In this post I want to talk about healthy habits as they apply to physical health, leaving spiritual, emotional, and intellectual health for another time. I think it’s important to note the qualification just made – “healthy habits as they apply to physical health” – meaning that optimal health is not necessary for healthy habits. In fact, I have found that less than optimal health can prove to be a jumping-off point, encouraging healthy habits.
First, some personal background. After a disability (Meniere’s Syndrome) five years ago, that put me out of work, unable to drive, I was feeling a little sorry for myself and spent three years practicing a sedentary life of excess that added nearly 50 pounds to what had previously been a fairly acceptable size. Then a minor heart attack prompted a rash of exercise (fighting through and around disabling limitations as I was able) and healthy eating that resulted in the loss of more than 50 pounds in four months. I have been able to maintain these habits (and the weight) for the past two years. I was lucky. My disability, though debilitating in many ways, still allowed (as many disabilities do) for a challenging regimen of exercise. From this experience I have (so far) learned the following:
- Successfully overcoming adversity is very satisfying.
- Exercising and eating right is enabling, helping to balance the disabling factors that stalk all of us (officially disabled or not) as we age.
- The better I feel, the better I want to feel; or – satisfaction begets dissatisfaction; or – the greater the number of ‘moments of Happiness’ the greater the number of ‘moments of Unhappiness’.
The majority of us can make a conscious decision to adopt healthy habits regardless of our starting point. I essentially spent 50 years eating and doing (or not doing) what I wanted. Now I am back to full-time work, eating right, and exercising regularly, and though I’m fighting continued and gradually increasing Meniere’s symptoms, I have never felt better; and that gives me more frequent ‘moments of Happiness’ while keeping me grounded in a very ‘real’ reality.
Perhaps after 50 years of healthy habits, when I turn 100, I’ll allow myself to again eat what I want, when I want. I can only hope that KFC is still around.