Editor's note: Americans may be living longer and even exercising a tad more, but they're not necessarily healthier, a study released Wednesday shows.
Myriad reasons exist: too much bad food, too little good food, a
sedentary lifestyle, smoking, drinking and just plain living in the
wrong area of the country. Yahoo asked readers: What is your biggest
obstacle in the way of a healthier you? Here's one response.
Tell us in the comments about your biggest health hurdle.
FIRST PERSON |
I think it's a pretty common thing for people to blame their drinking
on a lack of social options. But being from Peoria, Ill., it's hard for
me to really empathize with those people -- unless they're also from
somewhere in central Illinois.
On a typical Saturday night, what
should be the pinnacle of a person's weekly social interaction, I have
one of two options: go to a movie or drink (alcohol). Unfortunately, I
find both activities equally enjoyable, so whenever I'm not simply
drinking, I'm drinking at a movie theater. Of course, you're probably
thinking, "Well, that sounds pretty awesome;" and it is. But such
awesomeness sadly comes with a consequence: bad health.
Alcohol is
unarguably bad for you. It fattens you up, riddles your organs with all
kinds of nasty things, hinders your memory -- I think -- increases your
chances for a whole host of terrible diseases. As I'm writing this, I'm
wondering how the stuff is legal. It's really just a bad substance.
Now, as I'm sure many of you are now saying to yourself, some alcohol,
when imbibed in moderation, isn't so bad and can even have a few
positive effects. For me, however, that's impossible. You see, I have no
self-control.
Greasy pizza, chocolate bars, those long strings of
cherry-flavored taffy, doughnuts and pretty much every flavor and brand
of small cheesy crackers -- my mouth is actually watering -- if
any
of these foods are placed in front of me, or within a reasonable
radius, I will devour them in the most literal sense of the word. I will
eat every crumb, empty every package, no junk food is beyond me so long
as it's not actually beyond me. I remember as a kid my parents would
occasionally bring home a box of these tube-like chocolate cakes filled
with swirls of pure white cream… um… I'm sorry, what was I saying? Oh,
yes. So my parents would bring these cakes home, and at night I would
slip out of my room and creep into the kitchen -- I, of course, had
memorized exactly where my mother had "hidden" them -- and inhale the
entire box as quickly as I think is possible for a boy of 13.
Thankfully,
I had this high-octane metabolism that kept me thin throughout my more
formative years. But as I've gotten older -- I'm 25 now -- I've started
noticing the candy and pizza lingering in my mid-section a bit longer,
staring at me in the mirror… mocking me. A few years back I picked up
running and became a vegetarian to help reign in the excess, and it's
worked to an extent, but I fear it's only a matter of time before it all
catches up with me.
(From Yahoo News)