Why Live Healthy, When We're All Going to Die Anyway?
There have already been quite a few responses to @naturalmedicine’s question, “do we live healthy lives to avoid or postpone death?” and I'm probably not going to add much new to the discussion, but I'll share some thoughts for my entry.
When you hear about people who lived a long life, you might assume a healthy lifestyle played a part, but this isn't always the case. I had a great aunt who lived well into her 90s. She smoked most of her life and had her saliva glands removed during an operation to treat throat cancer. Her brother (my grandfather) died in his early 70s of a heart attack. He was vegetarian and, as far as I know, didn't smoke. For long as I could remember, my aunt was frail and not very active. She was in an assisted home, then a nursing home. I never met my grandfather, but from what I'm told he was fairly active until the end. The heart attack was a shock to the family.
My other grandparents both died shortly before their 80th birthdays. They smoked for years and my Grampy stopped after his first heart attack in his 50s. My Nanny only stopped when she was too infirm to get out and buy her cigarettes and everyone refused to buy them for her. She’d suffered a stroke and continued to smoke. She basically drowned in the fluid of her own lungs, as they deteriorated. Her last days were spent drugged up to the eyeballs on pain relief. My Grampy’s body just broke down and I believe cause of death was multiple things. He had prostate cancer, but I don't think that was the final cause of death.
Then I recently heard of a homesteading couple in their 90s who were still fully active and managing their homestead. They were happy and healthy.
So do I try to live a healthy lifestyle to prolong my life? No. I don't think we have that much control over our lives. I haven't always been particularly healthy either. Not bad, but not really trying that hard. I've always had home cooked dinners, but haven't particularly avoided take outs now and again, especially when life got busy. I've never been a big user of chemicals in the household, but in recent years I avoid them much more.
The change that made the biggest difference for me was fazing refined sugars out of my life (I do have them occasionally, but not often). I've never been overweight, so it wasn't for that reason I did it, but since doing so I don't get sick very often and when I do, I usually just feel a bit out of sorts for a day or two. This, for me, is the reason to live a healthy. I would rather have a life that is as active and pain free as possible, for the time I'm here. If I live to 90 I'd rather not be sick and infirm. If I go sooner, so be it. I'd much prefer my grandfather’s way of going after an active life than a long, drawn out illness.
Many people only make changes after they've spent so long in pain and sickness that they've had enough. The chances are it won't help them to live any longer, but at least they'll get some more enjoyment from the life they have left. I have a friend (who I hope will one day tell her story) who has lyme disease. In her words, she reached a point some years ago where she could barely string a sentence together. The medical system couldn't help her any more, so she changed her diet, stopped eating gluten and started detoxing heavy metals. She still has bad days, but many more good days now. Her biggest breakthrough, even in just over the year I've known her, has been kefir. She has terrible chemical sensitivity and lots of things out and about would bring on migraines, but recently, she's not been reacting as much. She's a great example that it's not always too late to make a change.
So I'm going to keep trying to live as healthier life as I can. With the amount of toxins we can no longer avoid in our modern lives, I don't know if it will keep me from getting sick, but it's worth a try, especially if it has already made a difference.
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Exactly what I think too.
No need to go to extreme things trying to stay young and live forever but being able to enjoy your life, walk, talk and do things on your own, breath and eat without pain for the rest of ones life, is a good goal to have.
Being healthy won't even guarantee that, but it's worth a try, right? I'm not depriving myself of anything, in fact, quite the opposite. Although I'd prefer it if someone else would do the cooking! ;D
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I think it is wise to take care of your body and mind. It's like a lottery every day in all of our lives. At your birth and in your life you are given certain amount of stay healthy or get sick cards. Every day you use one. And if you take care of your body, you get more stay healthy cards. You still might draw a bad card and get sick or have an accident, but taking care of your body improves your chances to stay healthy and get well sooner if you are sick. That's how I think life works. It's all about improving my chances but still enjoying my life.
