Why Being 100% Healthy Shouldn’t Be The Goal

As a lover of nutrition, and a firm believer that a good diet and a healthy lifestyle can go extremely far into preventing illness, it might be surprising to you that I don’t think we should aim–or need to be–100% healthy. Don’t get me wrong: I take my health incredibly seriously. I have used good nutrition, stress management techniques, proper sleep and therapy to help with things like my digestive health, candida, anxiety, joint pain and weight loss.

In fact, when doctors tell me I have something that can’t be fixed–like when my family doctor told me I had to accept my scoliosis and expect for it worsen, 5 years ago–I take it as a personal challenge. I can fix anything. I’m invincible! (I’ve just started the first steps into correcting my scoliosis through chiropractic care and I’m very excited.)

If there’s a natural remedy, I’ve probably tried it. I’ve definitely recommended it. And so, so many times it’s worked. It’s a running joke amongst people that know me that I’ll give you coconut oil or raw honey to put on/put in/drink with almost anything (it really does help!). Cause you know what? I love natural health. And I have seen first hand how far small things like eating vegetables and getting enough sleep can go into drastically improving your health.

So if I believe you can always improve your health, why am I telling you that you shouldn’t? 

While I love the idea that if you sip a magic turmeric potion, all problems will disappear, it’s becoming more and more apparent to me that the logic that if we eat better/sleep better/do better/are better we will be completely healthy, is actually really f*cking damaging.

For one, it’s an impossibly high standard to meet. To be illness-free. To be perfect. It also puts the blame on the person with a health condition. Somehow it’s their fault: for exposing themselves to air pollution, for not eating a bowl of kale everyday, for simply living life to the best of their understanding and capabilities. It blames them not only for getting sick, but also for staying sick. Well, if you stopped eating this, you wouldn’t have this health problem. If you cared enough about your body, you’d do this instead. 

We nutrition nuts can sometimes get a little preachy. I’m definitely guilty of this. We think about health as the ultimate end game, and through good nutrition and lifestyle habits we can do anything. We can live to be 102 years old, with our 6-packs still intact, with great posture, head full of hair, living disease-free, and somehow our vision has magically improved with age.

But here’s the thing: being human has risk.

It just does. You can do everything right, and still get sick. A healthy lifestyle isn’t a cure-all. It won’t fix a disability, it won’t correct how you were brought up/what you were exposed to as a kid. In fact, it may not even help with weight loss or getting off certain medications or preventing a life-changing surgery. It’s not a magic bullet.

I want to repeat that: living a healthy lifestyle does not make you immune to the experiences and consequences of being human.

Because everyday we are exposed to risk. Everyday there are factors completely outside of our control that dictate how our lives will unfold. And we can do a lot to minimize risk: we can stay educated, we can make decisions based on the information at hand to reduce risk. For example, knowing that you have a family history of heart disease and knowing what foods will decrease that risk is powerful information. But there’s still risk.

So should you even bother living a healthy life? Bad things might happen anyway.

Of course you should!

Eating a whole-foods nourishing diet may not lead to weight loss., but it’s still good for you. It can still prevent other problems down the road. Weight loss, and being thin, is not always proof of good health.

But in the same way you can’t spot treat fat on your stomach by going to the gym and only doing crunches, you can’t spot treat the areas of your life that you wish were completely healthy. Cause, to be honest, being 100% healthy is not only not normal, it’s unattainable.

I used to get so upset when I’d get the flu: I eat well, I take vitamin C, I sleep well. Shouldn’t I be immune? I’d get upset if I got a UTI and had to take antibiotics. Or if my stomach would get bloated. If I broke out into a rash. If my pants started to fit snuggly. If I got a headache. If my period cramps were awful that month. In fact, I spent a lot of time criticizing my health, and feeling like I was failing.

And that’s when I realized that a healthy lifestyle doesn’t make you immune to life. A healthy lifestyle just gives you the tools your body needs to better handle life.

Physiotherapy may not cure my scoliosis, but it will probably decrease the curve and improve my alignment.

A gluten-free and dairy-free diet may not always prevent digestive distress, but I go most days never getting bloated and that feels great.

I probably will, and have, been exposed to bacterial and viral illnesses, but I do think getting enough sleep and eating nutrient-dense foods shortens how long I’m sick for and how bad my symptoms are.

To be clear: I love nutrition. And I love health. But I also love red wine, chocolate and making decisions that aren’t always healthy. Because that’s life. Because I’m human. And so are you (presumably).

I hope this post encourages you to take care of your health, without forgetting that health, while important, is not the only factor in living a quality life. You are not less worthy if you have a disease or an illness, a disability, if you’re overweight, if you struggle with your mental health, if your body is not well-represented (or at all). You are doing great. And there is so much more to life than what you eat.

Lots of love,