Lifehack – Treat Your Body Better Than Your Car
Your health. It’s everything, or at least should be treated that way. You only get one “you” in this life. One body. We’re getting good at replacing some parts, but for the most part the body you have is the one you’re going to die with. There are no trade ins.
So you’d think that taking care of it would be number one on everyone’s list. Especially us folks who are financially independent or striving for it. What’s the point in having financial freedom and getting your time back if you’re too unhealthy to enjoy said time?
Well unfortunately that’s just not working out. It’s not number one for most people. And if it is, they’re failing miserably at execution.
Late last year at work I overheard a conversation from two colleagues, they talk loud. One guy was talking about how his Saturday was going to be ruined because he got the notification that his SUV was due for a 30,000 mile maintenance check up. The kind where you have to sit in the room at the dealership for a few hours and probably be charged a lot of money for various things.
Here’s the thing, the guy is obese. That’s not my estimation, I’ve heard him say it numerous times, in the context of wanting to change. I’m not judging him or “shaming” him, it is what it is. He’s in good company in America. About 40% of American adults are obese.
40%
At the time I heard this conversation, he and his teammates were enjoying leftover Halloween candy that’s ubiquitous in our offices in early November.
They work right near me, and I’ve noticed that Krispy Kreme is a frequent breakfast for he and his team. They even discuss whose turn it is to buy.
Let me say up front, I don’t personally know this guy well, I don’t work with him. I’m sure he is a great dude and a really nice person, he sounds like it. It’s not my intent to judge him or anyone reading this. I’m just conveying what I see and hear on a routine basis while at work.
How Did We Get Here?
The saddest part is that my colleague is taking better care of his SUV than he is his body. And looking at the health stats that I mentioned earlier, he’s far from alone.
- 39.8 % of Americans are obese (2016)
- 71.6 are overweight (including obesity, 2016)
- More than 100 million Americans have diabetes or prediabetes, 30% of the U.S. population
Being overweight or obese has become the new normal in America, plain and simple. And as you can see from the map above all this happened in the span of a little more than a single generation. It boggles my mind.
The cost is way more than just to the health and happiness of individuals themselves. Medical costs to care for patients with obesity are estimated to be $210 billion per year. Obesity is also associated with lower productivity while at work as well as being absent from work, with estimates that it costs the economy more than $6 billion each year. Billion with a “B”.
Worst of all, more people than ever are “living” the last 20 or more years of their life with chronic diseases and pain. Life expectancy has stayed high but the quality of life in the average Americans waning years has gone down..
The fact is, lifestyle decisions and genetics can both play a role in developing many chronic diseases. But in America now lifestyle decisions are the leading contributor, not genetics. The studies show it time and time again.
Vehicle or Body? You Choose
Ok, I flogged that horse pretty thoroughly. We’re unhealthy and it’s mostly our own faults.
But we have nice cars, and we take care of them.
– How many people get immediately freaked out and stressed when their check engine light comes on? They’ll take their car right to the shop to get it looked at, it’s a top priority.
But they won’t go to the doctor when they have a nagging problem with their body. A pain here or there that won’t go away. Maybe a digestive problem, sleep problems, or a myriad of other things.
Those are your body’s check engine lights. And they’re way more important than the ones in your car. Get them looked at, right away.
My dad died of cancer at a pretty young age because he ignored his bodies check engine lights for too long. But damn if he didn’t get our cars fixed when they needed it.
– How many people put premium fuel in their expensive car because it says they need to in the manual?
Yet they routinely put garbage food in their body. If you put 87 octane, or junk fuel, in that Mercedes it can cause all sorts of problems in the engine, so they say. And likewise if you put junk food in your body.
Buy and eat healthy food for your body, it’s more important than whatever fuel you put in your vehicle.
– How many people like my colleague wouldn’t dream of missing or even delaying their 30,000 mile maintenance check up? They track their miles per gallon carefully to make sure their engine is healthy and they can recite their vehicles horsepower if asked.
