8 Best Reasons To Be Healthy

Health is not the absence of "known" diseases. It is the ability to do things that our body is supposed to be doing such as being able to walk uphill without experiencing heavy breathlessness, climb a tree without knees shaking, run a kilometer with ease, among other things.

Health is something that most people neglect and don't pay attention to, or to be dealt with later on in life. Some people justify health as a personal choice. The lines, "It's my own body I can do anything with it" or "It's my body, it's my money, what do you care?" are just two of them.

And both are wrong!

So why should we aim for health? We all going to die one way or another anyway, so why bother to take care of our health?

Here's why.

I remember a segment in "Fat, Sick, And Nearly Dead" documentary film when Joe Cross, the one who stars in that film, interviews three diners: a dad, his son, and an uncle (I think). The uncle and the dad have health issues -they're obese. Although the uncle seems interested in what Joe is doing, the dad who already had previous operation (a heart bypass, if I am not mistaken), on the other hand, is ready to undergo another bypass if needed and he is certainly fine to live till 55. Fifty-five? And he has 6 children!

Can you imagine how irresponsible that statement is? When you decide to bring children into this world, you have a lifetime obligation to take care of them or at least a lifetime to guide them because, yeah, as parents, you are supposed to know many things when it comes to dealing with life. Your children, if not your own self, are supposed to be the best reason for you to stay healthy. They didn't ask you to bring them, you know. You made them happen. You chose them to be here, and that is something you are responsible for.

You have to be healthy for them, too. Family worries, with or without basis. It's a fact. They need to see and feel that you are safe. And health is something that is really on your hand. Don't become a burden to them. They may try to hide it but when you are sick or confined in a hospital, this disrupts their usual daily routine. Don't become a someone to be worried about or even an expense to your family. Illnesses can be expensive and yes, some "family" think you are an expense, especially when you are bringing in hospital bills after bills after bills after bills).

It doesn't need to be like that though. We now know more about health than 10, 20 years ago. Most chronic diseases are preventable, especially obesity that can lead to various illnesses. We just need to do the prevention ourselves by eating the right food.

"Who will take care of you if you don't marry or don't have kids?" I will! I will take of myself is the best answer and the best reason to go even healthier. We don't live with friends or family members with the intention of having someone to take care of us when something bad happens. It's the most selfish reason to be with or have people around. Everybody has to take care of his or her own health.

Not many realize this, but taking care of your own health is the greatest help you can extend towards your family or friends.

Popping pills is expensive and very inconvenient. Imagine yourself awakened by a 4 am alarm bell because it's medicine time. You don't really want that! You don't want to spend your waking ours popping 4-5 pills at a time 4-5 times a day. You don't want to spend much of your savings or your family's savings in colorful, varied shaped, tasteless tablets and capsules. It's not worth it, especially because you don't need to get to that stage. You don't need to develop any diseases that are preventable and in your control.

But if you already are in that stage, take responsibility now. Try plant-based diet which is proven to reverse many chronic illnesses due to diet and lifestyle. Don't forget to match this with exercise. Nutritionfacts.org talks about varied health issues and offers scientific information regarding health.

Many overweight and obese people are in this situation -a point of no return. For some who finally realized that they have better things to do in their life rather than just sit and eat, they find it really tough to lose weight and be healthy again. But with determination, proper motivation, and discipline on a plant-based diet, many ended up successful. And it's an achievement.

Whether it's a trip around the world, a cabin in the woods, a thousand acres of land, a promising career, a supportive family, a vacation home near a lake, an invention that could revolutionize the world, or just a happy, pleasant, and stressless day-to-day living, health makes all these happen. Health is the foundation of everything. It keeps us moving to pursue the things we are passionate about. So go ahead, be healthy. Only then you can accomplish the things you want and at the same time, have the energy to enjoy what you have accomplished. What's the point of achieving "big" if you are too sick, too weak to enjoy it?

Phamarceutical companies are a multi-million dollar business. You, who are sick, are really giving them a favor without even asking for it. Private hospitals and private-operating doctors are making huge income, too, not only from consultation fee but also from drugs and tests they prescribed. Government doctors (not all) are on similar route, too. They can write medicines which are not available for free (government subsidy) or they can include one or two medicines that neither do you harm nor good. And although some drugs may be required or necessary, many are useless with detrimental side-effects on your body and the environment. Why subject yourself to such trouble when really, it doesn't need to be. Take control of the the kind of food you are eating. Learn to know the right food. Study nutrition. This way, it's not the doctors nor the hospitals that get rich but you, your knowledge. And to possess knowledge is nothing richer than that.

Here's a MedScape link to just have a look at how much money there is in drugs.

Yes, you love yourself. And loving is synonymous with keeping yourself healthy. You can't let yourself be harrassed by anxiety, stress, or sickness and diseases and still claim you love yourself. That's not how it works. Many people treat themselves through eating because they got promoted or something great happened to them. There's no problem with that. The problem comes in when what you are eating is not going to treat yourself healthily.

You see, our body is fragile. Feed it with the wrong fuel and though it will work for a while it will eventually stop working. Feed it with the right fuel and you'll see how it runs. You will feel good about yourself, too. You feel happier and more content.

So why bother about taking care of our health? Because that's the most responsible thing to do, for ourselves, for the people we love, and, in the end, for our environment as a whole.

And though death is inevitable, it is a fact that all of us have to accept, overcome, face, and wait with the knowledge that that is where we all are headed and it doesn't need to be painful, burdernsome, early, and tragic. No, not all!

Health is wealth! It's an adage as old as mankind and will stay as a wise-man's line.