3 Reasons Why People are Unhealthy.

We're at a crucial point in history.

We're addressing many societal norms we know are wrong and unbeneficial for humanity.

We're addressing our trauma, learning how to heal from it, and not to repeat the mistakes of the past.

This is happening in the area of health and nutrition too.

More and more people are being outspoken about the reality of the food we consume in the USA and other consumable products we use.

And the pushback these people receive is unbelievable.

I never thought I would see people argue in favor of staying sick and maintaining the status quo.

This inspired me to think about why people don't pursue a healthier lifestyle, and here's what I think affects us.

1. Being healthy requires maintaining lifestyle changes.

It requires discipline, and being disciplined takes work.

I wrote a blog about working with a holistic doctor and how she's helped tremendously with my digestive issues — right above.

In that blog, I mentioned how through nutrition changes and whole-food supplementation, my doctor helped me achieve relief.

I will be honest; it's not easy.

I've overhauled my diet.

To keep these results I've gotten, I need to consume little to no sugar, avoid seed oils and refined oils, avoid anything that isn't organic because of the heavy pesticides used in non-organic foods, fast food is a complete no-no, etc.

You get the point.

Some people may look at this and think, 'I can't do that. That's way too rigorous or restrictive.'

Then I started thinking to myself, what if I looked at this from the point of view of, for example, a person with diabetes?

People with diabetes have no choice but to follow a strict diet. Otherwise, the consequences can be deadly for them.

Why don't we look at our health from a similar standpoint?

We know that junk food isn't good for us. We know it can lead to many problems if we consume it regularly—like sugar. Sugar can also cause many long-term problems if we don't check how much we consume.

That's when I realized it; people are too lazy to think about all of these things and take action.

Some people may say it's because they can't afford to eat all organic or they don't have the time. Do you think a person with diabetes has the time? No, they make it happen because it's a life-and-death situation they face daily.

Honestly, it's a life-and-death situation for us too.

The only reason we don't take action like a person with diabetes is because our bodies haven't gotten to a point where it would start failing right away.

This may seem harsh, but it's the reality we face with the food we choose to consume.

We need to take the time to educate ourselves, read food labels, and start making better choices so we don't have significant problems in the long run.

Yes, discipline is challenging. But the pain of discipline is better than the pain of having to pay thousands of dollars in hospital bills.

2. Changing your lifestyle habits will inevitably impact other areas of your life.

This includes your relationships.

Believe it or not, there's a downside to healthy, positive changes. People don't take kindly to change, which reflects their poor habits.

I noticed this happening with my friend group years ago.

About three to four years ago, I started counseling, taking better care of myself, and improving my lifestyle.

That included drinking less, going out less, etc.

My group of friends weren't the biggest fans of this change.

I chose to stay home and get a full night's sleep instead of going out until three or four in the morning.

I chose to wake up earlier, work out, and read a book instead of just plopping on the couch and watching TV for hours.

When you start making these positive changes and the people around you aren't doing the same, they resent you.

People don't like it when they think those around them are doing better than them.

Their ego gets hurt because it reflects the work and the better lifestyle choices they could and should be doing but aren't.

So what do they do? They start making fun of you for it.

They start mocking the positive changes.

That's when some of us succumb to peer pressure or ridicule and go back to being mediocre with our habits.

People don't like being mocked or ridiculed. Unfortunately, we want to protect our egos so much that we're willing to give up positive lifestyle changes so others won't make fun of us.

Many of us would rather join the crowd than be seen as the black sheep that's 'weird' and does their own thing.

3. We've reached a point where being healthy and fit is seen as shallow and problematic.

Being disciplined with your health is being mocked. People think you only care about your looks and the number on the scale.

They go so far as to call it problematic, fat-phobic, whatever negative label you can put on it that sticks.

I will admit I was this way at one point. I was so obsessed with the number on the scale that I started developing disorderly eating habits.

But everyone who works out or has a good, relatively strict diet isn't this way.

I highly dislike people jumping the gun and saying this person must have some problem with food to be strict. Consider the diabetic example; sometimes, people don't have a choice.

Nowadays, people have a lot of conditions that force them to follow a specific diet. I'm one of those.

My digestive problems were so bad that I couldn't sleep, I was constantly bloated and in pain, and I couldn't go to the bathroom regularly. It was a nightmare.

Once I started the nutrition program my doctor prescribed, I felt relief from my symptoms in the first week. One week!

Without being disciplined with my diet, working out, and making the healthy choices I know I should be, I'll go back to feeling sick, and that's the last thing I want.

For many of us, healthy lifestyle changes are about feeling normal again.

We don't work out to look a certain way, although it's a nice plus. We do it so we can move without pain and without struggling.

We do it so we don't feel like crap every time we eat. We do it to have energy and not feel tired and sluggish all day.

We do it to have a better quality of life now and in the future.

Some of us get to a point where we realize what the world thinks of us doesn't matter one bit. What matters is that we only get one chance on this earth, and we've decided to make it the best possible.

Who cares what your friends and family think? By the way, if the people close to you are making fun of you for making healthy changes, you should re-evaluate why you're friends in the first place.

People with genuinely good intentions toward you will be happy to see you make better choices. They will also feel inspired and may even come to you for help.

The rest of the world? Who cares what they think?

You definitely shouldn't.