Why is it difficult to become healthy?

mkemler15

I am starting again for the billionth time. My cholesterol is a little elevated and my blood pressure is border line. I am happily married for 20 plus years with an 18-year-old son, a 16-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter. I want to live to see my grandchildren and be able to physically do things with them. I do not know why it has become so hard to do but I am changing as of today. My perspective on my life, my health and my self worth is going to be different. Hoping for some good people to go on this life changing journey with me.

nossmf

Being healthy is a matter of knowledge, patience, willpower and effort. It's kind of like the Force from Star Wars: the dark side (living unhealthy) is NOT more powerful than the light (living healthy), it's just quicker, easier, more seductive. How?

• Foods commonly referred to as "junk food" often have a lot of salt and sugar, two items which tie directly into the pleasure centers of the brain. This can literally make them addictive in nature.
• Unhealthy food is often cheaper than healthful options. Certainly not always, but often enough, especially if you're comparing against certified organic options.
• Unhealthy food is often available in the grocery store as prepackaged and ready-to-eat, compared to healthy recipes which the user has to assemble the ingredients. Less work, more convenience.
• Speaking of convenience, the invention of the drive thru has vastly increased the perceived availability of unhealthy food choices, as you don't have to cook a thing, nor even get out of your car. Just get off work, drive up to be handed ready-to-eat food, go home and veg in front of the TV.
• Technology has caused western culture to migrate towards instant gratification and convenience, further spurred by advertising promoting these same "goals."
• Finally, living healthfully requires effort. It's far easier to sit on a couch than to exercise. It's far easier to eat drive-thru and throw away the remains than to stand in a kitchen, chopping this, mixing that, stirring something else, trying to juggle multiple food items to all be done at the same time, then have to wash the dishes after. It's far easier to be spoon-fed advertising via commercials, billboards and flyers to eat fast food than it is to do research about proper nutrition, calorie content and whatnot. Stress from jobs, bills, dealing with rebellious teenagers, modern technological marvels (cars, computers, appliances) breaking down, fighting through traffic, lack of sleep...all can sap a person's level of energy and their will to put forth the effort. And then if you do manage to take the first step, it takes time, weeks and months and years, to see the effect of the changes you're making. When the internet can give you answers to any question in the world in seconds, and training montages from movies about athletes and superheroes show people getting in shape in just minutes, emails arriving instantly instead of letters in the mail taking days/weeks, microwaves nuking food in a fraction of the time it takes to bake...as a culture, we've lost the ability to wait.

Sorry if this makes it seem like living unhealthy is too powerful a force to overcome. I assure you, it's not. Technology has started to fight back, providing resources like MFP and the forums to both educate and encourage people taking the steps towards living a healthy life. I myself have gone from depressed, overweight, out-of-breath with blood pressure needing medicine, to swapping 60+ pounds of fat for 20+ pounds of muscle, rock solid blood pressure with a very positive outlook, all while juggling four teenagers and a high-stress job. And I'm far from the most impressive specimen in these forums in terms of physique, amount of body change or psychological rebound.

You're in the right place. Welcome to the family. If you're willing to put in the work, we can help with the rest.

cwolfman13

mkemler15 wrote: »

I am starting again for the billionth time. My cholesterol is a little elevated and my blood pressure is border line. I am happily married for 20 plus years with an 18-year-old son, a 16-year-old son and a 12-year-old daughter. I want to live to see my grandchildren and be able to physically do things with them. I do not know why it has become so hard to do but I am changing as of today. My perspective on my life, my health and my self worth is going to be different. Hoping for some good people to go on this life changing journey with me.

I don't know that it's necessarily hard, but a lot of people do complicate it all and make it unnecessarily hard for themselves. When health issues arise it can take some work to bring these conditions back to a place of good health because it usually involves losing weight, overhauling diet, and getting more active...but hard is relative, it's really mostly about time and patience.

Maintaining one's health once you have it isn't particularly difficult and is largely common sense IMO...eat a healthful diet (most of the time) and be active. That doesn't mean being on some super restrictive diet or crazy fitness regimen that is unsustainable. Most of the people I know who are of a normal weight and are fit and healthy just eat pretty well most of the time and they are just active in general. They go hiking or walk their dogs or go biking or whatever...a lot of it is just regular active recreation, not punishing workouts.

That said, I guess it is a bit harder than cruising through a drive-thru window and sitting on the couch...it does take some level of effort, but you don't have to punish yourself either. Advanced fitness and physique goals are another matter.