Originally posted by: Syringer
I've been thinking..and I consider myself to pretty somewhat healthy..I don't smoke, drink, and I usually avoid junk food. But what for? How independent will you be at that age? So really, why stay healthy all the time? Why deny the pleasures of eating junk and laying on the couch all day getting fat? Is life really worth living past 80, 90?
My thoughts:
Mind. You are as old as you say you are. I know many people who have declared themselves "too old for that". For example, my mother-in-law who decided at age 40 that she is "too old" to do just about anything. Go watch your kids perform? Nope she is "too old" to sit in a stadium. Go to a park for fun? Nope she is "too old". Do anything at all outside the house? Nope, again she is "too old". So basically for the last 9 years she has not been at all independent. Basically she is a couch potato for life. On the other hand my wife teaches ballroom dancing and one of her students recently turned 89. He can do fast dancing all night long without ever worrying if he is "too old" for that. It is amazing watching little old ladies with that grey ball of hair walking into the ballroom with a cane, then leaving the cane at the table and dancing the most graceful waltz you've ever seen. Are they in perfect health? No. But they are still independent because they are determined to be independent.
Body. You stay healthy so that you will be independent longer than you would otherwise. Yes our body will eventually give out on us. But do you want to be independent until the age 60 or the age 80? That is why you stay healthy. Don't think of it as living longer - you might be hit by a car at the age of 70 and die. But you stay healthy so that you are independent all the way up until that car crash.
Your body can take a lot more abuse than you think. Do everything in moderation. Don't avoid drinking just to be healthy. In fact doing so will harm your health. It is more healthy to have 1 drink a day than to abstain (alcohol is a slight blood thinner so it reduces heart problems). So if you want to have fun, drink a beer or have a glass of wine. Just be happy and you will likely be living healthy anyways. If you crave junk food, give yourself a bite. Eat a well balanced meal, and you won't harm yourself in any way by giving yourself those treats. There are lots of body benefits of getting a little fat, a little sugar, or a little alcohol when you crave it. Just do it in moderation (only when you crave it not as a staple in your diet).
Notice I didn't say to smoke in the above paragraph - since there are no benefits at all to smoking.
Money. If you don't care about living longer at least do these things for money. Smoking $5 away each day isn't very unusual. Thus for abstaining for smoking for the next 10 years you might save yourself $5*365.24*20 = $13262. Add in the cheaper insurance costs and you are well above $15,000. I won't even get into the possible medical costs. You can justify not going out and drinking heavilly for the money. A typical night out can easilly run $30 for drinks alone. Lets say you bought pop instead for $3 and you went out once a week. In 10 years that saves you $14,040. In both cases that is almost a free car every 10 years... In addition to money, there are many other non-health reasons to live healthy (but I'm too lazy to keep typing).
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