It's Cool To Be Healthy Again!

Remember when it was cool to complain how crazy hung over you are and how wasted you got last night? Do you have fuzzy memories of waking up with McDonald's wrappers scattered around your bed and you can't quite remember what all happened? Remember a time when you would call your BFF and see if the two of you could piece together last night's debaucherous events? That was probably around high school or college for most of us.

But, habits begun as some fun and a way of getting around a little social awkwardness (ok maybe a Lot of social awkwardness) have a way of continuing. It's easy to slip into a late 20s to 40-something who still finds lots of disposable income ending up in bars and junk food. Sometimes it's fun, maybe. But mostly unhealthy habits just create additional hurdles. We're required to work doubly hard just to undo whatever happened during those fuzzy hours. Really it's not that cool. What's cool is having fun without creating a heap of difficulties that we have to carry around and work hard to undo. What's cool is being healthy! It definitely makes getting older and moving beyond those college years a lot more fun.

A shift happens when you decide to be healthy. You start to feel really good. You go from wanting not to deal, to actually wanting to deal with life, future, goals, your past, and your relationships. Maybe having a great body motivates you. The good news is a great body goes along with living healthy. Our bodies are all great! We just sometimes need to remember that taking care of ourselves is actually more fun than some of those other habits.

Take alcohol as an example. It attacks the liver first when broken down. Your body can't use it for energy right away, so it ends up stored as fat in the cellular lymph. Alcohol is considered a threefold factor in creating cellulite because it attacks three basic defenses of our bodies all at once: digestive, nervous and kidney. And how about those "beer bellies" - just a matter of a few extra alcohol calories stored as fat? Not exactly. Calories in-calories out isn't the whole story here. Rather, the main effect of alcohol is to reduce the amount of fat your body burns for energy. Alcohol gets converted into acetate, which stops fat loss.

A study from the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition gave eight men 2 drinks of vodka and sugar-free lemonade separated by 30 minutes. Each drink contained just under 90 calories. Fat metabolism was measured before and after consumption of the drink. For several hours after drinking the vodka, whole body lipid oxidation (a measure of how much fat your body is burning) dropped by a massive 73%.

Your body uses whatever you feed it. If you feed it alcohol, your body will burn the acetate before the fat. That means a lot more hours in the gym or on the yoga mat before you are even chipping away at anything. If you've ever been at the gym beside someone who was drinking the night before you can smell the alcohol sweating out of them. Pretty nasty, isn't it?

You may be thinking, "I work hard and have my life together. I like to unwind on the weekends and get a little wasted. So what's wrong with that?" Nothing's wrong with that. Do what you want and what makes you happy. But also spend a little time looking at habits that add a big weight you get stuck carrying around. Why are we so wound up in the first place that make us need to drink so much? It's a good place to start. It can help sometimes with letting go of the old habits.

Thankfully it's cool now to be healthy. Organic shopping, cooking at home and with friends, yoga, hiking, walking, biking are all activities that awesomely cool people do. It's not cool to complain too much about life, job, weight and overall happiness. We all know there is plenty available to do about it. Get to a yoga class, go for a run, ride your bike, eat healthy foods. When you live healthy you feel great - both while you're doing it and the next morning too. You stop fighting against yourself. You have all the tools you need to shape your life how you want it to be.

Comments

[MrMostly]

Corporations for liquor and tobacco companies work hard to embed in our young people the concepts that it is cool to be drunk and it is cool to smoke. When you see young teens parading around the mall with bud lite tee shirts, you can see the sucess of this campaign. It is simply wrong headed to believe that this is simply a rite of passage into adulthood. A significant portion of those young people who fall into this lifestyle are addicted and die.
In reality, it is corporate child abuse.

[Acleacius]

Anyone interested in healthy living, keep a look out for the new documentary about our food, called Food, Inc., with initial release in larger cities in mid June, iirc.

[Littleguylobby]

My perfect night is drinking a case of Bud Light, since light beer is much better for me. And I don't eat the regular chips, I eat a couple of bags of the low fat potato chips.

Then, I smoke some organic weed and when I get the munchies bad, go out and get one of those low fat subway foot longs with a diet coke to wash it down.

