Our health is the most valuable thing we have. If it fails, there may be no amount of money that can repair it. In a society that has grown accustomed to simply taking a pill to make up for bad choices, that reality can be tough to accept. For that reason, it is critical that we build good habits for our health in order to avoid the conditions that may come back to haunt us later.
Perhaps more than building good habits, though, it’s about ending bad habits. We do things that are bad for our health for a number of reasons, and overcoming those reasons is essential to being able to adopt a healthy lifestyle. Once we know what these underlying causes are, we can fix them. So with that said, let’s review some of the common reasons we don’t take the best care of ourselves.
Lack of Help
Sometimes we don’t know what to do to help our health. There are so many competing voices out there trying to convince us that their fad diet or their exercise plan is the best way to get healthy. What is even worse is that credible sources often are in direct conflict about what they say, or with what they used to say themselves.
So let’s keep it simple. The fact is that eating less fat, more fruits and vegetables, and less sugar will be good for your health in many different ways. Proper exercise under the guidance of a doctor is always good, and dealing with addiction issues is always good.
From those basics, take action. There’s plenty of help on the details. Shop better and learn to cook better. Get active. If you have a problem with alcohol, find inpatient alcohol rehab centers that can help you. There’s plenty of help on the details.
Money
It’s not that eating healthy is all that expensive. It’s really not. There are lots of free recipes out there that can help us eat right whether we have diabetes, heart trouble, or any of countless other conditions. Buying the ingredients and preparing your own food is always cheaper than buying a constant stream of fast food.
The same is true of exercise. Sure, you could spend thousands on equipment for your home or even just hundreds for a gym membership, but you do not have to. You can walk in your neighborhood or inside the mall. You can use the stairs instead of the elevator. You can park in the most distant part of the parking lot at work. You can buy a cheap used bicycle and a helmet and get some miles in. There’s no reason to go broke trying to burn some extra calories.
Convenience
We are all so busy. We keep our calendars packed almost every day, and we rarely have time to sit down and think of ourselves by cooking healthy, getting exercise, or seeing the doctor about a problem we may have. So we continue bad habits that will create ever-worse effects on our health until we have no choice but to take some time for ourselves.
As handy as it may be to toss a frozen dinner in the microwave, it is not the best option for you. Instead, you can get that same speed with better health by doing pre-built meals yourself. Carve out some time whenever you can to get things cut, measured, and prepared for a few days at a time, then have them ready for fast preparation when it’s actually time to eat.
An unhealthy lifestyle is a complex thing. There are always lots of factors that have created it. When you can attack those issues and get them under control, you have more flexibility about doing all the things that are best for your health.