Unnur Guðrún Pálsdóttir, owner and founder of Greenfit, says it’s important to measure people’s health before the healthcare system has to take over. Unnur, who is most often called Lukka, is the new guest on Sölva Tryggvason’s podcast. In her work there, she says she can see that diabetes could become an epidemic in the coming decades, and therefore a heavy financial burden on the healthcare system:
“We see some very interesting things in our measurements at Greenfit and now we have an even better picture of a certain sample of the population. The Sugar Festival is a bit too far away. We can see in our numbers that too many Icelanders have blood sugar levels that are too high. Still, we’ve probably had some pretty health conscious people. But recently, we’ve been working with some big companies and we’re seeing changes in the numbers that indicate that people’s sugar levels in general don’t are not what they should be. Fortunately, more and more people are becoming more and more aware of the impact of lifestyle on health, and people really want to improve when given the right information There are basically three factors that have the greatest impact on the health of ordinary people.There are chronic inflammation, problems with the digestive tract and then blood sugar or sensitivity. insulin ity. These factors are all made in such a way that it is up to us to influence them. We can really work at the root, even if something is wrong. It’s never too late to intervene in your lifestyle,” says Lukka, who says she believes addictive eating habits are often a way of emotionally overeating.
“It’s become a very shy thing to talk about being overweight, but we need to be able to discuss things. I think very often addiction to eating habits is a way to numb the pain. Of course it’s not always like that, sometimes it’s just chemical, but I think a lot of times we protect ourselves because we have soul wounds. We are one entity and everything plays together.”
Health is a series of decisions
Luck is that health is not luck, but a series of decisions that people make every day. She says she can see it even more clearly when things can be measured by blood tests and that she will make a difference if people change their lifestyle. She says it’s great to see people take action after seeing the results of their measurements at Greenfit.
“We dream of helping people, impacting people’s lives, and seeing people achieve goals they never thought possible. At first, I was a little of the opinion that this what we do at Greenfit should be part of health care in the country but I’ve changed my mind a bit it’s good to create some kind of system that is more about prevention and then outside of the health system. Kind of like positive psychology is different from healing mental illness. The health system is actually a system of illnesses and that’s fine on its own. That the system accepts people when they fall It could also be called a healing system, and what we do is more of a preventative system. But it’s great to see how many companies are offering our services to their employees, as people learn where to start to improve their own way of life before things get too far.”
Reprimanded by an employee of the Reykjavík health authority
When Lukka founded the Happ Restaurant, she claimed that various ailments could be prevented and even lifestyle diseases could be reversed through diet and lifestyle changes. She is particularly memorable when an employee of the Reykjavík health authority chastised her for making the claim on the restaurant’s website.
“They said it was not allowed to claim such a thing. Even though it was just my opinion on my own company’s website. I remember when we spoke outside our restaurant. There was a man standing there at a distance who heard what we were saying, and he was a doctor from the Landsspítal emergency department, he interrupted our conversation and said that he sees people every day who can really intervene and influence lifestyle. Today, most of us know that food is the cure and lifestyle is the cure. But of course, it can be hard to accept that you need to change your way of life, because it’s not always easy. But the fact is that what you put in you is what will build your cells. Everything happens in the cells of the body every day, all day , and it’s crazy to try to pretend that what you put inside of you has no effect. I sometimes say that there are two things that have the most impact on how we feel. On the one hand, what we put in front of our lips, and on the other hand, what we publish, that is to say how we choose our words.
It’s rewarding to help people
Lukka says she is grateful and passionate about her work because there is nothing more rewarding than helping people improve their lives.
“I was at a turning point in my life when Már Þórarinsson and I decided to embark on this project, and of course it was a lot of work and a lot of things had to go well. But my experience is that you often the most courage when you unexpectedly find yourself at a crossroads. We worked hard to make this happen and for me, this is the best job I can do. Now, three years after the company was founded , we see people who have gained a new life after coming to us. There is nothing better than that.”
The episode with Lukku and all the other episodes of Sölva can be accessed at www:solvitryggva.is
