Are We Really Healthy?
What is healthy?
In today’s world I am always confronted by one single nagging question that no one seems to be able or willing to answer. The question is how do you define healthy? Now according to the personal training manuals there are all manners of definitions and categories for fitness, cardiovascular/respiratory endurance, stamina, strength, flexibility, power, coordination, agility, balance, and accuracy to name a few, but not really that much on what it means to be healthy.
From my point of view, the majority of individuals that society holds up as in good health, are really only alive thanks to the wonders of modern technology, and I think that this is a real problem for us as a people- confronting that fact that without the medical strides made over the past two centuries, most of us wouldn’t be here.
A sobering thought, yes, but one that we need to look at if we are really going to be able to improve the ever worsening health crisis here in the United States. Think about it for a second, the typical man or woman today here in the U.S. has probably had their tonsils removed at an early age. Not too uncommon an occurrence and I am sure that many of you have had this routine procedure done when you were younger. Growing up, the typical man or woman has also had their wisdom teeth taken out, and teeth straightened with braces. More dental work is common as well as the average American has a several fillings in his or her mouth by the time they are in their twenties as well as several root canals as time goes on. Nothing at all out of the ordinary for most people in this day and age.
The average person today as well is almost always in a state of stress where he or she feels depressed very often and wishes that they had more energy in general. Back pain and headaches are all common occurrences as well and are chalked up as being just another part of what happens to a person during the course of their life. For a woman, osteoporosis is another part of getting older, as are fibroids, whereas for men, prostate cancer and hernia operations are the norm. All sexes suffer from cardiovascular disease and problems with blood sugar as they get older and of course most are far above their ideal weight by their mid thirties.
Looking at the family history of the average man or woman in the developed world, there are even more norms. Most have siblings or parents that died from cancer or heart disease before the age of 40, and many either suffer from allergies, or have family members that are crippled several times a year by seasonal allergens. A large number of women as well have had children born via Cesarean section, and more and more children today are in need of special education due to the increased incidence of hyperactive and learning disabled children.
This profile can describe a man or woman that has six pack abs, is built like a Greek sculpture and works out religiously or an overweight man or woman that eats foods that they really shouldn’t and spends more time in front of a television set or computer screen than they should. It doesn’t make a difference really because neither of them are healthy.
They can’t be. You see the technology we have today creates the illusion of health, but not the reality that without modern medical interventions used to remove tonsils, fix teeth, help with childbirth, our typical man or woman would be a toothless, childless cripple- or perhaps would not have even survived to adulthood!
We can access computers that give us instant information about just about anything and talk on cell phones to people on the other side of the world but for all our technological prowess, we still can’t cure diseases like cancer. The remedies that we cling to for ailments like depression, fatigue and allergies serve to lessen the severity of the symptoms at best, while creating a series of other problems. In an age where there is a solution for everything, there is no real solution to the current health crisis, only a blanket that creates the appearance that all is well. Perhaps it is time to admit that conventional wisdom on health is questionable at best, and that the real solutions lie outside of the box.
Kevin Richardson is a vsionary NYC Personal Trainer and the founder of the Naturally Intense System of Diet & Exercise™- a new way of looking at health and fitness. Get your copy of his free weight loss ebook here!
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