Prologue

Over the years, I’ve worked harder and harder to find meaning in life. But the more I've looked, the more I’ve wondered if I was going about my search the wrong way.

I've been looking for meaning through experience, but I think now that I've always had it backwards. Life will never be defined by extravagant experience, but about finding extravagance in common experience. So for 2009, I'm going to focus less on living large, and focus more on living well. Each month I'll start a new month-long project (like trying to run 3 miles faster than George Bush), to find uncommon results from common experience. Each project will involve daily activity, so every day of 2009 you can check my progress on the monthly projects and see what I discover.

None of these projects will cost much—in fact, I think most will be free. So if you're looking for a year uncommonly rich, you can join me. There's no membership required, just participate and comment if you want. Either way, get ready for a year I hope is unlike any other.

 
 

It's March, and March is a …

A Month of Accomplishment (about)

 

~ or ~

 

Forcing myself to finish something (about)

 

07
01

What does healthy mean?

Written by Nathan on July 1, 2009 at 12:42 pm from A Month of Health Living.

According to the dictionary health means “in good health.” Right. In trying to pick a lunch today I had tomato basil soup, which after the fact I was told is certainly unhealthy owing to it’s cream base. So clearly, I don’t understand “heathy.”

Can anyone help? What does “healthy” mean?

4 Responses to “What does healthy mean?”

  1. Josh Hunter says:
    July 1, 2009 at 1:01 pm

    Here is your answer…if it is in it’s natural state, it is most likely healthy. Meats, fruits, vegetables…if it is a conglomeration of items mushed together to make something that tastes good, it is likely not. Furthermore, “healthy” requires moderation, which I am not inclined toward…20-30 min of high intensity cardio interval training (3x per week), 6/300-400 calorie meals (every 3 hours) per day (made up of the above mentioned foods) + 3 days per week of moderate, full body, weight training = healthy.

    There you have it. Try it for a month and you will be a month ahead of me.

  2. Beki says:
    July 1, 2009 at 1:05 pm

    In my opinion, eating healthy means eating things as close to their natural state as possible. The way God intended. Some people would take this to the extreme and eating everything raw. I don’t think you need to do that. But a “whole foods” diet would certainly be considered healthy. However, I believe your tomato basil soup with a cream base is still a better choice than a double cheeseburger. So, there you have it.

  3. Joshua Neds-Fox says:
    July 1, 2009 at 1:36 pm

    I don’t know about food/exercise, but the best general ‘health’ advice I’ve heard recently involves making sure there are margins in your life. Build rhythms of rest into your routines — daily, weekly, monthly, seasonally, yearly. If you live right up to the margin, then when things get tough, you have nowhere to go, and the related stress messes with your immune system. It’s why Americans get sick as soon as we start our vacations — suddenly we’re not in ‘fight or flight’ mode and our bodies shut down.

    Wendell Berry also has plenty to say about what health is and isn’t. I particularly enjoyed this essay: http://home.btconnect.com/tipiglen/berryhealth.html (also in *Another Turn of the Crank*, Counterpoint, 1996 / http://readernaut.com/jnonfiction/books/1887178287/another-turn-of-the-crank/, and why aren’t you using readernaut yet?)

  4. Daniel says:
    July 1, 2009 at 2:09 pm

    I think it means you candies that start with the corresponding letter of the alphabet.

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