A new study by experts reveals that only 1/3rd of Canadians will admit to being overweight, despite national statistics suggesting the real proportion of people overweight is approaching 2/3rds. Speaking in general terms, maybe we’re just too afraid or embarrassed to admit how we really feel about ourselves. A professor at the University of Calgary said that “we collectively as a nation don’t tell the truth on our driver’s license. We’re two inches taller and five pounds lighter.”
image credit: funny-addictive-blog.tumblr.com/
But denial isn’t just a river in Africa. It’s time we faced reality. This will become a big social and economic problem down the road if we don’t do something about it now. I strongly believe that self motivation is more effective than any government program. So instead of lobbying for more public awareness, education, or medical funding, I say we take this matter into our own hands.
Here is one way you or your friends can live a healthier lifestyle. A CMA study suggests that for households making less than $30,000 a year, only 39% reported to have very good or excellent health. But for those making more than $60,000 a year, the reported number is 68%! The lesson here is obvious. Wealthy is healthy. You can increase the quality of your health just by making more money. Canadian doctors agree. And best of all, it’s free \(^_^)/
There you have it! One more reason to become financially stable. You can potentially live longer and decrease your chances of diabetes and other illnesses just by making more than $60,000 a year. There are many ways to do that. Here’s one example from personal experience. Work diligently and live modestly, and put any savings towards dividend growth stocks. Over time as your wages and dividends grow, you should eventually reach a combined income of $60,000. You may take on a second job to speed up the process . It may take 5 or 10 years, but it’s not impossible. Think about all the good it will do for your health, according to medical experts anyway （￣ー￣）
Of course nothing beats the old fashioned way to a healthier lifestyle. From now on I’ll try to eat more whole foods, and less junk/fast foods. Watch my meal portions. Drink lots of water. Watch my caloric intake and go get me some exercise （＾◇＾）Feel free to join me!
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Random Useless Fact: The word count for this post, without the title, is exactly “404”
lmao at the line about denial. It makes sense that wealthy people are healthier. They can afford to buy organic, unprocessed foods. Plus they can afford gym memberships or workout equipment for home. They also have more incentive to stay healthy because they see a bright future and they want to look good on their exotic vacations. On the flipside, poor people are generally lazier in the first place. That lack of motivation helps keep them poor. Actually it is really a cycle for them. They end up eating crap food which keeps their energy levels low. I’m somewhere between poor and wealthy, but I admit I’m overweight. At least I am on the right track with both my finances and health.
That’s a practical way to put it. Much like how the poor get poorer, we now have the unhealthy getting unhealthier. It wouldn’t hurt for me to lose a few pounds too.
I echo what Jeremy said. When the boy was unemployed an I was making $12 as a student, and we lived on our own, we couldn’t afford fresh produce. Now that we make more, we can, and we do buy good, fresh food and healthy alternatives.
However, we’re still lazy; the last thing i want to do is come home from a long day and chop vegetables and defrost chicken. Pre-chopped veggies are a lot more expensive, so while we make over $100k a year,that’s middle class in BC and we can’t afford pre-chopped, so we end up going for something easy and less healthy.
Also, fitness is expensive. Watching the real housewives of Vancouver has put a new perspective on it. They do these awesome, fun things for fitness which cost a lot.. but keep them healthy.
I’m pretty lazy too. I find that taking good care of oneself can take up a lot of time. Wow, going from student pay to six figure household income sounds like a huge step for you guys.
Interesting you would mention that as in the UK it’s well known that life expectancy is clearly correlated to what society class you were born to. Upper class, working class etc. The higher the level the longer the life expectancy is. Not sure if it still holds true or not today.
Also another British show I watched (get them all via thebox.bz) Secret Eaters, was fascinating. A couple were complaining about how they couldn’t lose weight in spite of dieting So they had them do a food diary for a week and according to them they weren’t eating too much. but it wasn’t till they watched them for a week and discovered that they were “secret eaters” eating way more than they realized that they discovered the problem. In one weekend the lady did an 8,000 calorie binge on a Friday Saturday night
Was very very interesting
Glad you brought up life expectancy. I suppose this study isn’t really news because it’s been this way for centuries. 8000 in one day! That’s incredible. I’ve heard some professional athletes eat that much, but they can actually burn through all those calories lol.
Yeah the point was the couple were convinced that they had medical reasons for gaining weight, when really they didn’t realize how much they were eating!
LOL amen. Now I can insist my obsession with earning more is for my good health 😉
You’re in great shape already, but yeah, doesn’t hurt to grow your financial empire.
Eating well is one of the best things that you can do for yourself. On our $200/m grocery budget, Brian and I cut out soda and limited snacks like chips to $10 a month. Plus, we made sure to eat seasonal fruit with breakfast and lunch, and lots of veggies with lunch and dinner. Just by doing that, without any change in exercise level, Brian lost almost 20lbs in about one year – and it has stayed off. It was amazing. We still eat fatty pork, bacon and all that good stuff (though certainly not everyday).
Exercise doesn’t have to cost a lot either. While we do pay for a yoga pass, we also run once a week and spend time walking or cycling to places instead of taking the car.
That’s great you guys are getting some healthy exercise in your schedules at least once a week. I’ve been thinking about buying a bike. After all it runs on fat and saves money on gas, while a car costs money and makes me fat lol.
Avoid carbs, eat plenty of protein, throw in some exercise and voila!
Money helps of course.
Yeah especially avoid carbs after 7pm. I also heard drinking ice water speeds up your metabolism.
That’s so funny that you wrote this because when I was teleprompting for the news yesterday there was a story about this, and I was like “Wow, it makes sense but I never really thought about it”. But I really do think you can be healthy at any budget. Vegetables are cheaper than a bag of chips people!
It’s something people who make more than $30K a year like me take for granted sometimes. A big part is education oneself about these things and using common sense.
I’m sure if low income earners cut out the smoking and drinking they could buy more fruits and vegetables and live healthier, but I’m just sayin’…
They could also grow a garden!
Not to mention by just quitting smoking and drinking alone their health would already be vastly improved.
I read somewhere – Food is weight, health is exercise. The 2 can be separated, but most of us combine them as part of a balanced lifestyle. Food is weight means if you want to lose weight, eat less, excercise is not necessary. If you want to live a healthy life, excercise. I realaize most of us think they are one in the same, but they are not.
Cheers, I have to go for my run now… 😛
That’s true. Especially in developed countries we don’t have to worry about food related health issues like malnutrition. I hear many experts say the most effective way to lose weight is to have a calorie deficit.
I mostly write about money, but I’m doing a Whole30 lifestyle change now and blogging about it on the side. Eating whole foods is definitely not easy. livetheneweconomy.com/health-and-wellness After I’m done, I’m sure I’ll go back to an 80% Paleo / 20% Non-Paleo diet.
I haven’t spent too much time trying to find the right diet balance for myself, but it should be something I should do more of. I’m pretty interested in the Paleo way of eating. There’s something down to earth about it and my friend who’s really into the Paleo diet right now is convinced he’s going to become a centenarian one day 😀
Im fat, i guess you know where i stand in the society now 🙁
Most Canadians are overweight, so this means you’re normal.
Oh lol You are funny. Losing weight wouldn’t hurt me, but I pretty like my bootilicious figure – thank you. And loosing weight = less boom power.
There’s a PG13 quote I heard once that goes something like “the bigger the cushion, the sweeter the pushin'” lol
Even found myself twenty years later in Basel reading an article about the upcoming 25 year celebration of the Basel jazz scene, the writer even saluted me for the gigs I provided years ago.