I started taking steps to optimize my health when I was 11. I know that sounds a little nuts, but, that was how old I was when my Dad died from a heart attack. It was his fourth one. At age 56. From that day until now, I've sought out information that could help me avoid the same destiny. You may not have the same motivation, but I still think there are reasons to take preventive measures to reduce your risk of chronic disease.
These days, so many people suffer from what the health community refers to as "preventable lifestyle diseases" including heart disease, cancer, diabetes, stroke and arthritis (among others). If they are preventable, why don't people take steps to prevent them? The reasons are complex and understandable, but not unsurmountable. Let's get into it.
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The Reasons We Don't Prioritize Health
Lack of Immediate Consequences
- Delayed Effects: Many health issues, such as heart disease or diabetes, develop slowly over decades. The absence of immediate consequences for unhealthy habits, like poor diet or inactivity, can lead you to underestimate the risks.
- Perception of Invincibility: If you're younger, you may feel immune to health problems because you don't currently see or feel the immediate effects of your health choices.
- When You're Healthy, It's Easy to Forget: If you feel feel healthy, you might not actively think about what it takes to maintain your health...until you experience illness or injury.
Focus on Short-Term Priorities
- Busy Lifestyles: Most of us prioritize work, family, and other day-to-day obligations over health, assuming that our bodies will support us as they usually do.
- Instant Gratification: Unhealthy choices, like eating junk food or skipping workouts, offer immediate comfort or pleasure, while the benefits of healthy habits require consistency, effort and time.
Lack of Awareness or Knowledge
- What it Means to be Healthy: We're all busy pursuing our lives. You may not have had a good reason to take the time to learn how your habits could affect your long-term health.
- Health Messaging: The media, food politics, the government, and published scientific research provide conflicting messages about health and wellness that can lead to confusion and inaction.
Social Norms in Your Circle
- Peer Influence: Maybe you just go along with the habits of your social group without considering the health consequences.
- It can be extremely hard to integrate healthier habits if your family, friends or work colleagues don't see their value. Believe me, I brought healthy meals for lunch to work with me for a long time and people always made fun of me. It was not fun, but I felt strongly about it so I decided to stick to it and then search for people who recognized their value. I encourage you to do the same.
Overconfidence in Modern Medicine
- Reliance on Treatments: Advances in medical technology and treatments may present a false sense of security, leading you to believe that health issues can always be fixed later.
Psychological Barriers
- Denial or Avoidance: Maybe you avoid thinking about or taking action on your health because confronting potential risks can be overwhelming or anxiety-inducing.
- Optimism Bias: Or, maybe you just believe bad things won’t happen to you.
Cultural and Systemic Influences
- Fast-Paced Culture: Our "on-the-go" lifestyle often prioritizes convenience over health, making fast, packaged and ultra-processed food uber accessible.
- Healthcare System: The U.S. healthcare system focuses more on treatment than prevention, which can lead to a reactive rather than proactive approach to health.
Start with Your Mindset
If you identify with some of the reasons above, what actions should you take? Maybe the first is to address your mindset. If you address the way you think about health, you can become more proactive in valuing and maintaining it.
- Education: Increase your awareness about the benefits of preventive care and healthy habits. I write articles on many topics here and provide attributed sources including published research, well-regarded books, and online resources for exactly this purpose.
- Mindfulness: Listen to your body and recognize the value of good health. Honestly, I think being in sync with your body is such a gamechanger. So often, work, eat and sleep based on the time and not on how we feel. I know we can't make that go away completely, but knowing when you're hungry and when you're not is so important to balance your energy, weight, and mood.
- Social Support: Surround yourself with people who recognize your value and create an environment where healthy behaviors are normalized and celebrated. I swim with a bunch of people who love putting in the work and living a high energy lifestyle. It's definitely contagious.
- Accessible Resources: This web site is my effort to provide you with the tools and knowledge to make healthier choices.
Take Action to Optimize Your Health
Here are the steps I took when I started my Eat All the Colors journey.
- Eat Better and Eat All the Colors
- I reduced my consumption of processed and ultra-processed foods, artificial flavors, artificial sweeteners, sugar, and unhealthy fats.
- Then, I aimed for an overall healthy eating pattern that included whole foods, lots of fruits and vegetables, nuts, seeds, and lean proteins like beans.
- Feed Your Microbiome
- Research consistently indicates that a diverse microbiota, particularly in the gut, is strongly associated with better overall health.
- Eat a diet rich in fiber and fermented foods to promote microbial diversity.
- Be More Active
- Physical activity is one of the most important things you can do for your health.
- I swim and cycle a few times per week and lift weights a few times. I love the physical results, but the biggest benefit is that it keeps me in balance and clear-headed.
- The Centers for Disease Control (CDC) recommends 30 minutes per day of moderate-intensity activity five times per week and muscle strengthening activity twice per week.
- Quit Tobacco
- According to the American Heart Association, the use of inhaled nicotine delivery products, which includes traditional cigarettes, e-cigarettes and vaping, is the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S., including about a third of all deaths from heart disease.
- Get Enough Quality Sleep
- Adequate sleep promotes healing, improves brain function and reduces the risk for chronic diseases including healing and repairing cells, tissues and blood vessels; strengthening your immune system; improving your mood and energy; improving brain function which helps alertness, decision-making, focus, learning, memory, reasoning and problem-solving; and reducing your risk of chronic disease.
- When you get your eating and your exercise right, your sleep will improve.
- Manage Your Weight
- Being at a healthy weight can help you reduce your risk of chronic disease and the many of the precursors including lowering your cholesterol and blood sugar levels, lowering blood pressure, putting less strain on bones and joints, and making less work for the heart.
- Control Cholesterol
- High levels of non-HDL cholesterol can lead to heart disease.
- You can control it by following the recommendations on this list, especially those about eating healthier (#1), moving more (#2), knowing your fats (#1), and eliminating nicotine (#3).
- Introduce Balance between Work and Health:
- Our culture can push us to prioritize work over health, leading to burnout, inadequate sleep, and stress-related illnesses.
- Be mindful and check-in with yourself so you know when you need to disconnect. Then, take the time to enjoy activities like exercise, time with family and friends, getting quality sleep, or even taking extra time to shop for and prepare healthy meals.
Conclusions
While some may take health for granted due to lifestyle, social norms, environment, or other issues, I hope you can appreciate how important it is to maintain good health, no matter how young you are or how amazing you feel. You never really know the challenges you'll face in life. Being healthy gives you the best advantage you can have to manage obstacles should they confront you in the future.
The principles of self-care are simple. Eat all the colors. Move more. Sleep enough. Those are the basics. Build from there.
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