Many people go through life not taking any responsibility for their own health. They drift along until something goes wrong then it is off to the doctor to get it fixed. It seems that people take better care of their car than their body and get it serviced regularly so it doesn’t break down.

You should think of your doctor as really just the breakdown service when the wheels fall off. What you do on a day to day basis is your ‘self care’ or maintenance and each of us is responsible for our own. Without this maintenance real health can never be achieved and real health is a great deal more than just ‘not being sick’ or an absence of disease.

Real health is about peak performance physically, mentally and emotionally. You have a high level of strength and energy, emotional balance, a lean slim body, and a sharp and nimble mind. Your strong healthy body has the ability to fight off disease and illness that stalks and pounces on so many people cutting their lives short after years (even decades) of pain, disability and ill health.

Diseases such as heart disease, cancer and diabetes are labeled ‘lifestyle’ diseases, caused by the way you live your life. Caused by what you do and don’t do each and every day in the way of proper nutrition and proper exercise. These diseases are preventable and rob families of their loved ones well before their time.

It is important that our life span is also matched by our health span. Our health is important and we tend to take it for granted until we find ourselves out of health. The knowledge about what it takes to remain healthy and well is vastly increasing every year, which has enabled people to live longer, and to treat more illnesses.

Yet we are producing children today that are now unhealthier and may even die before their parents. It is a sad fact that children being born today are predicted to have a 20-30 year shortened lifespan.

Deficiencies create situations in which millions of people world wide function well below their potential. These deficiencies are lack of proper nutrition and proper exercise. It can mean your blood doesn’t pump efficiently, your digestion doesn’t break down food properly, your weight keeps increasing, you have constant aches and pains, don’t feel well, aren’t sleeping properly, are depressed and the list goes on.

Yet your health cannot be left for your doctor to take care of. Your doctor does not look after your health; your doctor only looks after your illnesses. If your doctor says you are well and healthy it means that things have not got so bad that there are enough actual symptoms for a disease diagnosis.

But this can also mean a person it still far from being ‘well’ and they usually do not feel well either. In fact they are often called the ‘walking wounded’ as they are not sick enough to be bedridden (yet) but not well to function properly either.

It has been estimated 80 percent of diseases are caused by the lifestyle choices we make every day. Many people have good intentions and mean to get started on a proper exercise program and eat better but the trouble is it is much easier to put off doing things until tomorrow, and for many tomorrow never comes.

So what are you doing, now, today? Are you working on keeping your muscles and bones strong with strength training exercise a couple of times each week? If not give yourself a good talking to and get yourself started so your body doesn’t let you down somewhere down the track. It is all about prevention not waiting till there is a problem then looking around for someone to try and fix it as it will likely be way too late.

Remember – take good care of your body – it is the only place you have to live.