A Healthy Lifestyle Defined

Lifestyle is the attitudes, interests, behaviors, and behavioral orientations of a person, family, community, or society. The word was first introduced by Austrian psychiatrist Alfred Adler in his famous book, The Case of Miss R. with the broader meaning of "the general outlook of a person as determined early in life". In that work, however, Adler distinguished two main groups of perspectives on which his concept of lifestyle was based: objective and subjective.


His concept of lifestyle, opposed to the traditional psychoanalytic approach of identifying an inherited, inborn personality disorder, began to attract attention from the academic community. Following the research of Carl Jung, who focused on the human unconscious, lifestyles were viewed as a product of the person's thoughts and feelings. For example, Max Weber argued that all of our basic human behaviors, including attitudes and beliefs about ourselves and others, are shaped by our experiences in early life. According to Weber, a "healthy lifestyle" is one that meets the needs and aspirations of the individual while preparing them for their higher role in society.

By contrast, a lifestyle that was considered unhealthy was one with an incomplete set of personal identity values. For example, smokers were considered to be a lifestyle that failed to meet their needs and aspirations for a smoke-free life. Similarly, people with green lifestyles (considered negative lifestyles) didn't have the same set of basic needs and aspirations as those with blue lifestyles (positive lifestyles). Green lifestyles represented a rejection of the consumer culture and represented a return to a more simple and rural living.

As the world's attention has shifted to a more global perspective, there has been increased interest in the lifestyles of the environment. There have been many environmental movements over the last 70 years that have attempted to improve the conditions of the environment, but most have not succeeded. However, many environmentalists would argue that it is not the responsibility of humans to protect the environment. Rather, the responsibility lies with those organizations and individuals who promote damaging lifestyles. By opposing these lifestyles, the environmental movement has been able to highlight the damage caused by many lifestyles and direct efforts to reduce those destructive lifestyles.

One of the most common themes running through both the environmental and the vegan movements is a rejection of lifestyles such as consumerism, extreme individualism, materialism, hierarchy, discrimination, and animal abuse. Veganism and environmentalism represent two different ways of living, but many people view them as identical or at least similar lifestyles. Vegans live a strictly vegan lifestyle. They do not consume anything with animal products in it, including milk, eggs, honey, cheese, meat, fish, shellfish, insects, and vegetables. Some vegans may also refrain from eating other foods that contain animal products as well. Veganism is a broad concept that encompasses a number of different philosophies and practices, but veganism is by far the most well-known and most popular of these philosophies.

The idea behind veganism is to make sure that animals are not treated badly or made to suffer for the sake of fashion trends. Animal rights activists and other people who care about animal rights work to create vegan lifestyles and campaigns. In some ways, veganism and the environmental movements are connected because both movements are works that seek to improve the conditions of the environment and promote health, happiness, and personal identity. A truly healthy lifestyle includes a diet free from animal products; however, the vegan lifestyle is more likely to focus on a vegetarian diet and avoiding all animal-derived foods and products.

Veganism and the environmental movement may seem relatively similar, but there are some important differences between the two lifestyles. While both promote a healthier lifestyle and an elimination of animal products from daily life, veganism is clearly more focused on prevention of harm to animals and the environment. Vegetarians are also generally considered to be healthier and to have better health and fitness than non-vegetarians, but their lifestyle also has less to do with being in the "right" age group and does not require as much exercise. Vegans do have a few dietary restrictions, but they do not require the same level of animal protection as vegetarians do not seem to require as much intellectual stimulation.

Vegans may appear to be a niche group, but they are a vibrant niche group. Vegans have an important role to play in the larger culture industry; they are shaping the way we live today. Vegans are redefining the way we think about ourselves and how we live. A healthy lifestyle needs to incorporate both science and religion to support it; however, when one looks at the vegan lifestyle it seems that it is not rational or religious at all. It is an earth-friendly alternative to mass culture that emphasizes the preservation of life and the restoration of nature.