Important, But Not Urgent: Diet

Food for thought; your car is vital to the success of everyday operations, so, if there was a gas station that you knew had fuel that would lead to the long term demise of your vehicle… would you insist on using that fuel for the convenience? No, because you invested your time earned money into getting that vehicle that you cherish so much. Why do we do it with food, our bodies fuel source? Because we take our body for granted and put more care into things we invest in and work for. Do you invest in your body, your source of life?

There is no debate on what a healthy diet looks like! Fruits and vegetables, clean meats, complex carbohydrates, and healthy fats… So why is this such a challenge? In my own opinion I believe it largely stems from the food readily available for our on the go lifestyles (but there are healthy on the go options). In our country diet comes second to our never ending tasks of our daily lives. This is not going to change as a society, but you can change as an individual by seeing it differently.

A healthy diet falls under important, but not urgent (along with exercise). This means that it is something that holds tremendous value, but not focusing on it will not kill you. As we all know, you can eat whatever you want, really, and you will not die right away! You may start feeling differently if you have a clean diet and then one day switch to an all Whopper diet, BUT, if you work into it gradually the body learns to adapt and handle the fuel it is given. That is the wonder of our bodies, they will work with what we give them. But if I give you a nail and a screw driver asking you to hammer the nail into a tree, you would call me an idiot! (Or you would use the handle of the screw driver as a hammer and spend the next 30 minutes trying to make it happen.)

We have grown up in a society where we can eat these things and our bodies know how to handle them, but do we handle them well? The percentage of obesity is climbing, and the diseases and issues that come with obesity are numerous, heart disease, cancer, strokes, diabetes, and the list goes on! Obesity is a tell tale sign that something is wrong, but that doesn’t mean if you aren’t overweight you can consume garbage all the time. A clogged artery does not give you a warning until your left arm goes numb and you’re lowering yourself to the ground.

The next time you are about to consume a meal I challenge you to ask yourself this question: is this good for me, or do I want this because it tastes good? In 10 years, if you have a heart attack and find yourself in extremely poor health because you spent your meals at the fast food joints and pizza shops, will you be happy with your decisions because at the time they tasted good or were convenient?

When eating the things that aren’t good for us, we know its bad. We say it! “I know this isn’t good for me.” And we eat it, and it tastes good, and we laugh about it. But if that is how every meal of every day looks, it’s time to start making the right choice and saying “I know this is good for me, and my future self loves me for it”.

Ryan Sensenig