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21:05 September 06, 2008 | All news from "Fitness & Exercise" 3 things [Chocolate Runner's Blog]This is not a meme. Its just a small piece of philosophy that I’ve had for a long time. I’m sure I’ve told it to people I know, so here it is in written form. There are lots of things in your life that are important to keep you healthy and happy. Some you can control and some you can’t. You can avoid smoking, you can eat organic food, you can wear your seat belt, you can move to someplace other than next to a toxic waste landfill, etc. Among all these things, there are three that top the list for me. Three things which I feel are very much in my control and which I do everything I can to make sure that they are the best I can do with regard to them. Here they are in random order: Water Our bodies are made up mostly of water (by weight, no matter what the scale tells you). I know there is an exact number out there (somewhere between 70 and 90%), but the point is that we are mostly water. The water isn’t just sitting in a big sealed container inside us. It is circulating, being excreted, reacting with food to make energy, and lots of other biological things far too boring to mention here. The water comes in and the water goes out, in and through every cell of our bodies. With all this water constantly being brought in an exchanging with the other water in our body, it is absolutely critcal to have clean water, because pollutants and toxins and chemicals that are dissolved in the water, do not stay with the water they came in with, waiting patiently to be harmlessly excreted. No, they go off in search of organs to poison, cells to damage, and fat tissue to hide in until the right moment. Some do get removed eventually, and some never leave, ever. For this reason, clean water is one of the three things that I put on my 3-thing list. Your water should be as clean and pure as you can possibly get it. For me, I use double filters for my water at home. I may sometimes drink bottled water. I will NOT drink water at a drinking fountain in a factory. In the US, clean water is readily available and chemicals can be filtered from it very cheaply, so make sure you are drinking clean water because you are what you drink. Bed Roughly a third of your life as a water-filled organism is spent sleeping. We can’t go very long without sleeping before our brain tries to kill us. I once when 52 hours without sleep and I fried part of my brain. I had visual and auditory hallucinations, and went through some very strange mood swings. Your brain needs sleep to survive. For the most part, people here sleep in beds. Most beds I have seen have a mattress. The mattress is the most important part of the bed. Bad mattress = bad sleep. Bad sleep = brain disintegration. If you are going to spend a full 1/3 of your life lying on something, it had better be something damn good. I buy the biggest, best mattress that I can. I want my mattress to be perfect so that my sleep is the best it can be. Its a third of my life after all. If I spend $2000 on my mattress set, it might seem like a lot of money, but amortized over a 10 year life of a mattress set, and that’s $200/year, less than a dollar a day. Not so bad. You spend more than than on cable TV, and you don’t spend half the time in front of the time that you do sleeping (one would hope). Shoes When your soggy body is isn’t sleeping, its up on its feet walking around (well, alot of times anyway). The full weight of that giant sack of water bears down on those feet. Now runners certainly appreciate the importance of good running shoes, but everyday shoes are also important. You probably walk a couple miles a day in your “regular” shoes, and what those shoes do to your feet is just as important as what your running shoes do. For children, shoes are especially critical. Barefoot is really best, but you can’t go barefoot to church or the store, so you have to compromise. Their feet are growing, and if you are going to stuff those growing feet into shoes, how the shoes fit them is very important because it can impact how their feet grow. I know that kids go through shoes like Dixie cups, but when those shoes get worn out, their feet are then constantly walking or running on some really messed up soles. I buy the most comfortable shoes for my feet, regardless of price. I may try on two dozen pairs before I find one that is perfect. I wouldn’t buy running shoes that didn’t fit perfectly, and so there is no reason to wear bad shoes the rest of the day either. If I am going to strap those things around my feet, They need to treat my feet with respect. I can’t become crippled and injured to save a few bucks on shoes. Again, if the shoes cost (eek!) $200, and they last me a year, that’s less than $1 a day for shoes. Again, not too bad, especially if you work in an office and those shoes actually last longer than a year. So there they are, the three most important things to spend very good money on when you buy them. My personal feeling is that there isn’t much that is more criticial and which you have as much control over. Feel free to pass this along to everyone you know and allow it to turn into some giant viral email chain that ends up on Snopes. Just remember you heard it here first. Disclaimer The author is not a licensed physician or an attorney. The preceding is strictly the author’s personal opinion and in no way, shape, or form constitutes medical advice, legal counsel, or actual fact. No way, no how. Author assumes no responsibility for any action taken by an individual based on the above opinion, even when the action results in extreme financial loss, severe bodily injury, and/or traumatic public humiliation. Readers are advised to seek the advise of a physician before make any changes to their diet, lifestyle, wardrobe, or home decor. Do not stand forward of the white line while bus is in motion. Close cover before striking. Original source: http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/chocolate-runners-blog/~3/385412722/ Latest Related Titles in Subcategories of "healthy living" section |
