What is healthy?

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This blog is about what being healthy means or doesn't mean? The confusing concept that is ever changing for each generation.

What is healthy? The blazing question that has been burning a hole inside of my mind for what feels like an eternity.

The world health organistaion refers to the word 'health' as “being in a complete emotional and physical state of well-being". Well-being this is a concept that has only entered my life in the last four years; what have I missed?

The Wonder Years

“The idea of fitness or exercise didn't seem necessary, unless you were an action hero like Arnold Schwarzenegger or releasing a fitness VHS video like Jane Fonda.”

Being a child of the 80s, health never felt like a priority or even something that was spoken about. My parents smoked in the house, smoking and alcohol was frequently shown on TV and was considered completely normal. Fast food was advertised constantly and the idea of fitness or exercise didn't seem necessary, unless you were an action hero like Arnold Schwarzenegger or releasing a fitness VHS video like Jane Fonda. I thought exercise was kind of like a career, not something people actually did to make themselves feel good. Never was the concept of health discussed at school or home. Sure, we knew fruit and veg meant 'health' but they also screamed boring, because they were foods we had to eat. At dinnertime parents would say, "you're not leaving the table until you finish your veg" so of course they were boring, it's hard to find fun in things that we have to do. Our school canteen was filled with pizza, greasy fries and corn flake jam tarts (gosh, I loved those). This was a chance for fun foods, and they were offered in an educational establishment, what does that tell you? My friends and I would save our lunch money sometimes to go to McDonalds after school. Why? Because it was forbidden and considered naughty and let’s face it, naughty can definitely mean fun! At this point, 'healthy' and I were complete strangers!

When I met healthy!

I studied performing arts at college at the end of the 90s into the noughties where midriffs were all the rage. This meant that all of a sudden I was aware of my body. Up to this point, I'd never really considered or cared about how my body looked, or even felt. I never acknowledged how food made me feel, I just ate what I liked as and when I was hungry. I was also introduced to alcohol and the occasional cigarettes' and yet the word ‘health’ still didn't relate to me, but the word skinny did. Our TV's were bombarded with the explosion of different artists like Mariah Cary, Britney Spears and Jennifer Lopez and we were longing for their voices, hair and bodies. All of a sudden, size mattered and in order to get there we had to eat less, I guess this meant being healthy because we'd look good and that is healthy, right? I thought this was healthy because all of a sudden I was being exposed for not being healthy. My weight was commented on and I wasn't getting the same attention as other girls because I didn't have the same 'look'. In my mind, if I was the odd one out, that meant that I must be unhealthy.

How healthy hurt me!

“Not only was healthy hurting me, I was hurting me; healthy and I would gang up as a team to highlight how much I was failing at being what healthy wanted me to be.”

Entering womanhood I had to start thinking about birth control as I was in my first relationship and boy, was I unaware of the trials and tribulations that birth control would bring; but I won't go into that now. Let’s just say there was a lot of messing around with my hormones which ultimately lead to me being an emotional mess and gaining weight. This meant that I was 'unhealthy' again, my friends were smaller than me and people I cared about would comment on my size. At that time, luckily I was a fairly confident teenager with thick skin, but there is only so much protection that your skin can provide from the penetration of words and pressure. Healthy started to hurt me; I would make myself unwell in the pursuit for healthy to accept me. I would penalise myself and say hurtful things. Not only was healthy hurting me, I was hurting me; healthy and I would gang up as a team to highlight how much I was failing at being what healthy wanted me to be. But, not once would I even consider that my hormones were out of whack, one due to being a teenager and two due to birth control. I never considered that my hormones or life experiences were the target of 'unhealthy', and not me! Why? Because it wasn't discussed, people didn't know, even my GP didn't advise me on all the impacts and side effects of birth control -needless to say, unhealthy stayed with me for a while and we had to learn to live with each other!

My introduction to well-being!

Let us fast forward a good few years of some amazing experiences, emotional trauma, toxic relationships, eating disorders, travel and meeting incredible people. These topics will rear their heads in future blogs, but for now, we'll focus on the last four years or so. I am now learning about what it means to be happy. Happiness is not a lasting feeling, it comes in waves in moments, but don't be sad about that because it's a good thing. If we were happy all the time how would we truly know the things in life that make us most happy? How would we deal with moments of sadness and grief? Would we really appreciate what it means to be happy? Through changes in my career, living situations, relationships and how I spend my leisure time I met well-being. Well-being entered my life and it felt like a huge soft cuddle from the clouds, because I felt lifted. I was doing things that made me happy, like getting back into theatre and falling in love with teaching. I started to move my body more by going to the gym and I learned how to really exercise and what benefits me. Don't get me wrong there were still plenty of ups and downs where the old concept of 'healthy' would pop in and remind me that I needed to look a certain way. But throughout this time and up until now I have educated myself more and started to do things for me, not for my exterior appearance. Yes, I have changed my eating habits but not to look like Jennifer Lopez, I have done this to fuel my body in ways that make it feel good without bloating, breaking out in spots or making me feel sluggish. I am starting to understand more about the benefits of nutrition and how truly wonderful our bodies are when they are nourished and cared for the way they should be. I am now moving my body every day because it feels good, I like to feel the strain of lifting weights, or the burn from running and the power of working my core. I am studying again and fueling my brain with knowledge. I feel empowered and closer to being whole.

Well-being has helped me to shape healthy into who I want to be and I am so grateful for that. I am by no means perfect, and there are still plenty of days where emotions take over making me reach for the Pringles and chocolate whilst laying sloth like on my sofa, but that is ok. Healthy to me is balance, listening to our wants, needs and desires without external pressures influencing who we should be. I am still working on my healthy, as I believe it is an ongoing journey. So explore, try, fail, laugh and cry try the foods you want and eat the food that you need, guess what fruit and vegetables aren't boring! Move your body for you and do what you enjoy, find a leisure activity that inspires you and brings out your inner child. Shape your healthy to be the you that you want to be.

Reference:

Medical News Today, https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/150999

Medically reviewed by Stacy Sampson, D.O. — Written by Adam Felman — Updated on April 19, 2020

Photo Credit:

Photo by Thought Catalog on Unsplash

Photo by Nick Fewings on Unsplash