Looking After Your Health Could Be The Most Punk Thing You Could Do.

Using wellness to fight back and rise up.

I’ve been playing with an idea in my head for a while now, that true wellness is the ultimate way to resist and fight back against the establishment. Bear with me while I explain how I got there.

Photo by visuals on Unsplash

I’m an NHS GP who has journeyed from a transition to veganism for ethical reasons, to spreading the word about the value of plant-based eating for health, to more recently reaching the point of championing veganism as an important component of Total Liberation. The concept of ‘nobody is free until everybody is free’ is very well known, and doesn’t need much explanation. It just makes sense that if you believe animals deserve freedom, then you should be fighting for the freedom of ALL beings. And vice versa. It isn’t too much of a step further to also consider how imperialism has and continues to destroy ecosystems for the sole purpose of profit, and to know that these things are all connected.

Unfortunately, wellness has been turned into an industry which has been hijacked by whiteness and capitalism. It’s not surprising really; anything that can be commodified will be. But the toxicity of the wellness industry is a whole other article for another time. It’s well known that our public health system is heading in a similar direction, and in fact, it’s already completely corrupted in the USA. Here in the UK, alongside my day-to-day job, I’m working towards becoming a Lifestyle Medicine certified physician. The reason I’m so passionate about sharing these this knowledge isn’t to serve the white wellness crowd, but to help others, like me, to rise up and reject what we’re being fed by the ruling classes. So, how can being ‘well’ be useful as a form of protest?

From a Total Liberation point of view, veganism makes complete sense. The understanding of the need to reject the use of animals makes it easy to commit to a vegan life. It’s about more than me and my health; it’s a rejection of a corrupt, immoral food system. We can refuse to take part in this system by carefully choosing what we consume. Alcohol is similar for me - my journey started when I went sober for personal reasons, but once I started learning about the use of alcohol as a tool of oppression, it became about more than just myself. Because of this it’s been very easy to remain sober and I now believe that alcohol shouldn’t be so readily available to anybody when we know the harm it causes. These two behaviours - sobriety and plant-based eating - are pillars of health, as described in the Lifestyle Medicine literature. So, not only can they help us to resist oppression, they can also keep us healthy. There are actually six pillars of health in Lifestyle Medicine: Eating well, avoiding harmful substances, good sleep, stress management, physical activity, and connectedness. And whilst they were designed to keep us well, I believe this is what’s key helping us to rise up and reject much of what we’re told is ‘normal.’

We need to question why we should we continue eating the meat, dairy and eggs that are keeping us sick, while those invested in animal agriculture continue to profit. Why should we keep ourselves glued to the screens that distract us and promote the individualism that prevents us from connecting with our communities and nature? Why should we lose sleep working hard to make our bosses richer, whilst making ourselves sicker? Why should we keep drinking alcohol that keeps us numb to the truth of all of this, as well as to the horrors our government wreak overseas? Why should we allow what the ruling classes promote and endorse to continue making us sick, whilst they profit from the drugs our doctors prescribe to us? I believe that our health could be our ultimate protest.

I know many people probably think that sober vegans are dull, or boring, but I disagree. I think we’re as punk as you can get. Personally, I reject everything they throw at me to make me sick and malleable. My sobriety keeps me alive and alert, and I’m more connected to the world around around me than I’ve ever been. I question ‘normality’ and the status quo - isn’t that what resistance and punk is all about? In fact, I’ve recently gotten into Bob Vylan after hearing about their stance on Gaza, and I was really excited when I heard their song ‘Health Is Wealth.’ I was actually driving to a home visit to see a patient when I heard the lyrics ‘Plenty lentils and chickpea curry, 20 minute meal for a man in a hurry,’ and I thought to myself, ‘this is my kind of band.’ Although it took merely the mention of some of my favourite vegan food to grab my attention, it was the rest of the song which talks about combatting food poverty in order to stay well and avoid the harms that the state does to us through the food ‘choices’ they offer our population, which excited me. Here was a punk band who understand and sing about using health to resist.

Of course not everybody has the luxury of health or wellness, so I don’t want my stance to come across as ableist. But what I’m talking about is lifestyle-related disease, some of which is under our control. Obviously that control is limited by policies on foods, public health and advertising, so it is limited by the ruling classes against which we’re trying to fight. But this is all the more reason to stay as well, fit, sober and alert as we can to continue the fight back, and on behalf of those of us who aren’t able to.

Veganism and plant-based eating are the best way to fight against the oppression of animals, human and non, the destruction of the earth, and to regain control over our own health. And with this, cherishing our own wellness - true wellness - could be our ultimate tool of empowerment and resistance.