Can You (At Least) Save Your Own Life?-- Part I

Life can be dangerous. Little, seemingly harmless everyday things and situations can, with great speed and ease, be transformed into something life-threatening. The ability to save your own life is enormously important. Once you're dead, everything is done. You don't get any re-dos.

Unfortunately, the average man or woman does not possess the necessary tools to save his or her own life. In fact, some people are doing the opposite on a daily basis. The following are some things that you should know about saving your own life.

Part I: Save Yourself From Yourself

Before you can save your own life from accidents, random acts of violence, or natural disasters, it's best to look a little closer to home and see what things you might be doing to harm yourself. Things like smoking or drug use or excessive consumption of alcohol are some pretty common things we humans do to hurt ourselves; however, there is a rising issue in the United States and the world as a whole. Obesity in the United States affects approximately 1/3 of the population and an increasing number of children. Worldwide, over 1 billion people are overweight or obese. This is fast becoming one of the largest health concerns in the entire world, as heart disease and diabetes are more prevalent than ever, millions of man-hours are lost on the job every year, and the medical costs of obesity push into the hundreds of billions per year.

First things first, if you are obese, the first person from who you need to save yourself... is yourself. If you're happy being extremely overweight and nothing is going to make you change, then I wish you the best. However, modern science is revealing more and more detrimental effects caused by being overweight and obese. How do you fix this?

The simple answer is "Eat better, move more."  In the end, that's really all boils down to. Eat more fruits and veggies, choose lean meats and fish more often, add nuts and seeds into your diet, and if you eat grains, choose darker whole grains over bleached refined carbohydrates.

As far as movement goes, just do more of it. Walk. Take the stairs, when you can. Park further away from where you need to go. Play an active game, either outside or using a video game. If you need help, get active with friends or perhaps get a personal trainer, if you need one.

Or you can start here.

I'm not going to harp on this one for too long. After you've improved your health, you can then focus on your level of fitness, and move onto the next part.