I have a patient, Mark, who is in his mid-60s, exercises at least 30 minutes each day, eats whole, real foods, avoids junk food, does not smoke, drinks minimally, maintains an appropriate body weight, and has made healthy living a priority for most of his life. Another patient of mine, a co-worker of Mark’s, came in one day and told me that Mark had suffered a heart attack. I was very surprised, as Mark did not fit the profile of someone you would think of when hearing about heart attacks and heart disease.
Mark’s co-worker, a person not super health conscious, then said something that I am guessing many people thought or said… “See, Mark spends all that time on healthy stuff and still had a heart attack. What a waste of time and money.”
There are many arguments that are made against healthy living. It costs too much… It takes too much time… It’s too hard… What I do doesn’t matter because it all comes down to my genes… and… Look at Mark, he did everything right and still had a heart attack.
I respect people’s choice to live however they see fit, and never want to push my thoughts and views down anyone’s throat. But I feel compelled to share some perspective just in case those arguing against a healthy lifestyle need just a little more information to make better choices.
Healthy living does cost more. The truth is that organic food costs more, gym memberships are not cheap, and the gismos and gadgets to help boost health can be expensive. There are those that grow their own food, exercise outside the gym and without equipment, and manage to do it on a budget, but living healthier usually does cost more. The key here is to look at healthy living as an investment, not an expense. We’ve all heard the saying… pay now or pay later. It’s true. It costs far less to spend the money on a healthier lifestyle now than on treating a chronic illness later.
There is a time commitment. You have to figure out how you want to live, you have to lay out a plan, and you have to take action… all of which take time. Again, you will spend time now adopting healthier ways, or spend time later managing sickness and disease. I contend that the time needed to manage chronic illness is far greater than the time you’d put into living healthier. And you are already going to the grocery store, making meals, and eating, so in terms of food, substituting healthier eating choices could take no more time at all.
People often complain that a healthy lifestyle is just too hard. Being fit is hard… being obese is hard. Working on your relationship is hard… going through a divorce is hard. Being financially secure is hard… being financially strapped is hard. Being healthy is hard… being sick is hard. It’s all hard. We need to choose our hard. Struggling day in and day out with ongoing health problems is much, much harder than putting in the effort needed to be well.
We long believed that genes dictated our health. We now know that genes are merely the blueprint, but are not our destiny. Genes get turned on and turned off. You can have a bad gene that never gets turned on, and you can get conditions like cancer, Alzheimer’s, and struggle with obesity, yet have no genes relates to those issues. Less than 5% of all cancers are genetic. Less than 1% of all illness is genetic. Genes are turned on and off by your lifestyle choices. You can have bad genes and live a healthy life… and you can have great genes and be sick and miserable. I think it was Bruce Lipton who said… “Genes load the gun; your lifestyle pulls the trigger.”
And back to Mark… to say that all his efforts were a waste because he still had a heart attack… well… that’s a terrible argument. Yes, he had a heart attack, but he lived. Had he not been as strong and fit, he may have died. He may have had that heart attack ten years earlier had he not been so health conscious. His recovery was much better because of the healthy foundation he had built. And every day that anyone lives as a healthier human being, they live with more energy, better stamina, clearer thinking, a more positive attitude, and a better chance to experience more out of life.
We know that every single healthy choice you make is a positive deposit in your health account. The human body eventually breaks down, there are no guarantees in life, and we all will die one day. Healthy living isn’t about avoiding sickness and death, it’s about maximizing our ability to be the best version of ourselves while we are alive. There really is no argument against living a healthier lifestyle.