Yet they haven’t been to the doctor for years to get a routine physical. They have no clue what their cholesterol level is, what their body fat percentage is, or even what their resting heart rate is.
A routine physical is an all points check up for your body. Make it a priority.
– How many people invest in “upgrades” for their cars and SUVs, like all weather floor mats to protect the carpeting and extra clear coat for the paint?
Yet they won’t invest in things to make themselves healthier, like a bike or a good set of weights. Or they’ll pay monthly for a gym membership but don’t invest the time and effort to use it.
The time and equipment needed to exercise are far more important than your vehicle upgrades.
– How many people have no issue spending an hour or two on a beautiful Saturday afternoon washing, vacuuming, and painstakingly detailing their car? Armor All on the console, shiny tire spray on the tires, etc etc.
Yet they refuse to get even a half hour of real exercise on that same Saturday. One of only two days each week that most of them have off.
Taking time to exercise and move is far more important than getting that bird poop off the roof of your depreciating vehicle.
I’m With You
If this sounds like a bit of tough love and in your face, well it probably is. If you’re someone who treats your car better than your body, I can honestly sympathize with you.
There was a time in my life where I did the same. And I didn’t even have a nice car, but I still took better care of it than I did my body.
I was very overweight, and close to obese myself. I got sick a lot, I was a mess. After I lost 60 lbs and got thin and healthy, I never get sick. I feel great. I have energy.
I’m enjoying my financial independence and early semi-retirement infinitely more than I would if I still weighed 230 pounds.
Because even though I didn’t realize it so much, I used to feel like absolute crap all the time back then. But that was my normal, so I thought that was just how everyone physically felt in life.
I’m here to tell you – it’s not.
I’m not quite sure of the mental processing that goes on behind treating a car better than your own body, even though I had the behavior myself. Eating food is obviously pleasurable, but to so many people so is cleaning and detailing their car.
I slowly woke up and changed. It was hard, it took a long time to lose 60 pounds.
Now I put premium fuel in my body, not my car. I do regular maintenance checkups on my body, and I don’t really care about my car. Heck, I care far more about my bikes, because they’re tools of health.
I spend Saturdays and Sundays and most every day exercising my body, not cleaning my car. Will you join me?
Really outstanding discussion and a way to shine the light on a real epidemic plaguing our country.
People who visit finance blogs are so concerned about money issues but often ignore one of the biggest ones that can either shorten their life (so all the money saved is wasted), effect the quality of life (so that they can’t enjoy the fruits of their labor), or cause a dramatic financial hit due to all the medical problems of being overweight.
The biggest problem is that food that is bad for you is typically easier to get and costs less than food that is healthy.
Very true about food, but healthy food has been getting cheaper over time. I feel most sorry for folks who live in food deserts. We’ve abandoned them as a country.
>> food that is bad for you is typically easier to get
It IS cheaper, but there are plenty of good foods that are the same price or just a tiny bit more (beans, brown rice, vegetables).
By the way, if you do have some “extra” money to spend (it’s about $25/meal for two people), Purple Carrot has some fantastic tasting vegan meals. I’ve never been great at eating a wide variety of vegetables, but PC really understands how to combine foods and flavor meals. Please note, this isn’t some paid endorsement for PC — this is a food-related article and I am simply a fan.
I would definitely echo Mr. Hobo Millionaire’s sentiment. Beans, brown rice, seasonal vegetables are inexpensive, healthy, and can be prepared in a way that is incredibly delicious.
Amen to that!
Love it and so true – we worry about our old beaters breaking down on the side of the road but ignore that nagging hip pain… I’m with you in the “was 260 is now 200lbs” camp and life is so much more fulfilling here than there.
Last time my car had to go in for a “30-45min” service (it’s a Camry) I took my running gear and told the tech that I’d be back in 45 minutes. Came back sweating like crazy and with an appreciation for the new to me neighborhood near the shop. I guess my point is that you can care for both yourself and your car simultaneously.