But in the morning, I admit, I pig out at Dennys with the grand slam breakfast and about a pot of coffee.

But that gets me ready to start drinking again before noon, but not before I have a pint of the Ben and Jerrys Cherry Garcia ice cream ) Its all natural so I am doing my body good.

I love getting Life on HIgh. And eating good and healthy is part of a healthy lifestyle.

Bong Hits for Jesus!

[jsingleton361]

you, sir, are hilarious.

[kapalabhati]

I hear ya. I remember the first wedding I went to after I became pregnant (literally! I remember it!!) The morning after, everyone crawled into the hotel dining room dying of dehydration, and I felt like a million bucks! I still tie one on now and again. You only live once. Moderation. (Yeah, I know, using the terms "tie one on" and "moderation" in the same post does have its share of irony!)

[BelGazou]

I wish someone would tell the alcoholics­-in-traini­ng yuppies in my nabe. I know when the bars have closed for the night when I hear them noisily clambering up the stairs 4-5 nights a week.

[Katie5]

Yeah..I agree.Being big, used to be a status symbol, like, "Oh my family is loaded and I can eat whatever I want, whereever I want!". The opposite is the case now and it is heartfelt, when I say thank you Jesus.

[Mnemanth]

I remember how cool it was to brag about a hangover. I think I was 16. Since then…not so much. I’m betting every generation has experienced the same maturing process, and this is hardly anything new.

[joebaggadonuts]

It's cool because it's cheaper and leads to a more sustainable civilization. If you want to participate in it, you need to be healthy.

[Marnieblue]

I don't know where you shop but buying organic is not cheaper.

And who cares what is cool?

[JiveTurkeyOnRye]

I shop at Trader Joes so actually it is cheaper. I usually save at least $10 or more than when I shop at big grocery stores, organic foods or not.

[Moshe]

Growing organic is practically free. And it's great exercise.

[Moshe]

Well said Joe. Health is our greatest wealth as individuals and as a nation.

You can't be successful in you can't stay healthy.

And good choices can help everyone to live a healthier life: Eat more plant based food, less meat, don't smoke, cut back on alcohol, exercise regularly and keep stress down to healthy manageable levels. Little choice and changes make a big difference over time.

Shalom to all.

[digital]

"It's hip to be square," said the wise Huey Lewis.

[pilotsknob]

Someone needs to tell the writer that it's been "cool" to live a healthy life for a very long time.

[biglover]

I think healthy is fine, but enjoying life is even cooler and a drink here and there and now and then is just fine. Life is to be enjoyed too. Moderation is the key

[fulanita]

So I should be healthy because it's cool? Terrible headlines...

[pilotsknob]

Unless I'm talking about the weather.

[bearbjamin09]

You should be healthy so you can ease up.

[mgrs]

lol . . .

[bigfro]

just work out 5 days a week and don't overdue it. People who are health freeks look unhealthy without a litle injection of living

[biglover]

I agree. What the hell is life all about if you don't enjoy it. I think moderation is the key.

[mgrs]

Totally. Working out keeps me mindful of my health and prevents me from eating too many baked goods. But my love of food, pot, and having fun keeps me from being a workout-a-holic. I think having varied indulgences gives healthy balance.

[bigfro]

I stick to psychedelics.

[mjt96]

Studies outlining the health benefits of alcohol consumption (red wine in particular) frequently come up. Still, there remain a host of ill effects which are not the focus of these studies, and not particularly popular with the commercial sector. It's worth considering that there are purely healthy ways for managing artery and blood health, along with proper cholesterol levels. Definitely have a drink or two if you want. But probably best to keep straight that drinking is something we do for fun, not to keep healthy.

[reader110]

From the Mayo Clinic.: http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/red-wine/HB00089

How does alcohol help the heart?

Various studies have shown that moderate amounts of all types of alcohol benefit your heart, not just alcohol found in red wine. It's thought that alcohol:

* Raises high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, the "good" cholesterol
* Reduces the formation of blood clots
* Helps prevent artery damage caused by high levels of low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the "bad" cholesterol

It's all about moderation, folks. Of course, that's common sense.