The concept of One Health can sound foreign at times, however, when you hear the practical nature behind it, you might find you’re already closer to the idea than you thought.

To me, One Health is the connection and coexistence between everything; your own:

Health
Family
Pets
Home Environment
City
Planet
And most of all, choices

Four Considerations for a One Health Lifestyle

Living aligned to One Health includes the actions that you take and how they are all related. The topic is so large that instead of going into detail on each factor, I’ve identified four easy things to think about to build your own realistic One Health lifestyle.

Your One Health Lifestyle is Impacted by Your Actions

With the 7.9 billion of us on planet Earth, it’s mostly about the individual actions and decisions that can lead to healthy solutions, or harm the health of all.

Think about the things you do during a 24 hour period.

You might want to eat something. The food you consume is tied to One Health. Things like climate change, food security, and spillover diseases can affect what we’re able to consume — and the price for those items. What you put on your table is a One Health action.

Recognize your consumer and consumption patterns. While we are in a period of inflation, the items you purchase can be health-promoting or health-preventing (anti-health). Do you run your air conditioner at full blast throughout the summer or do you open the windows for a fresh breeze? Are you mindfully forgoing purchasing items with single-use plastic? Little choices we each make can have a bigger, collective impact on supporting environmentalism.

One Health is About Food, Diet, and Our Nutrition Choices

A One Health lifestyle means you are thinking about key factors when you decide what you’re consuming. As omnivores, we have the ability to choose what types of products we eat. And the good news is food (like One Health) is not about “all or nothings.”

Did you know in one day we could be eating foods from up to 29 different countries? The beef you’re consuming could be from another country across an ocean, or from a local farm down the street. The environmental cost of how far your food must travel is important to consider when calculating your One Health diet.

When hungry, reaching for five Big Macs does nothing for the body, nothing for the animals, and nothing for the environment (due to reasons stated above in addition to the methane production from cows). In fact, eating more calories than the body actually needs can lead to resource depletion for others. The flip side of this is that some of you might find a Big Mac a delicious treat or a convenient choice at times. That is the beauty of One Health: it does not have to be an always or never decision. One Health doesn’t state you can never again eat something like a Big Mac, it’s thinking about what you are eating.

Your Pets Affect Your One Health Lifestyle

Pets are a tricky subject within committing to a One Health lifestyle because they are a biophilic link. “The word biophilia originates from the Greek, 'philia' meaning 'love of'. It literally means a love of life or living things. Humans have a deeply ingrained love of nature which is an intuitive and natural drive imprinted into our DNA.” (PlanteriaGroup.com)

As humans, we have a natural love for companion animals, so again, a One Health lifestyle isn’t about an all or nothing; it’s about being mindful of the choices you make. Having pets is proven to make us healthier, more social, and feel less lonely, something that has been incredibly important through the tragedies of COVID-19 and demonstrated in the rapid uptick in pet adoptions in 2020.

The best thing to consider is what you can do responsibly. For example, a favorite saying of mine about dog ownership or volunteering at an animal shelter that is contributive to a One Health lifestyle: “Walk a hound, lose a pound.” Not only are you contributing to an animal’s exercise, but to your own as well. A healthy body enables you to be a more active sponsor to One Health overall.

There are also good species to be pets and bad species. An adopted rescue cat or dog is different than a radiated tortoise. To be perfectly clear, the exotic pet trade is very much anti-One-Health. We have control of the power for who we want to share our houses with.

Environmental Impact of One Health

There are things each person can do to minimize their environmental footprint, like recycling, purchasing plastic-free items, and not continuing with unnecessary consumption.

Changing patterns of transportation is a big way to make a difference in One Health. Choosing to walk or bike when possible is not only good for your own body, but for your neighbor’s body as well by not polluting the air that everyone has to breathe. If that’s not possible, opt for public transportation to share that environmental burden. At the very least, carpool.

Again, a realistic One Health lifestyle isn’t black and white. While growing your own spinach is ideal, you might need to purchase it from a store at some point, so reaching for the biodegradable or compostable bag (assuming you have a place to compost it properly) is better than the single salad kit wrapped in plastic.

I mentioned this above, but air conditioning is awful for climate change. Try an open window if possible. If you choose to run the AC, remember it is a choice. If you must run it, it’s also your choice whether it’s at 67 or 77 degrees. Each choice matters.

The Collective Power of Individual One Health Lifestyle Choices

In conclusion, remember that the combined actions of each individual matter more than any word, policy, idea, or good intention. To live a One Health lifestyle is a commitment of awareness of choices, and a reminder that regardless of what everyone else says, you are not everyone else. You have the power to decide if your footprint will be health-promoting or not.

To read more on the power each of us holds, I invite you to read my essay on The Power of One: “At a time many people are feeling they cannot make a difference, it may be the exact moment in history when each of us has greater power than ever before.”

My final tip, think about how you can be part of the solution or part of the problem. Each choice has pros and cons, and each choice matters. It’s your choice.

Do you have questions about One Health? I encourage you to send me your questions and feedback through my Contact Page. I regularly speak on the topic of One Health and am passionate about educating others on their ability to make a difference.