Sure, lowering your heart rate, your blood pressure, your body fat percentage and increasing your good cholesterol and energy level are all good reasons to eat right and exercise, but are you so sick of those tired but true reasons you wish someone would give you some “real life” reasons to want to get healthy? Here are our best “non medical” reasons to change those unhealthy habits:

• Are you one of those people that have four different sets of sizes of clothes in your closet so that if you lose or gain weight you have plenty of choices for any given event? Do some of those outfits include bell bottoms to boot cut jeans, tie dyed t-shirts to polo style Izod shirts? Some of you may be wearing out dated fashions just because you refuse to spend money on a particular size. Once you begin a life of healthy habits you will begin to realize that you can have a one sized closet and you can go out and shop when you want to instead of waiting to lose 15 pounds to buy that little black dress you have been eyeing.
• Are you someone who after ten minutes of playing your son or daughter is out of breath? I’m not talking about playing tackle football with your teenager, I am referring to playing “peekaboo” with your toddler. Your lack of energy may be something as simple as just getting aerobically conditioned by walking or spending some time on your home cardio equipment. As you increase your aerobic fitness, you will notice that you can do more physical activity without becoming out of breath or feeling like your heart is pounding, like playing with your children. Many forms of aerobic exercise will also strengthen your muscles and increase your flexibility. One of the best and easiest aerobic activities is walking. You don't need special equipment, and it can be done almost anywhere. To get aerobic benefit, you must walk briskly—fast enough to increase your pulse and breathing, but not so fast that you can't talk comfortably. Some people start by walking 30 minutes daily, others start more gradually, with a 10-minute walk every other day. You might want to try walking 10 minutes 3 times a day which is roughly equivalent to walking 30 minutes once a day.
• Do you wish you could walk by a buffet and instead of choosing rolls, sauce covered pastas and desserts you would select an assortment of vegetables, lean meats and fruits? Well, by eating healthy foods, your body begins to crave those foods instead of the fatty, high in carbohydrate choices. In the words of John Kugelman, someone who struggled with poor choices, “What has helped me a ton has been to make eating a mental thing. I've sort of trained myself to feel bad when I eat junk food, and to feel good when I eat nutritional food. Over time, and I mean years, vegetables have actually tasted better and better as my mental reinforcement has actually changed my palate. I used to eat spinach and asparagus and cauliflower because I knew they were good for me. Now I eat them because they genuinely taste good.

You can change your taste if you work at it, you really can. I love chocolate cake, but I love a bowl of fruit equally now, because I don't feel guilty as hell after eating the latter. Eating without guilt is a really nice thing.”

If any of these describe you, it’s time to start an exercise and nutritionally healthy lifestyle so that you can buy the wardrobe you want now and wear it throughout the season, play with your children as long as you want to, and eat what your body needs and actually desires.  So there you have it, some reasons to change your lifestyle to incorporate healthy behaviors that have nothing to do with what your doctor tells you

By Christina Leon, Staff Writer