If You Were Told "3-6 months"

Do you consider yourself an emotional person?

Well, regardless if you do or don't, if you were told you had 3-6 month to live, you would be catapulted into an emotional storm.

I am thankful to say that this is not me, but it is someone who I have been working with on a professional level in the physical therapy world.  It is hard to watch something like this happen to someone, especially so young.  40's is a time when you have lived a chunk of your life and you have family, a career, a home and looking to the future.

But, what if you were told, you have 3-6 months to live?

Would you look back with regret for decisions you made about your health? Did you know your body was starting to struggle due to bad habits?  Junk food?  Knowing you meant to start exercising and you just never found the time?

How would you feel if you knew it was already too late and the outcome could not be changed?

I have now met someone in this situation and I hope none of you are ever in this position.  If I do my job right being the FitnessBaker, I would hope I have reduced the chances of this being you.

The truth is, none of us know how much time we are on this earth.  We do not know our fate, but you need to do everything you can to put the odds in your favor.

In a recent post, I stated how important it is to read your food labels.  This will have a tremendous impact on what you expose to your body.  PRESERVATIVES are dangerous.  Your body does not know what to do with this crap. Most pre packaged items contain high fructose corn syrup, oils, added "ethylenes", dyes, and just things to prevent the item from rotting on the shelves to have more opportunity to sell it to you.

You only have one body, be mindful of what you put in it.  Educate yourself on what you are consuming.  You can not prevent ingesting preservatives.  It is a part of our world but you can drastically reduce your exposure when you eat whole foods and pay attention to what you are buying.  Don't just believe "Snackwells" are good for you.  Read your label and find out for yourself.  If you can't pronounce it, you probably should not be eating it.

The other thing about taking care of your body, it is making time to keep it working efficiently.  Do you take at least 30 minutes per day to exercise?  A walk, stretching, dancing, playing with your kids, anything to get some activity in your muscles and joints?  Why are you not doing this?  30 minutes a day can again DRASTICALLY REDUCE your risk of heart disease, stroke, diabetes and so many other diseases.

You may do everything right and you still have tragic news given to you at some point. I wish I had the secret to give you to avoid this possibility completely, but I do not.  However, when you put in the time and effort to do what you can control through certain strategies and consistency with nutrition and your exercise plan, your future will be more likely to be fulfilling.  What do you have to lose by making these changes.  More energy, better weight management, feeling more positive and accomplished AND reducing your risk of diseases that may kill you.  I think that is time well spent.

So, we do not know what our future holds but I want you to think about what is important to you .  What drives you and motivates you to be your best?  Let that be the reason to stay educated and learn ways to improve your health.

Life can be too short. What we do with the time we have can be subject to change sometimes with the choices we make.  Try to make them good ones most of the time.  It may just save your life.