Some people (in my family) say “Why should I eat this/ not eat that/exercise, etc. if it’s only going to help me live a few extra years? I don’t care about living a few extra years.”
They think that my goal is to live longer.
It’s not my goal. Don’t get me wrong, I’m totally okay with living long!
It’s not my biggest driver, though.
My biggest driver to take care of my health is to live strong and live fully able.
Do I know that is how it will turn out? No.
Am I willing to work at giving myself the best shot at living cancer free, Alzheimer’s free, heart-disease free….yes.
I don’t always feel like eating vegetables or certain leafy greens, but I know they heal and protect my body and brain so I eat them.
I don’t always feel like exercising, but I know it slows muscle atrophy, improves my balance, and keeps my nervous system working better so I do it (it does make me feel great when I’m done, too, so that helps.)
In the book Unconventional Medicine, Chris Kresser quotes a statistic that says “84% of the risk of chronic disease is NOT genetic, but environmental and behavioral (Rappaport 2016). Our genes do play a role in determining which diseases we’re predisposed to developing, but the choices we make about diet, physical activity, sleep, stress management and other lifestyle factors are far more important determinants of our health.”
So, for me, it’s not all for the number of years, it is for the quality of my years.