Living life to the fullest

- Stacey Quick
​
..Article number 1! Boom, good evening world. 

During a small intense moment of procrastination a few weeks back, I stumbled across a short article which was focused around an apparent open letter by Keanu Reeves, which was posted on his public Facebook page. For those who had more important things to do and missed it, here's what I'm talking about:

“My friend’s mom has eaten healthy all her life. Never ever consumed alcohol or any ‘bad’ food, exercised every day, very limber, very active, took all supplements suggested by her doctor, never went in the sun without sunscreen and when she did it was for as short a period as possible – so pretty much she protected her health with the utmost that anyone could. She is now 76 and has skin cancer, bone marrow cancer and extreme osteoporosis...

My friend’s father eats bacon on top of bacon, butter on top of butter, fat on top of fat, never and I mean never exercised, was out in the sun burnt to a crisp every summer, he basically took the approach to live life to his fullest and not as others suggest. He is 81 and the doctors say his health is that of a young person.
People you cannot hide from your poison. It’s out there and it will find you so in the words of my friend’s still living mother: ‘if I would have known my life would end this way I would have lived it more to the fullest enjoying everything I was told not to!'”

Now, whether or not Keanu Reeves actually wrote this is besides the point. I saw a tonne of comments below the post by people who state that this has inspired them to continue living life to the fullest, which is awesome. But, then I saw a few comments like this:

'I've smoked every day of my life since I was 16, and my doctor says I'm as healthy as a horse, thanks Keanu!' 
'Even more of an excuse to eat bacon!'
'Eat what you want, drink what you want, and do them as  much as you can, we all die at the end of the day!'

-Note, the quotes above had to go through a strict cleansing of bad spelling and poor grammar-

We all love bacon, the occasional drink(s) will not kill you. But, come on, we're analysing two subjects here: one happened to catch some nasty shit (my new term for chronic diseases), the other one didn't, let's just chill out and not base our entire lifestyle on the end results of these two subjects.
Yes, you may be super duper lucky in life. You may smoke, drink, and eat bacon-ice-cream cheeseburgers like they were going out of fashion and not come down with anything nasty. You may die peacefully at a healthy 96 years old while tucking into that deep-fried, chocolate-sprinkled cigarette with your hands carelessly resting on that proud fuel tank of a belly. But, chances are not in your favour if you treat your body like a rubbish bin.

Chronic diseases suck. What is a chronic disease? Well, a chronic disease can be defined as an incurable health condition or illness which persists for more than a year. They include the nasty shit poor Suzy caught in the text above, as well as heart disease, asthma and diabetes. The good part about chronic diseases is that most of them are preventable. Wahey!  Though, no time to celebrate just yet, put that champagne cork back in the bottle and sit down.
Despite  being ways to prevent this nasty shit, it seems to be on the rise! According to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 5 out of the 6  leading causes for death in the USA were pinned on chronic disease. Cardiovascular disease and cancer were responsible for 57 percent of these leading causes of death in the 'Land of the Free'. If a healthy lifestyle had been followed, a whopping 80 percent of these deaths could have been prevented.

Be healthy. Don't rely on luck to pull you through, it isn't on your side. You have one body, when it goes it goes. 

Keep your cholesterol at a nice level (below 200mg/dL). Your GP can give you a cholesterol reading, and if necessary, can provide you with the information needed to reduce it to a healthy level.

Keep your body mass index (BMI) between  18.5 and 24.9. You can work this one out by yourself. Simply divide your weight in kilograms by your height in metres. Then divide your answer by your height again to get you BMI. 

Greg's weight is 86 kilograms and is  1.88 metres tall.
86  ÷ 1.88 =  45.7
45.7 ÷ 1.88 =  24.5 

Greg's  BMI is 24.2

Need an online height and weight converter?  

www.albireo.ch/bodyconverter

​Being overweight is defined by a  BMI that is between 24.9 and 29.9 . Being obese is defined by a BMI of more than 30. 

If you are overweight or obese, there is no need to panic! Just begin living a healthier lifestyle, find a local gym, walk, run, chase chickens but don't eat them deep fried!  Grill that poultry. Yummy.

Healthy living should never be regarded as not living life to the fullest. Moderate your cravings. Find the fun in exercise and live longer doing it. 

I saw a man playing tennis a while ago, he was 91 and his opponent was in his 30s. It was a fairly even game. It wasn't mere  luck that was on his side, it was years and years of living actively, eating healthily,  and not ever saying 'I'm too old for this shit'.

That is living life to the fullest.