Wow, kudos to you too dude, 60lbs is a lot of weight, we should know 🙂
And I do the exact same thing when taking the car in, except I usually bring my bike. My Subaru just got called for an airbag recall and they said it’ll take 2.5 hours. That’s a nice 2.5 hour bike ride for me!
THANK YOU!!!! I love this analogy of caring more for our cars than our bodies because it’s absolutely true! If you don’t mind, I’m going to start using this analogy with my patients. I think it’s brilliant! This epidemic is so bad that we are ecstatic on the rare days when we have several “normal” sized patients, though our definition of normal is changing. People complain all the time about medical costs increasing, which they are, but when you tell them that most of those expenses are preventable, they get upset about the way to prevent them. If you suggest eating healthy food, they respond, “Well, it’s expensive to eat healthy.” Then I ask, “What price do you place on your health? Because you can pay for better food now or pay astronomical health care prices later while you’re physically suffering.” It’s all about choices. I also hear complaints about not wanting to eat “rabbit food,” i.e., fruits and vegetables. Ugh. There’s only so much you can do.
The Blue Zones is a fascinating website/book collection about the longest-lived populations with little to no chronic diseases. I’ve devoured their content.
Wow, hearing that from a medical professional speaks volumes – that you get ecstatic when normal sized patients come in. We are indeed responsible for a huge portion of the healthcare costs in America, and it’s time to look in the mirror instead of just blaming everyone else. And I have yet to read the Blue Zone book but have read countless blog posts about it and heard it discussed on tons of podcasts. I feel like I’ve read it 🙂
Right on, Dave. I’ve written about this myself (though not the focus of an entire article). I’m glad you made it the focus. I never thought of it, but the comparison to taking care of our cars is probably pretty accurate. Oh how some of us love our rides.
I believe another big part of obesity is stress. When we’re stressed, we self medicate with food. It’s easier to justify when we’re eating and not drinking or doing drugs. After all, it’s just food.
Like you, my wife and I exercise regularly, at least 4 – 5 times a week. That’s where we get our stress relief. Though I’ve traded in some discs in my back for spare parts due to degenerative disc disease, I’m taking care of the whole body.
I hope people take this seriously. We are quite literally, killing ourselves.
Food as stress relief and medicine. Yep. Been there, done that. I sympathize with people, it’s really really hard to break out of that. I’m not here to judge, but unless we talk about the problem as a problem, we’re not gonna fix it.
I don’t notice it as much in LA because it’s a pretty fit city, and most of my friends are athletes or athletic in some way, but I do notice it when I visit other cities or my hometown of Detroit. I wouldn’t normally compare it to how people treat their cars better though. I mean, I think some people do, but I thing it’s a small percentage. I think it’s hard for most people to motivate to exercise, are feeling too depressed or anxious to move, have other challenges that make eating right difficult. I do empathize with that struggle. I think it’s kind of like the fire moment. For those who have found that rhythm and have certain advantage, it’s easy peasy to save, but not all two situations are alike, so it’s a bit unfair to generalize. Or say that they do care more about this inanimate object than they do their own health. What we absolutely can agree on though is that it IS a big problem, especially in the US. We focus more on treating disease than prevention or general wellbeing.
You hang around pro volleyball players, they can eat whatever they want 🙂
You’re correct in that if you asked people if they care more about their car than their body they of course would say “no”. But the numbers are the numbers. The obesity and overweight numbers keep climbing, and auto-immune and chronic diseases right along with them. I believe people – they do care more about their bodies than their car but they have to change the behavior to reflect it.
