I was recently forced down by my own body. In hindsight, I’d been meaning to go for a check-up for months, to clear out a few things that didn’t feel “quite right”, but I kept postponing it. I kept waiting for the perfect time. When the insurance was right, when I found the perfect doctor, the perfect hospital… Because surely it was “just” a checkup. After all, I was still moving. Still functioning. Still doing all the things. And if you can move, you must be fine… right?

Except I wasn’t. The aches I had normalized, the fatigue I dismissed, the discomfort I swallowed—those were my body whispering. And because I didn’t respond, the whispers grew teeth. Eventually I ended up in hospital. Technically, I was taken. Because if it were up to me, I would have stayed home and tried to manage it with whatever knowledge I have. As I’d been doing.

But knowledge is a double-edged sword.

After a few tests, it became painfully clear that I had been courting disaster. I knew something was brewing; I had known for months. But I chose, actively chose, to talk myself out of seeking the help I Needed. With knowledge comes responsibility. The responsibility to choose: Life or death. Alignment or avoidance. Health or the slow unraveling of it.

So let me ask you what I’ve been asking myself: What do you choose?
As for me, I choose health.

What is Health, really?
We often define it as the absence of disease, illness or pain. But that’s a shallow, limited and outdated view. In my line of work and personal journey, I’ve come to understand health as something deeper, something more dynamic.

I once heard a definition that shifted me completely, and I’ve now made it my own:

Health is a dynamic state of sustained energy…. how well energy flows through your structure (body) to create a field that supports life.

Much like an electromagnetic field powers a device, our internal energy field powers our human experience. Emerging research, including the work of Dr. Martin Picard, beautifully showcases health as a product of how well energy flows in and out of our mitochondria. The freedom of energy to move, transform, and regulate every system in the body: Mind, emotions, hormones, immunity, everything.

Your health is the state of your energy flow.

In his research, he describes mitochondria not just as powerhouses, but as dynamic networks that sense, respond, and adapt to life. They fuse, divide, and reorganize; literally reshaping themselves in real time to keep energy flowing. This is happening at all times in all trillions of cells in the body. It is how we stay alive. 

His work further analogizes that just as electricity moves through an electromagnetic coil and creates a field, your body’s energy flows through mitochondria, our tiny “intracellular brains”, in response to food, emotions, thoughts, stressors, toxins, movement, sleep, and even relationships. And they are exquisitely sensitive to any changes.

When energy flow is smooth and stable, we experience resilience, clarity, stable moods, and strength. We call that health.

When it is disrupted, chaotic or depleted, we feel fatigue, anxiety, inflammation, brain fog, and pain. Symptoms that begin long before disease is named.

The Bridge Between Emotions and Physical Wellbeing

Now here’s where it gets beautiful, and where Dr. Picard’s work becomes deeply human.

Your mitochondria listen. 

They listen to emotional stress. 

They listen to unresolved anger.

They listen to chronic worry. 

They listen to grief, joy, fear, anticipation, hope, disappointment, and even your sense of safety.

His research on mitochondrial psychobiology shows that these tiny cellular structures can shift their shape, energy output, and inflammatory signaling based on how you feel, how you cope, and even how you perceive your world and interpret life.

This may explain why a season of emotional heaviness is often accompanied by fatigue, poor immunity, inflammation, hormonal disturbances, or digestive issues. It is not “all in your head.” It’s all inside your cells.

Which means food, movement, stress, rest, relationships, purpose… they are all mitochondrial communication tools. And since mitochondria generate the energy that powers every organ, their dysfunction or harmony determines the quality of your life.

That is why I submit to you that that health is not the absence of disease. It is the state of quality energy flow.

My Bias Toward Food—And Why It’s Still Not Enough

As a trained clinical nutritionist, food will always be my first language. I know how profoundly it can alter physiology. But we exist in a medical ecosystem that still defines health only by whether there is diagnosable disease.

Yet most health issues begin long before a diagnosis. They begin in disrupted energy flow. In depleted mitochondria. In emotional exhaustion. In the overstimulation and under-nourishing of modern life.

