Why Should You Take Care of Yourself?

Recently my Aunt Inez has been diagnosed with breast cancer. It seems like she caught it in time but the fact that she got diagnosed with it is pretty frightening. Even though it was early she still has to go through chemotherapy, radiation and just had her last surgery which hopefully will take care of the last of the cancer. She never had any habits that would make you think she would get cancer one day like smoking, drinking or eating bad but there was one thing that she did that drove most of my family nuts. After she was done raising her kids she did NOTHING. Her days were watching soap operas and having her husband take her everywhere she needed to go because she never got her driver's license, she was too scared to learn how to drive. So basically twenty or more years after she was done raising kids and taking care of other people she stopped moving, did nothing all day and all night tv is/was her main activity which she does not want to give up. I'm not saying that sitting around all day and cleaning sometimes will give you cancer but the inactivity and marginal eating habits does not help. I mean a walk a day or some other activity would've done wonders for her, make her body stronger so she would be more able to fight the cancer and not be so weakened from the treatments. She's doing well thank goodness but with this last round of surgeries I kept thinking to myself "was there something she could have done when she was younger to prevent all this?" I mean there are many of us that have all these illnesses in our families and we are just genetically predisposed to getting them. But even with that that should not make us not want to take care of ourselves, be more active, eat better and make sure we have a long quality of life for as long as possible. I really hope that people close to me or that read my blog posts don't think that I'm preaching I just hope they really learn and understand the importance of taking care of their bodies because the consequences are not pretty. My father is suffering the consequences of not taking care of himself because now he struggles with diabetes, high blood pressure and all the joys with checking your blood sugar and making sure you eat on time. Believe me it's a pain and he hates it. There was a time that he tried to skip doing this and go back to his old habits of drinking and he had a seizure that showed the same symptoms of a stroke and that wasn't pretty either. Luckily his body was strong enough to come back but there could be that one fine day that he doesn't, especially if he tries to ignore the doctor and do what he wants to do when he wants to do it.

So how can this be done? What exactly can you do to better your health and quality of life? Well first off if you are stuck in a bad habit such as smoking, drinking, overeating, eating the wrong foods or anything along that path you have to ween yourself off these habits one day at a time. Especially with the smoking and drinking. When we're young and maybe going through a partying phase all we may do is smoke, drink, go to the bar, eat that fourth meal at Taco Bell and not think a thing of it. We're like "Hey I'm young and having fun" but believe me complications from eating and living like this will sneak up on you quicker than you would like. Just as a personal example I did the smoking and drinking thing for years and for years I didn't care. I never saw the physical results I might have been feeling them sometimes but of course this got ignored. After some time though the weight started piling on and I began to get those lectures from my doctor about my high blood pressure, high chloesterol risk for diabetes and I was considered obese!! I was only 26 hearing all this! I'm telling you hearing a death sentence is no walk in the park no matter what age you are or how invincible you think you are. After hearing my doctor say these words my mind did a 180 turn and I have never looked back. I mean look, when you are active with exercise, eating well and overall healthy habits you FEEL better, you have more energy and your outlook on life has a way more positive result. It has been said and proven that doing 30 minutes of cardio or any other workout will help with depression, I mean exercise and good nutrition can be a natural anti-depressant!

Knowing that people beat the crap out of their bodies with bad habits really does keep me up at night and sometimes you can say it until you're blue in the face but you have to be ready to give up habits and make a change and I totally get that it's hard but remember anything that is worth it and has a great payoff is never easy, just DON'T GIVE UP! I guess my rant today is about taking care of yourself for yourself and others. Your family and friends love you and of course want you around for a million years :-) If you find it hard getting motivated just keep this in mind: One day at a time, one pound at a time, one workout at a time and you will get there! Until next time..

Yours in Wellness...