Stay Healthy

Stay Healthy

Poor Joe! He was walking down Victoria Street yesterday as happy and healthy as could be. As he passed 4th Street he was whistling, checking out the people he saw and making mental comments about the people he saw. Occasionally he thought about the cruise he had planned for the next month. As he passed the 5th Street intersection, he felt little twinges of pain in his abdomen. As he passed the 6th Street intersection he was aware his pains were increasing and he started to wonder what was happening to him. He believed he was healthy. As he reached 7th Street he doubled over in pain and fell to the ground. An ambulance was called and Joe was taken to the Emergency Department of the local hospital. There, after many tests and several consults, it was determined that Joe had started to experience the complications from an undiagnosed bowel condition. Poor Joe – only three blocks away he was the happiest person in the world. Now his health was being questioned

What happened in those three blocks? Did a bowel diseae bug that was on the street looking for a home see Joe and jump into his bowel and start destroying Joe’s life?No! What happened is that Joe started to collect the dividends payable to him from his lifestyle choices.

That is what mostly happens when people get life threatening diseases – they get rewarded for the lifestyle they chose to lead. Poor diet, lack of proper nutrition and lack of exercise destroy our bodies. We have been told that over and over for years but most of us don’t listen. Somehow we develop the attitude that “it won’t happen to me”. Somehow, we believe that we are immune until that painful moment of realization comes home to roost. Then we cry and beg and pray to be cured. We spend all our money, and sometimes money we don’t have, on drugs hoping for a cure – or at the very least hoping for an easing of the pain and a little quality of life. Often, our family gets involved in our disease syndrome and their time and money also gets consumed as they try to provide care for their loved one.

In most cases we can avoid this scenario. By providing as much care, attention and maintenance to our bodies as we provide to our cars, boats, computers, printers, houses and our pets, we can keep our bodies healthy. We provide good care for our possessions because we don’t want to face a repair bill or a replacement bill and because we want them functioning as good as possible. But we don’t seem to have any respect for our body until it is too late. There is no replacement for our body and usually the repair is a stopgap measure. When the investment matures, the profits or dividends are collected. The profits we receive for most of our lifestyle choices are major losses!

It’s comforting to eat the junk food. It’s convenient to go to the fast food outlets. The manufacturers and sellers of those foods don’t care about the long term results you will experience. They care about their bottom line. Tobacco companies care about their bottom line. Drug companies care about their bottom line. The retail outlets care about their bottom line. Who cares about your bottom line? If it is not you, then it is nobody!

Each of us must take responsibility for our own health. Each of us must take responsibility for the results of our lifestyle choices. Each of us must realize and accept that when a major disease occurs, we have begun to reap the benefits of our choices and that we will most likely continue to reap those benefits.

This is one choice that has proved to be the best choice our family has made in regards to our health.

Each of us must ensure that we remain healthy. There are many guideposts and beacons showing us what we can do to make sure we get and remain as healthy as possible. Further articles posted here will look at a particular set of beacons - published medical research that addresses the requirements our bodies need to maintain good health. Optimal health is the desired benefit. Following the results and suggestion of these medical research projects is a big step towards achieving optimal health.