There are people who put no stock in the Body Mass Index (BMI) as a measure of health, but even they would be hard pressed to consider someone in the morbidly obese category living any measure of a “healthy” lifestyle.
Over the past few months in examining my own lifestyle choices, the ones which placed me in that category, I’ve seen just how many options exist for people looking to live healthier lives and how easy it is to put them into action and gain real results.
Yet we live in a society where one in three people is obese, according to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention.
So where is the disconnect between these options and those in our society who, barring medical conditions that create special circumstances, are obese?
Speaking from personal experience I can’t help but believe it lies with each individual and the simplest tool we use to avoid just about anything in life: excuses.
Just going through a simple list of excuses I have used in the past for why I never pursued a healthier lifestyle seems to be echoed throughout our society. By all means, stop reading if you haven’t heard any of these before or used them yourself.
It costs too much to eat healthy. I don’t have the time to work out. No diet seems to work for me. Healthy food tastes disgusting. I can’t afford a gym membership.
I could fill an entire issue of The Pioneer just listing excuses like these, yet each one of them is utter nonsense when you take the time to deal with them at face value.
Cost an issue? Buy foods that are high in fiber to help give you a fuller feeling in your stomach and you will easily discover that you can buy less food to sustain you in a day, saving cost overall or balancing amount with the higher costs of some healthy foods.
No time to work out? Dozens of different exercise regimens are out there that focus specifically on intense workouts that take less than 15 minutes, including many that don’t require any equipment.
Have problems with diets or find “healthy” foods so disgusting you can’t stick to them? Multiple award winning resources, including the “Eat This, Not That” series from Men’s and Women’s Health Magazines point out things like, Big Macs, that actually fit into fitness plans that lead to healthier living.
Can’t afford gym memberships? See my earlier point about exercises out there that don’t require any equipment. No reason to have a gym membership if you can exercise in your own home.
While looking at the costs, consider what it means for you as an individual and our society as a whole to not work on living a healthier lifestyle: according to the CDC medical costs for those not at what is considered normal weight is approximately $1,429 more than for those at normal weight.
Any excuse you create can and has been countered by someone out there. Instead of wasting the time and energy to fight so hard in making more, fight harder to live healthier.