Wise Words of the Day: Cure

Prevention is better than a cure. ~ Unknown

1948; Image courtesy of Paul Malon on Flickr.com

I can tell that I wasn’t doing a good job of taking care of myself during the two months when I was living out of a suitcase.  I was eating cruddy “faux food” from a box for dinner and buying my lunches (and, sometimes, breakfast, too).  I did not exercise regularly.  And I started feeling like a slug and couldn’t concentrate.

A good number of health problems are preventable.  But we make excuses (myself included) about why we can’t eat right, exercise, and get enough sleep.  The argument that it is too expensive to eat right is really a straw man.*  Medical bills to cure illness cost a whole lot more than fruits and vegetables! If you’re having to fork out even $50 for a copay to see the doctor so you can get an antibiotic, have you really saved any money in the long run?

During World War II, being healthy was considered patriotic.  We couldn’t help with the war effort if we were sick.  Nurses and home economists taught homemakers how to prevent illness and provide nutritious meals.  We ate the foods we grew in our Victory Gardens.

Now…we are bombarded with commercials celebrating unhealthy behaviors followed by advertisements for expensive pills that will cure everything (including a man’s inability to throw a football through a tire hanging from a tree…).

Now that I’m not living out of a suitcase anymore and things are starting to settle down for us, I’ve been making a concerted effort to eat my “5 a Day” and I’m feeling much better.

Now I need to be more consistent about exercising, too….

*Edited to Add: I want to clarify that I understand that for too many Americans, being able to buy healthy, nutritious food is a struggle either because of extremely tight budgets or lack of access to grocery stores.  In this post, I’m talking about the rest of us who are fortunate enough to have access to healthy foods but still choose unhealthy options.