It’s really friggin hard, I know, that was me in my 20’s. I don’t judge people, I sympathize with them. But as Freddy said, we can’t get to a place where it’s verboten to say “being overweight or obese is unhealthy and you’re hurting yourself”. We can’t hush the conversation and pretend it’s okay. That will just make the problem worse. We don’t seem to have as much of a problem telling smokers that smoking is really bad for them. We have to have the same conversations with weight. I feel like I can at least give people some hope since I lost 60 pounds and used to be addicted to food as a stress relief and mental therapy. Been there, done that. I escaped that life and I’m not special in any way. Others can to.
Lastly, you make the best point about “finding the rhythm”. We FI folks just got into “the zone” and started saving tons. After a while it just becomes normal, right? That’s what all Americans need to do with healthier eating and exercise. Get into a rhythm, and stay in the groove. Easy words to type, but I know how effing hard it is. Especially with a full time job etc.
i get tired of seeing obesity not celebrated. hell man, my niece is only about 30 years old and she must be 60 pounds overweight. she’s a bit of a public figure and there are whole groups of them all using a euphemism like body positivity. try a reality sandwich with that super sized coke. is your physician shaming you when they say you could stand to lose some weight or a lot of weight? i’m sure it’s more like they want what’s best for your health.
i knowingly live a pretty unhealthy lifestyle and certainly not any great role model for any of this, but i know when i get a little too heavy i start feeling terrible and take some action. i can’t imagine really feeling awful all the time. now i’m gonna go drink a bottle of chardonnay and detail my automobile.
Dude, you can run a 5k in under 20 minutes. You’re friggin healthy. Sure you could be carrying some extra weight – folks look at me and say “skinny!” but I can pinch way more than an inch of fat in my gut and I still have a higher BMI than the average WWII draftee (the normal dude) in the 1940’s.
Your heart is obviously fit as hell and I bet your resting heart rate is 50 or under. Now when you finish the car get out there and run!!
My younger sister and her son (he’s almost 40 years younger than me) are huge. I think he’s in 5th grade and I can about guarantee you he weighs more than I do. I’d like to ask them both: How long do you want to live? I get tired of the excuses too – I have bad genes. I can’t do this, I can’t do that. Blah, blah, blah. The reality is that if you’re overweight or obese YOU are the only person who can do something about it.
To add to Katie’s point about the Blue Zones – what they found is that the longest lived people on Earth don’t join gyms or run marathons. They don’t have to make special time to exercise because they get loads of moderate-intensity physical activity everyday due to the their environments which give them reason to move as part of their everyday life.
The U.S. is lacking in those types of environments because of our beloved cars.
The bad genes thing is true for some but a minority as the studies I linked to show. And yes, we are still the same species that used to move all the time and that’s what our bodies are still built for. Now we’ve created lives smashing keyboards and driving all day, sitting on our keisters. It’s no ones fault, we’ve evolved in a way that’s in direct conflict to what we’re built to do. Something has to give.
Great analogy here, I know many people who are exactly like this. Taking care of our bodies really is probably the most impactful thing we can do in our lives. I’ve finally found a great hack to get me consistently working out and in the gym again during the week despite being just as busy so I’m very happy with how I’m feeling! It really is crazy how you just get used to missing workouts and eventually it will catch up to you.
When you get to that point – when missing a workout makes you feel guilty and angry, that’s when it becomes a lifestyle and there’s no going back. That’s been the case for me at least but that still doesn’t make it easy. My weekly long run still sucks, but I do it 🙂
Great analogy. Sadly, more people treat their cars better than their bodies. That’s why fitness is a big part of my 2019 goals. I’ve already went from 32″ to 30″ for my jeans and gotten a more toned body. We need to take care of our body because we only have one!
The other day I heard something very interesting on the radio – US has some of the best athletes but it also has very high obesity rate. You’d think when a country can produce some of the best athletes, people in the country would be pretty fit and health. But it’s the opposite in reality. I wonder why that’s the case. Maybe it has to do with how competitive sports are at a young age? Then people lose interest and stop playing sports and being active?
