Why be Healthy?

When I was really good at writing in a journal I did it because I thought that one day my kids would benefit from reading it and realizing that I wasn't always this cool, I had to work on it. That got me to thinking, is it easier for you to do things for yourself because you want to, or to do things for yourself because it will benefit someone else.

For instance, there was research that was done on hospital sanitation practices regarding those hand wash gels hanging on every wall. They wanted to know what the best way to help people use it. They kept data on how often they were used and discovered that doctors were more likely to use them if a sign was posted next to them saying something regarding how we are helping patients versus protecting themselves. So doctors were more likely to use hand gel when they thought they were helping someone else.

How does this relate to nutrition and more importantly, how does this relate to you?

Sometimes we need to look at something a new way for a reason for us to change. If the reason you want to be healthier is for your kids or so you can see your grand kids so be it. If it is to ride a boogie board or to run a road race that's cool too. If it's too not get sick from chronic illness that's good too. However, it's always to better to do something because you love it rather than you are afraid of the consequences if you don't do it. We all have our reasons for why we are who we are and some are more conscious than others. Don't try to lose weight, try to be healthy and if losing weight happens so be it. 

There is a famous quote from Hippocrates that says, "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be they food." We have become pretty good at letting medicine become our food, but what about food being our medicine?

Nutrition was meant to be a preventative medicine, that's when it work. Rarely can you treat a chronic disease with nutrition. When that happens, you are managing. With insulin dependent diabetes (when you need insulin shots for your body to use the carbohydrates you eat) what you eat isn't fixing the diabetes if it has come to that point. What you eat simply makes it easier to manage the illness. With Celiac Disease (you have problems with gluten) or Irritable Bowel Syndrome, nothing you eat fixes it, it just doesn't make it worse. That's why in nutrition they try to work with kids. But in working with kids parents usually tag along.  For the most part kids don't by groceries, kids don't cook, and kids don't pack lunches.

I was always told it doesn't matter how fast you're going, it matters your direction. If you get off on a detour, just get back to heading the right direction. You will have set backs in life, but the great thing is that those set backs don't have to be break downs.

Let me know why you want to be healthy.

- Eat Wise