Health is a right – How do you achieve it?

Everyone deserves to be healthy.

Why isn't everyone healthy?  Apart from genetics and some environmental conditions, there is no reason why everyone can't have great health.

I am not a doctor, dietician or nutritionist but I have lived for a long time.

I don't suffer from any arthritic conditions or joint pain of any sort.  I rarely pull a muscle.  I don't get cramps.

So how is this possible?

We live in a fast-changing world.  We are bombarded by so much advertising about what is good for us and what is bad for us that often we don't know which way to turn.  The worst thing is, in the end, we don't care!

Then there are your ‘good health doctors' the ones who have moved away from traditional medicine and started peddling their own wares – snake oil.

But having said that, I totally agree with natural remedies as opposed to chemical concoctions which have innumerable side-effects.

Are the ‘healthy' versions of supplements better than the ‘chemical' versions?

There are pros and cons with everything.  But what I find is that most ‘health' doctors work the same as their counterparts.  In that, when they find something good they then tell you 100 times is better.

So if berries are good for you then having a bucket load will be better.

We are trying to find things to combat our unhealthy lifestyle so we can continue living an unhealthy life?

It doesn't seem right.

So what health doctors do is take the good things out of fruit and vegetables and put them in a pill.  You know why?  Because to get the effect they are saying which will make us healthier and lead longer lives we need a hundred times what nature can provide us.

This seems a bit excessive! (yes, I know 100 may not be the number but you get where I am going with this)  Why is it when we find something good more is better.  As if ‘good' is not ‘good' enough?

7 Minute Exercises

Now we have exercises that if we do them for 7 minutes will give us the same benefits as working out for  1 hour.

Are we all really that lazy?  Do we just want the quick fix?  Of course, we do, but at what price?

I am very dubious about that.  Probably in 5 years time, they will say that this is not healthy and now they have a 5-minute exercise regime which will be the same as working out for 2 hours.

I think that all these quick solutions are so we can be lazy.  Doing a full hour of exercise, in my opinion, is far better than a 7-minute kill-yourself exercise.

It reminds me of the ‘no-pain-no-gain' exercise of the past which hurt so many people and created complications later on in their lives.

Moderation in everything.

Then we hear be frugal or moderate in everything you do.  How confusing can it get?

On the one hand, take clinical strength multi-vitamins with high boosters, work like a maniac for 7 minutes and then be moderate.

There seems to be something wrong with this logic.  I can't quite put my finger on it.

So this is what I did.

I was 30kgs (66 pounds) overweight, which has been with me for the last 15 years and decided to try and lose this weight to the best of my abilities.

Diets haven't worked for me in the past because I couldn't stick to such a rigid regime.

I took up running.  What I hear you ask?!  GASP!  I know, not the wisest decision but hear me out.  It started out as a shuffle and seriously could not be called running but it was faster than walking casually.

I managed a 7-kilometre run (just a bit more than 4 miles) once a week without changing my diet.  Of course, this was not helping me lose weight but it was getting my body moving again and because it is aerobic it was energising my body with oxygen.  Probably revitalising my organs.

As time went on I found that quite naturally my diet changed.  I wanted more nutritious food.  I started eating more organic food.  I know it is expensive.  But if more people would buy organic it would be cheaper and 1,000 times better than the chemically grown food we currently eat (my opinion of course).

Where I am at now.

I lost 15kgs (33 pounds) after approx 7 months and am loving it.  I know I still have until the end of this year before I lose the rest.

I will continue.  My biggest problem will be working out a routine I can adhere to once I have lost the weight.  I certainly don't want to gain it again.

Health is a lifelong goal.  We need to focus on it in our entire lives or it will get away from us.

As we get older we tend to get more lazy with our health.  But this is the time when we should focus on it more.

I hope you take something away from this for your own life.

How are you doing with your health goals?  Do you agree with what I have said here?  Has this been your experience?  Please let me know.