Great question. I guess my first thought is that we’re a county of 340 million people, so by default we’re gonna have tons of everything – good athletes, bad athletes, fat, skinny etc. I thin kthe elite athletes just find out they have a gift at some young age and then cultivate the discipline to harness it, which means training and eating right. Many have dollar-signs in their eyes to cash in on their skills, and why wouldn’t they? Money is a great motivator. If we offered a million dollars to every obese person and said “it’s yours if you get to a normal weight”, tons of them will change.
The primary reason for this is the big food corporations… Nestle, Cocacola, pepsi, general mills, etc…
The produce so much low quality processed foods that are high in calories and poor in nutrients. They have a lot of influence in terms of governmental policy, regulations, advertisements, etc.
The standard American diet is laden with CRAP (calorie rich and processed) foods. The processed fat and sugar is addicting. And when we watch advertisements with these processed/junk/fast food products, it further feeds the cravings.
This (among countless other reasons) is why we are such an obese country.
I love the CRAP acronym.. I also use SAD, for “Standard American Diet”. Because it is really really sad indeed.
Love that CDC map. You could probably label it “States that have the best fried chicken and waffles” and the data would be the same.
I think you just won the comments section…
Nice map.
I agree about health. You don’t even need to spend a huge amount of time on it. Even 30 minutes of being active everyday is great. You just need to build it into the schedule. Eating right is the tough part for me. It’s just so easy to eat convenient food and junk food.
I hear ya Joe, I have a weakness for salty snacks, especially in summer when my workouts have me sweating a ton and losing salt. It’s a struggle.
A great yoga teacher, Kurt Johansen, used to say “You only get one possession in this life, and it’s your body.”
I recently lost 20 lbs and a majority of my health afflictions vanished. I was taking a lot of medication, now I’m down to one Rx that is absolutely needed no matter what weight I’m at. My mood is better, and even my skin cleared up.
I improved my diet, exercised, and took up intermittent fasting (a.k.a. “IF” – I don’t eat between 5pm and 8am, sometimes a little longer). IF allows your body to recover, heal, and process. I had to ease into it – I stopped eating at 11pm, then 10pm, etc etc until I worked my way down to 5pm. Now it’s habit and if I eat after then I feel queasy. I no longer eat nonstop for 16 hours a day, and it’s actually been quite freeing. Life and eating is a lot simpler now.
To be blunt, people need to stop eating so much and so badly. I was guilty of it and the fact that my grocery, doctor, and Rx bills have dropped prove it. I know not everyone has access to healthy food and I wish it was different, but in the meantime I have to take responsibility for my own health.
I’ve been working on intermittent fasting too! Been trying to get to a 14-10 (off-on) with a goal of getting to a 16-8 rhythm. On days when I have a really long bike ride or race it’s hard to get enough calories in though. Sometimes I’m ready to go to bed and my stomach is like “dude, no, we’re not sleeping till you give me something!”
Now this article is definitely up my alley. Food. Health. Maps. I love it.
It is very interesting that people tend to take care of their cars more than their own bodies.
My theory is that taking care of their car bring short term reward whereas taking care of their bodies does not.
If you fix up your car, you may notice an enhancement of performance immediately. I can go faster. I can break sooner. This gasoline is better for my engine, listen to it purr/roar.
When it comes to health, most Americans are myopic and short sighted. Eating right does not typically yield short term results. The implications are much longer term or not as tangible in the short term.
The keys to living a long, happy, and healthy life are:
– Eat a variety of real food, minimally processed, mostly (or exclusively if you can) plants, not too much (until you’re 80% full). Avoid the CRAP (calorie rich and processed foods) that are so prevalent in the standard American diet
– Get outside and move around. Do some form of exercise.
– Get at least 7.5 hours of high quality sleep.
– Maintain a loving social support system. You will rarely find this in your social media / electronics / screens… so limiting these would be good too.
You touched a great point about the short term vs long term. Even working out hard after being sedentary will take a week or two to get results. But it still baffles me a bit because it’s your body! I mean, it’s you, the only you you’ll ever have. A car is a depreciating money-pit. And you’ll have more of them.
