The Woes of ‘Healthy Living’
We’d all like to be a little healthier, but does this mean we have to sign up for the muesli and lyrca-clad culture too? CHARLOTTE HILL explores on our changing concept of ‘healthy’ and tries to make friends with her alarm clock.
Oh, carrot sticks! This ‘healthy living’ thing is deceptively difficult. In exam term we all try to be virtuous, and healthy living inevitably becomes a hot topic of conversation. But, however important it may be to look after ourselves, it seems to have become more about guilt than granola.
It all sounds so simple; so wholesome; so apple-crunchin’ly good. But, the art of the healthy lifestyle has been made into a complicated business.
For me, ‘healthy living’ conjures up images of white-clad, muesli-eating, yoga-doers on a mountainside. They are serene, and they are beautiful, and apparently they wake up really early. They make me angry.
This is not a lifestyle I can achieve. The word ‘healthy’ just leaves the bitter taste of broken resolutions and post-cake shame in my mouth. As such, all my attempts at healthy living have been disastrous. But, occasionally I tell myself: I will be wholesome. I will be a beacon of all that is pure and virtuous. I will be reborn as a person with some semblance of self-control.
Waking up with the sun is wholesome. Perhaps my previous lack of gusto for early mornings was because I didn’t have the sunrise and a leisurely bowl of muesli to look forward to? My usual duel with Time (otherwise known as the How-Many-‘Five More Minutes’-Can-Happen-Before-I-Actually-Miss-My-Supervision? game) will be replaced by a sprightly leap out of bed. I will greet the day with a yogic sun salutation. My alarm clock will become my friend.