Food can help—and it does. But sustainable health is built from all the inputs that shape mitochondrial stability: nutritive, emotional, psychological, relational, environmental, and spiritual.

Science needs everything to be verifiable and quantifiable before it is accepted as factual. So many would ask, and rightfully so. Is Health Measurable? 

Yes. 

And no.
Not in the traditional ways we’ve been taught. We can measure it by the state of our mitochondria. Mitochondrial health is measurable indirectly—through energy, resilience, mental clarity, recovery, emotional stability, inflammation levels, and how well your body responds to both nourishment and stress. And most importantly, through how honestly you listen to the whispers your body sends long before it begins to shout.

Choosing Flow, Even in the Festive Season

As I sit with everything my body has taught me since I began this intuitive health journey and most recently in these past weeks, I’m reminded of a truth we so often forget:
health is not something we stumble into. It’s something we choose, moment by moment, season by season.

When we understand health as the flow of energy—shaped by mitochondria, emotions, food, movement, rest, relationships, and environment—we realize that wellness isn’t built in dramatic gestures. It is built in quiet consistencies.

This season we are entering is one where joy meets chaos, connection meets pressure, and community meets overstimulation. There may be late nights, food abundance, emotional warmth, and triggers. All through, your mitochondria are listening. This season can drain you. Or it can restore you. It depends on how intentionally you choose to move through it.

So as we enter the festive stretch, here is my gentle submission to you:

You are not obligated to burn out to celebrate others.

You do not need to sacrifice your body to honour tradition.

You can choose flow.

How to Support Your Energy This Festive Season

1. Honour your body’s signals.

Don’t wait for your body to shout. Listen for the whispers—fatigue, irritability, heaviness after meals, sleepiness, anxiety, bloating, tension. These are early mitochondrial cues.
Respond with compassion, not judgment. 

If you feel tired, rest.

 If you feel heavy, slow down. 

If you feel tense, breathe. 

2. Eat with joy and strategy, not fear.

The goal is not perfection. 

Enjoy the chapati. Enjoy the nyama. Enjoy the family meals. 

Just add protein for stability, fibre for digestion, water for circulation, colour for antioxidants.

You are not here to suffer through the holiday table. Build plates that support energy flow while still honouring tradition and pleasure.

3. Move gently, consistently

You don’t need a workout plan, just consistent movement. 

Walks with your favourite people, dancing as you cook, stretching before bed, stepping out to breathe deeply after long family moments. Movement literally increases mitochondrial output and stabilizes your emotional field.

4. Protect your emotional field

Family gatherings bring warmth…. and triggers. 

Intentionally set soft boundaries. If needed, step outside for air. Journal. Breathe. Drink water. Re-centre. And remember, not all triggers are threats. Not all family tension is your assignment. 

Dr. Picard’s work reminds us that emotional load can either nourish or deplete our cells.

5. Rest without guilt

Rest is not laziness; it’s mitochondrial repair. Sleep is mitochondrial therapy. Silence is therapy. Saying “not today” is therapy.  Slower mornings are therapeutic. 

All these are not luxuries. They are biological necessities.

6. Seek sunlight, Stay hydrated, and connect to yourself

Your internal energy field thrives in rhythm with nature. It loves to flow with the natural cues. Sunlight. Water. Grounding. Laughter… They all matter.

This is your season to choose wisely.

Health is not about avoiding life.  It is not built in perfect choices. 

It is about supporting the body that allows you to live it. It is built in consistent, compassionate choices.

Choose joy. 

Choose nourishment. 

Choose rest. 

Choose alignment. 

Choose the small, daily acts that whisper to your mitochondria: 

“We are safe. We are supported. We are home.”

And may this festive season be your soft reset. A gentle return to flow, energy, and the kind of health that lasts far beyond December.

With Love,
Ababach Tamiru.
CO-FOUNDER, NUTRITIONIST/ DIETITIAN
LILY’S SMOOTHIE