insulin and impair metabolic function.
  • Processed sugar, in any amount, is harmful.
  • Quality animal protein is the foundation of a healthy diet.
  • Intermittent fasting is not only healthy – it’s ancestrally appropriate

We were designed with everything we needed. God, not industrial food production, provided all the nutrients we require: from animals on land, sea, and air, to plants growing in the ground. We need nothing more.

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WHAT WE PUT IN OUR MINDS

Busyness does not equal productivity

It seems like everyone is just so busy. We wear constant busyness as a badge of honor, believing that busyness = productivity. But in the rush, the most important aspects of life are quietly sacrificed.

Spiritual growth in Christ, personal development, deep relationships, physical health, the simple joy of relaxation, and the creation of lifelong memories often get lost in the shuffle. When was the last time you sat outside without distractions? Just sat and thought? Or had dinner with friends or loved ones without your phone?

Here is a little secret: busyness often gets in the way of the very goals we’re chasing. When we die, no one will gather to praise how fast we ran errands, how perfectly we managed the kids’ soccer practice, or how many daily chores we checked off. This go-go-go lifestyle tricks us into thinking we must always be moving, otherwise we are “lazy.”

But God made rest for us. Yes, we work, but we also must rest. Today, God invites you to rest in His presence. It doesn’t matter if the sink is overflowing; you can pause right where you are and allow the Holy Spirit to replenish your soul. God meets us when we make time for Him. So take a breath. Right now.

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Image from Dreamstime

Conclusion

Just because “everybody” is doing something, doesn’t mean we have to follow. In fact, in most cases, we should be going against the grain.

Managing chronic sickness, poor sleep, and junk food has become our new “normal.” But you don’t have to settle for it.

Eating an early dinner. Getting a full 8 hours of sleep. Cutting out sugar. Some might call it “weird.” It’s not weird, it’s extra-ordinary.

  • Click HERE for 20% off your order of keto-friendly Matt-Hat Jerky!
  • Upgrade your skincare with Purely Tallow. Click HERE for hypoallergenic skincare!
  • Craving chocolate? The Good Chocolate offers sugar-free, keto chocolate with one 1g net carbs per serving. Great taste minus the crash! Click HERE for chocolatey goodness.
  • Tired of chemically laden products and want to upgrade your haircare? Vita Prima offers ancestral hair products formulated with natural ingredients. Learn more HERE!

Sources

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About Savanna DeHay

Savanna DeHay graduated from North Idaho College in 2022, and currently lives in North Idaho. She writes about health, current events, and other important issues.

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