Health as a Responsibility
We are observant that at an early age and as we become older, we have to take on more and more responsibilities as time passes. In my own life in my early teenage years, my responsibilities were pretty much limited to the basics like any child. Clean your room, make your bed, tie your shoes, make your lunch, do your homework and be back home right after school ends. As I got older and was granted more privileges, I had more responsibilities to take on. These included but were not limited to: owning a car, renting an apartment, and living away from home. And as I continue to age, I have a greater understanding that there will always be more and more responsibilities I have to endure in order to maintain a 'control' in my life.
Just like our own personal responsibilities, in order for one to gain and maintain a powerful vitality, healthy choices also become a responsibility. Many of us as children thought that we could eat almost anything we wanted, and it would rarely affect how we felt and acted. Take the example of going to a friend's birthday party-- we would be in a wild and crazy atmosphere like 'Chuck E' Cheese' and we would be hopped up on pizza and cake, but rarely did we have to worry about much more than a "tummy ache" after running around and playing with friends. I gained an understanding that as I got older, the food I ate would affect how well I could perform in athletic activities.
As a young child, I was always under the impression that I could really eat anything I wanted and as long as I was keeping active and/or exercising, I did not have to worry about gaining unnecessary fat around my body. I figured a calorie was a calorie, and it was "energy" regardless of the source. When I reached high school and decided to join the wrestling team, I came to realize that it was a sport that was very physically and mentally demanding, especially in New England during the winter time when all you want to do is keep warm and eat. If anyone knows high school or collegiate wrestlers, then you know how much these individuals put themselves through with various weight loss and starvation habits to make their weight for a match. During these times in the middle of the season, I would always have to make conscious food choices, because not only could I not eat a lot, but I had to eat the foods that would give me the best value in nutrition and satiety for the physical demands I had to endure. The experiences over those 4 years in high school really taught me a good lesson about the type of "fuel" consumption my own body needed in order to succeed. I realize now that my choices could have been better, but like any learning experience, you have to go through your failures to gain a greater understanding.
Being a 30 years old now, I realize that many of the previous food choices I made in my teenage years were really not the best in terms of value in nutrition. Wheat and dairy milk being the biggest two food groups I used to heavily consume. I now realize the affect it has on me, and I now consume them on rare occasions. But as we age, our food choices really make all the difference when it comes to performance in every aspect.
Living a lifestyle where one has to make very conscious choices 24/7 can definitely be exhausting, and I give credit to any and all those people who decide to do that. Especially when commercials and advertising propaganda we see all day and every day caters to a basic ignorance we have as a society concerning food. A $5 lunch deal sounds great, but what kind of value does that bring me when I know the poor quality of the food I am getting?! We also are at a time in our history when we sit down more than we ever have. On an average, we sit down 9.3 hours a day on average as Americans. (1) We also live in a society where 68.8% of the population is considered 'overweight', and 35.7% of the population is considered OBESE! (2) So there are no doubt many subtle influences all around us that play into our psychological and physical well-being that prevent us from attaining a healthy lifestyle.
Coming back to responsibility-- we all know these various aspects of society are designed to limit us from attaining what we want to accomplish, in life and in health. We need to stop making excuses for ourselves if we are not in the state we want to be in- mentally, chemically, emotionally or physically. Health IS a responsibility whether you believe it or not. My personal belief has always been- if you don't have your health, then you don't have anything.
The changes that you can make to improve yourself do not have to be leaps and bounds to try and achieve. Many times people fail in their New Year's Resolutions because they set the bar too high for themselves and became discouraged. Only 9.2% of all people who actually make resolutions are actually successful in achieving their resolution(s). (3) It does not have to be made as a difficult task to attain your goal. Take for example a resolution such as: wanting to read more- just read 5 pages per day instead of a chapter per day. If you want to become more physically active- try doing 10 push ups first thing in the morning when you wake up and be done for the day. If you want to eat healthier, add in 1 green vegetable in your lunch or dinner meal. If you give yourself 'manageable' goals, you can always build on them and keep improving. Just like Dr. Martin Luther King had said: "If you can't fly then run, if you can't run then walk, if you can't walk then crawl, but whatever you do you have to keep moving forward.” (4)
Change does not happen overnight, and in our day and age when we are used to receiving everything at the touch of an App on our phone, it may not be quick either. But if you can motivate yourselves to make the smallest changes, they will reflect huge rewards in the future. But just like my last blog, make sure that you make a plan for it and record your progress.
To Yours in Health,
Adam McBride, DC
References:
- https://www.quora.com/How-much-time-does-the-average-person-spend-sitting-during-their-life
- https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/health-statistics/Pages/overweight-obesity-statistics.aspx
- http://www.statisticbrain.com/new-years-resolution-statistics/
- http://www.goodreads.com/quotes/26963-if-you-can-t-fly-then-run-if-you-can-t-run