And I'd prefer too if someone else than me would do the cooking. :D
Being incapable of doing anything and confined to a nursing home for the last part of my life is not something I want at all. I am basically doing everything in my power to avoid that through healthy diet and lifestyle choices. I also think it's why making euthanasia illegal is ridiculous. Quality of life trumps life itself for me personally. If you you don't want to go through all the pain and suffering and not being able to do anything for yourself you shouldn't have to. Plus now that I've seen the other side, I am not scared of what comes next (although I am still scared of any pain that might come with the dying process).
Fear of the unknown is the reason we generally fear death. Plus our instinct for self preservation, I suppose.
Apart from going to sleep and not waking up, I can't imagine any way of dying comes without some pain. Even a heart attack may be fairly quick, but not painless. Euthanasia is an odd one really. We allow it for animals and in fact promote it over allowing them to go slowly and in pain, yet we don't allow it for people who are able to say whether they want it or not? I saw a programme on some British people who were going to Holland (I think it was Holland) to be euthanised. There was just so much more dignity in it for them, but ridiculous that they had to go to another country for it.
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Yeah, that's a good point about pets. We (collectively) don't seem to have problems with that.
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I've recently learned the healing properties of kefir, which I make with raw milk. Amazing benefits even in tiny amounts. Thank for mentioning it. Eliminating white sugar is also a potent move to make for vastly improved health.
If I live to 90 I'd rather not be sick and infirm. If I go sooner, so be it. Wise words. I also think there is no postponing your death, your time will come when it comes. Although my father in law lived a very long and productive life, and he worked his tushy off food wise to achieve this. He died of natural causes in his 90's, the only person in my life to have died what I call a good death. Maybe eating obsessively well worked, maybe it didn't. He was a sweet guy and I miss him. Maybe sweetness is the secret to longevity.
Thank you for your entry!
I hear you on this! Live healthy so you can lead a healthy active life instead of being sick and infirm. It's more about having quality of life as to postponing death.
How much control do we have? I believe we are CREATORS of everything - the good, the bad and the ugly. And so it makes perfect sense to create health and a pain free future of relative independence. A nice response to NM's question.
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Great post!
I come from a longevity line and I am terrified. My grandmother (father) will be celebrating her 109th birthday in June. My great aunt (mother) is going to be 100 next year (my grandma committed suicide, otherwise she would still be around) their mother lived to 101.
I think getting old is fine as long as you are active. A body at rest blablabla.
My neighbor is 94 and he plays golf 3 times a week. He is learning french.
My 108 year old grandma has shut herself in and questions why she is still alive and wishes she would die, until she gets the sniffles and wants to be rushed to the doctor.
Whatever age you die at, it is your time. Making the most of your life while you are here is what matters. My brother-in-law was taken from us a few years ago from melanoma (4 months after diagnosis), he was 59. That man squeezed every ounce out of life he could get. He was best friend to everyone! He was the life of the party and basically was the party.
Laugh and don't stress the little stuff, I always say.
That's certainly good advice, especially if you've got that long to live! 😆
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Wonderful response @minismallholding! Being sick and not able to enjoy life to its fullest strikes a lot of fear in my heart, so I do what I can to improve my odds and embrace every moment knowing there is no guarantee.
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Thank you.
Yes, that's what scares me the most too. It's bad enough being bed bound for a couple of days, imagine that long term! I recently started getting some pain and inflammation in my finger joint and that's worrying enough! I have been upping my intake of omega oils and glucosamine, and keep meaning to check up on more foods and herbs for it. It's improving, but I'm not getting any younger, so I need to be more careful with what I am, or am not, consuming.
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May we all live to 90! Sugar is the worst - I've never been a massive sugar fan, but since reading about how inflammatory it is, I avoid it where possible. Saying that, I just made a huge pot of stewed apple with a ton of maple syrup - does that count? Is it as cold in SA as it is here?
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Maple syrup can't be as bad as refined sugar, so surely it doesn't count! ;D From what I've found on it, refined sugar is particularly problematic because it mimics vitamin C, maybe from the possessing methods. Then, of course, our in immune cells take that into their receptors instead of the vitamin C and can't do their job. Why does it have to be so addictive?! I've never been keen on really sweet stuff, but one a month I still get sugar cravings.
It was pretty cold this morning and we've been under 20° for a couple of days. We've even had tiny bits of rain some nights! Not enough to soak past a millimetre of soil, but I live in hope of more. Still having to water.
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