Joshua Rosenthal, Founder, Director, and Primary Teacher of the Institute for Integrative Nutrition shares his wisdom about creating a healthy and happy life that helps transform the world.

I want to tell you something that you may or may not know: sitting is the new smoking. And most people sit all day at their jobs. How crazy is that? What if you could create the opposite situation and make your job the key to your health? Health careers might just be the answer to the desk job epidemic.

I mean, think about it: when you’re sitting all day, your body literally starts to shut down. Your circulation decreases and less oxygen goes to your brain, digestive system, and all the other bodily systems required for you to function optimally.

It makes sense that sitting all day is very bad for your health in three specific ways: 

1. Leads to obesity. The more you sit, the less energy you’re expending and the more likely you are to hold onto calories as fat rather than utilize them for energy.
2. Increases the risk of cancer. Recent studies found that sitting at a chair greatly increases the likelihood that you’ll end up with cancer, as it suppresses cell renewal and immunity.
3. May lead to type II diabetes. The same studies found that sitting all day could lead to adult onset diabetes, since you’re not utilizing the sugar you consume for energy. Pretty scary, right? 

It turns out that even if you exercise, sitting all day is still very detrimental for your health. Movement has to be a lifestyle and must be happening all throughout the day. With a health career, what pays the bills is also what keeps you healthy. So how can you make that happen? 

Imagine if you were an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, yoga instructor, or personal trainer. You would walk your talk every day and help others be their happiest, healthiest self. How cool is that? 

How would your life change if you had a job you loved that kept you healthy, energized, and focused by default?

Here are some ways to start building a health career you love while you’re still at your full-time job: 

1. Ask for more schedule flexibility at your job so you have time to start slowly building your health career, or go part time if that works financially for you.
2. If you’re a fitness instructor, for example, teach a couple classes a week then build up from there.
3. If you’re an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach, or want to become one, see clients part time in the evenings or on the weekends, or enroll in our Health Coach Training Program and complete it on your own time. Our entire course is online, and specifically designed for busy people who have full-time jobs.

Who’s in control of you and your life and your future is you, not the voices in your head that say you have to have a corporate job where you sit at a desk all day. Have the courage to know and choose what’s truly true for you in every moment. 

The existing healthcare system is not sustainable. Costs are sky high and continue to escalate, while the public continues to be more and more hooked on drugs. It's all about education and prevention. Health coaching and other health careers are the future, and it's only a matter of time before everyone recognizes that. 

Step by step, Integrative Nutrition Health Coaches are creating a new future for healthcare and for humanity. 

Do you currently have a desk job? How is it affecting your health? Do you want to change your career and go into the health field? Share in the comments below. 

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