Health Is Wealth – Why Your Health Is More Important Than Your Money

Have you ever heard the saying “Health is Wealth”?  I am not sure who coined the phrase but I think there’s a degree of truth to that statement.  It may even be more important than all the money you have.

If your wealth is a number, your health would be the leading “1” on a $1,000,000,000 (one trillion dollar) jackpot.  All the other zeroes represent your material wealth – a house, a car, your investments, family, friends, etc.  As you can see, without the “1” in front, it will just be $0,000,000,000 which is basically NOTHING.  This is the same as your health.  If you’re NOT healthy, if you’re getting sick all the time, all your riches do NOT matter…

I got sick with cough and cold the past couple of days…again.  With the very hectic schedule during the Holidays, and my wife and I making ala “amazing race” from Manila to the northern part of the Philippines they call Ilocos & Cagayan, topping it off with the pressure of going back to work on a night shift immediately right after the race (ooppss..I mean vacation? :))…I was REALLY exhausted…as a result, I got sick (again).

Eating right

Sadly, I’ve not been eating right for the past couple of months…

I almost always eat out at delicious but not so healthy fast food restaurants, eating tasty fried chicken, fatty “sisig” or inihaw na “liempo” (grilled pork belly?).  I’m just too lazy to cook food when I get home after a long day at work.

Coffee is my water.  I drink coffee in the morning, in the afternoon and at night.  Sometimes I feel the strongest brewed coffee I drink can no longer keep me awake.  The good thing is…I easily ended up getting not one but TWO Starbucks planner even before the Holidays. 🙂

When I don’t drink coffee, I splurge on sodas.  There’s even a time when I drank 2 liters of “DIET” coke (a.k.a. Coke Light) each night for a couple of days…That’s when my body started to give up and I got the nasty cold & cough.

Being physically active

When I was in Malaysia, I used to play badminton or tennis twice a week.  I also have this basketball game with friends every weekend.  On top of it all, our office was a good 1 kilometer “walking” distance from our condo.  As you can imagine, I had several physical activities lined up for me to keep my body moving and healthy.

When I came back to the Philippines, it was a complete 180 degree turn for me.  The only exercise I did is to have my fingers tap at my computer’s keyboard all day and all night long.  I convinced myself that I was “too busy” tapping at the keyboard to do anything else, much less a physically challenging activity called “exercise”.  Not even once was I able to go to the gym because of laziness.  No wonder my belly seems to be getting bigger and bigger everyday. 🙂

Where do I go from here?

I really don’t believe in New Year’s resolutions…but I realize I must change or I’ll keep getting sick again and again.  So first thing I want to do is to get well from this persistent cold & cough.  Second, I’ll try to keep my self healthy for a change.  Eat healthy food.  Minimize coffee and sodas.  Drink more water instead.  Eat fruits.  And lastly, I want to go finally use the gym at the condo and get my money’s worth at the hefty association dues I pay every month.  Wish me luck!

How about you? How are you keeping yourself healthy in 2010?