Bonfire Health Program Part 1 of 3

Human beings can be predictably irrational.¹  

We have inherited a genome that has been shaped by the hammer and anvil of environmental pressures over time to produce two primary drives: 1. survival and 2. reproduction.  These drives are supported, even coerced by our emotions and feelings that are dictated by a hard-wired “GPS” - genetic positioning system described by Lisle and Goldhamer as the Motivational Triad².  In short, we are programmed to seek pleasure, avoid pain and do it all with the greatest economy of energy.  Although this innate tendency served us well when food was hard to come by and life-threatening dangers lurked around every corner of the cave; it can lead to our downfall in the secure, convenient and abundant world we find ourselves in today.   Our biggest challenges of today stem from the mismatch between our genetic programming for survival in famine and our modern sedentary lives of excess.³

Compounding this dynamic is the awareness of this Motivational Triad by the modern marketplace and their relentless exploitation of it.  The world is designed to service your wants, encourage your comfort and promote your excess.  On the front end this sounds like a life of comfort and ease, but unfortunately, the consequences are broad and devastating.  The world is not designed to promote optimal health, just immediate satisfaction.

Because our ancient hard-wiring can lead to our downfall in a modern world, we must be mindful and deliberate in our approach to better health.  We must clarify that our objective is ultimately true health and vitality and not simply symptom treatment.  We must discriminate and follow only the specific evidence-based strategies that research has shown to be aligned with our genetic make-up.  Most importantly, we must reinforce these genetically congruent behaviors by leveraging proven supportive influence techniques that are nothing short of social jujitsu. This is the essence of the Bonfire Health Program.  This is the solution.

The power of the program is found at the nexus of three unique qualities: 

1.  Our Objective - The Wellness Paradigm

2.  The Essential Elements

3.  The Science of Social Influence

Part 1: The Wellness Paradigm

The Bonfire Health Program is designed to fill a giant gap in our health care system today.  The current Traditional or Allopathic Paradigm is based on a sickness and disease treatment model.  With the exception of the incredible and heroic work done in emergency care, the current model is failing.  Tremendous effort is being made and fantastic technological advances are seen throughout our health care system.  But, despite incredible resources invested, our people continue to get sicker.  The impending tsunami of a chronically ill Baby Boomer population promises to collapse an already teetering system.  Although valiant work is being done to keep people from dying, our system is woefully incomplete in addressing true prevention and health promotion.  It is time to embrace the Wellness Paradigm.

The Wellness Paradigm addresses the body as an innately intelligent, self-governing and self-regulating being.  When that being is exposed to the appropriate environment it will express optimal health.  The Wellness Model endorses a pro-active, deliberate approach to living that encourages lifestyle behavioral patterns that ensure the provision of all elements considered essential for optimal cell function, while simultaneously avoiding those elements known to be inherently toxic to cell function.  The objective is to observe, support and encourage nature – not suppress, manipulate or interfere with it. 

The objective of the Bonfire Health Program is to empower individuals with the knowledge of a genetically congruent lifestyle and equip them with congruent behaviors and strategies using proven implementation methods.  Our purpose is to create Well People.

(Stay tuned for Part 2 and Part 3…)

REFERENCES

1. Ariely D, Predictably Irrational (2008)
2. Lisle, D & Goldhamer, A, The Pleasure Trap (2003)
3. O’Keefe JH Jr., Cordain L Cardiovascular Disease Resulting from a Lifestyle at Odds with Our Paleolithic Genome: How to become a 21st Century Hunter and Gatherer, Mayo Clinic Proc. 2004; 79:101 – 108.