Every person seems to be on the never-ending hunt for the fountain of youth. They want to reverse the passage of time or stay right where they are forever. Either option works. But if you ask Dr. Bill Thomas, he has a very different take on the aging story . . .
For this doctor, growing old isn’t just a part of life; it’s a positive thing. In an article published by the Washington Post, Thomas outlines his assessment of aging and explains why taking care of yourself when you’re young shouldn’t be about staying young forever. It’s about building a strong foundation for happiness later in life. We can’t expect to stay vital unless we put in the work necessary to take care of ourselves, and despite all our efforts, there’s still no magical remedy against the ravages of time.
We already know how important it is to eat right and exercise on a regular basis. Thomas argues that in our pursuit of vitality, everyone comes up with their own definition of “eating right.” Fad diets are far too prevalent these days, making people believe that eating one kind of food or no food at all for a few weeks or a couple of months will magically make us healthy long term. In reality, all a person needs to do is add more fruits and vegetables to their diet while cutting down their sugar and fat intake. There’s nothing more to it than that.
Cutting down the amount of food a person eats has to be done with considerable restraint. Many people cut too much food from their diet and miss out on all sorts of important vitamins and minerals as a result. Supplements are available to make up for these deficits, but pills can’t replace the nutrition from actual food. While supplements allow a person to get the necessary vitamins and minerals, they also don’t have any calories. A person needs calories to carry out their daily activities.
Exercise is also easy to overdo. We focus so much on the results we want that we push our bodies past the point of no return. Instead of setting realistic goals and then working gradually to meet them, we work out day and night in the hopes that we will get our results quicker. It doesn’t work out that way, though. We damage our chances of being able to see quality results by taking this approach. Our bodies will break down eventually, leaving us waiting until we recovered enough to continue working out.
Above all else, we seem to be unable to get out of our way. We dabble in our bad habits with no thought that it will do anything to us in the future. The only time we pay attention to what’s happening is when it’s too late. We wonder how we got to the point that we’re at now. Instead of trying to find other people to blame, we should turn our suspicious eye towards ourselves. We have to be accountable for our choices, even if they’re ones of which we’re not necessarily proud. Once we’re accountable, we will have an easier time improving our lives.