Great comment Doc!
It sounds weird, but it seems to be nature´s new selection principle – or at least a test of a new option.
I don´t think that all these people are stupid or lazy. It´s just, for reproduction, mass counts. If the mass is consisting of a big height and muscles, even better. But if the choice goes between the Tall & unfit vs the Small and fitter – bigger usually wins.
Biology would long have set an end to the extreme cases, but with modern medicine the strange combinations win [1,45m asian girl with 2,15m coloss – call directly for the caesarean in 9 months].
Same goes for the luxury department, houses, SUVs ,you name it.
We call it stupid decisions from a financial point of view, but in the end the higher reproductive numbers win.
Not enough sports can cause a higher diabetes risk 20 years later – who cares? There are spiders murdering their partner directly after the the act.
Some games favor a rush strategy and building on credit with high risk. It looks like our Louis Vuiton society is actually playing in the same style..
But since mother nature always plays with a big variety of cards, we´ll see what the future brings.
.
Interesting
Excellent points DAVE
Obesity, diabete and cancer are plagues but despite of that people seem simply not to care and be, indeed, worried more of their metal box.
Without mentioning (especially in the USA) the incredible expensive health care cost..
Eating well…sleep…low level of stress…exercising…. forget the rest..
We’re responsible for a decent portion of the outrageous cost of healthcare, but no on wants to acknowledge that
Great post. I also checked out the Boglehead fourm. One thing that people often forget about is how much quality sleep impacts health. I’m reading the book Why we Sleep by Matthew Walker. He lays out results from some amazing sleep studies on everything from NBA players, Olympic athletes to college students. If you’re not a good sleeper this book might scare you a little. But it definitely was a good read and has motivated me to improve my sleep habits.
Yep, I have a detailed post reviewing that book from last year. I’ve already changed my habits and am continually working on it.
The part with the spider webs on caffeine vs other drugs is very impressive and scary 🙂
I can’t agree with this more !
That animation you created of the map and obesity rates is shocking, it is crazy how society has shifted. The fast lifestyle culture and change of food to big corporations has had a massive impact on people. The scariest part is people don’t seem to realize it as the numbers continue to rise. When 40% or more of the people around you are just the same it almost seems to become normal. We need this to change
Yep, fat and obese are the new normal. We need a massive change in society to reverse this. America is the worst but other 1st world countries aren’t far behind.
To be fair, taking your car in for routine maintenance is a LOT EASIER than getting – and staying – healthy. Not saying it’s less important (duh), but it’s not such an easy comparison, IMO.
Well, yes and no 🙂
Going to the doctor once a year is pretty darn easy. And (with insurance of course) probably way cheaper than getting whatever is making the check engine light come on fixed.
I agree with you that fitting in exercise, not sitting all day, and avoiding bad food is hard, but an annual checkup and bloodwork can ward off lots of problems.
Men are THE WORST with this. I call it “tough-guy syndrome”. They know they have a problem but they refuse to get it looked at. I’m pretty sure that’s why women live longer 🙂
one of my best friends from high school, we’ve known each other since we were 12, is a surgeon. a few weeks back, we took a trip to the Florida keys. It was 3 of us, all good friends since then. I used to be always the skinny guy. I am not now, and my eating habits are a big problem. I used to be able to get away with it, but my slowdown from injury and fatherhood has had an impact. I’m a runner and the injuries have piled up. I really do need to get on the bike and off the sugar water; soda, Gatorade, and various drinks of the like are really just a waste-line killer for me. In short, your article is exactly what my buddy told me. Stop eating garbage, and you wont feel like garbage. It’s what we all know, but don’t always do!
Gatorade is sugar water. If I buy it I split a bottle into to and fill the rest with water. Half strength is plenty sweet and some sugars are needed after or during my hard workouts. It’s hard dude, just keep at it. Cultivate the discipline!