Alan & Brenda Leonard

> I'd say healthy means that if someone asked you to climb a mountain
> tomorrow, you could do it. You could walk 20 miles if you needed to.
> Healthy means being able to do anything a body your age should be
> able to do. It means not getting every cold that comes along. It
> means getting up every morning and feeling vital and alive.

Robin,

I think your definition of healthy is more rigorous than what many people
consider healthy. But consider this: I get up most mornings feeling vital
and alive. I do not get colds very often, certainly not every one that
comes along. Just before leaving the U.S. 15 months ago, I walked 60 miles
(20/day for 3 days) to raise money for breast cancer research and services.
I've climbed mountains. Booked tomorrow, how about Sunday?

I'm also about 50 lbs. overweight. Textbook healthy? No. But I fit a
number of your criteria.

Just what should a body my age be able to do? There's a fair range for
women in their mid-thirties. Unlike your great-grandma, most folks don't do
farm chores. That's a fact of life today. On the other hand, I don't think
that most folks start their day with 3 ibuprofen, either.

brenda

the_clevengers

--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., Alan & Brenda Leonard <abtleo@e...> >
Robin,
>
> I think your definition of healthy is more rigorous than what many
people
> consider healthy. But consider this: I get up most mornings
feeling vital
> and alive. I do not get colds very often, certainly not every one
that
> comes along.

I have no doubt that you, and others who responded to this thread,
are healthy. My intent was not to say that any one specific person
was healthy or not. I'm sure on a list like this, we even have a
greater percentage of healthy people than in the general population.
It strikes me that homeschoolers that I know are, in general, quite
active and alive people. But that doesn't mean that when you walk
into a WalMart in the middle of America you are going to see the same
kind of thing. I still believe that most of the people in America are
not healthy. Not *all* of the people by any scope, but *most*. A
healthy body fat percentage, for instance, is 18 - 22% for women. The
*average* American woman is 34%. So in that one instance, and in so
many others, *most* (again, not all) people in this country are
simply not healthy. That's not an indictment of them, or of any
person specifically, it's just something I happen to believe is true.

Of course, others can also choose to disagree with me, have a
different definition of healthy, or whatever. What matters to me is
that my family is healthy by our own standards, because we are very
active people and I want my kids to experience what it feels like to
have a very vital and capable body throughout their whole life. I
also want them to be able to depend on their own bodies for
transportation, and all sorts of other physical tasks. Who knows,
someday that might even be a necessary feature again. I meet people
in their 50s, 60s, 70s, and beyond who are still doing amazing things
and it inspires me to feel like that is a possibility in our futures
as well. So, when I consider what food to buy for our family, and
what goes into my kids' bodies, my definition of healthy is important
to that.

Blue Skies,

-Robin-

kayb85

A
> healthy body fat percentage, for instance, is 18 - 22% for women.

Or at least what *they* are saying now. In 5 years they'll probably
come out with a new "study" that says "oops! We were wrong about
that!"
Sheila

[email protected]

In a message dated 10/18/02 8:42:25 PM, diamondair@... writes:

<< I still believe that most of the people in America are
not healthy. >>

Big difference between "most are" (which could be 51%) and the original
statement (was it nearly no one is healthy? Virtually all are unhealthy?
What was the original phrase?). It sounded more in the 98% range.

My mother in law is nearly 80. She hiked the Grand Canyon a couple of years
ago. She plays golf. She loves how healthy she is. She also smokes
cigarettes sometimes. She's also mean.

Give a choice (and hey, I DO have a choice!) I'd rather spend my time with a
kindly, non-smoking unhealthy person than with my mother in law (or others
like her).

Sandra

the_clevengers

--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., SandraDodd@a... wrote:
> Give a choice (and hey, I DO have a choice!) I'd rather spend my
time with a
> kindly, non-smoking unhealthy person than with my mother in law (or
others
> like her).

I totally agree! But I think healthy encompasses mental health,
spiritual health, more than just bodily health. If a person is truly
healthy - mind, body, spirit - then they are usually a joy to be
around. And there are plenty of people on the whole spectrum of
health to non-health who are fun to hang out with.

It's not a value judgement or a statement of character to say someone
is healthy or not healthy, or for a person to feel that way about
themself. One of my good friends about 15 years ago was a guy who
weighed 400 pounds and could hardly walk around. Then he lost 190
pounds and became this super-athletic kind of guy. Then he gained
about 50 pounds back and became a semi-athletic, semi-couch potato
kind of guy. But he was always the same guy - always funny, always
kind, always interesting. Health is really a quality that just counts
to the particular person.

I don't want my kids to be healthy because I think healthy people are
somehow "better". I just feel personally that when a person is truly
healthy, that they can fully appreciate and enjoy all that life has
to offer, not be limited in some way that they don't have to be. I
feel grateful that my parents gave me the gift of good health -
through the foods that we, as a family, ate, through our activity
level, through our friendships, groups, etc. through our
appreciation and enjoyment of nature and being outdoors. My mom even
breastfed me for a year in an era when that was darn near not done,
and I feel that was a gift too. I want to give my children the same
gift.

Blue Skies,

-Robin-

[email protected]

In a message dated 10/19/02 4:37:19 PM, diamondair@... writes:

<< I don't want my kids to be healthy because I think healthy people are
somehow "better". >>

It's really okay to be honest. You must think it's better or you wouldn't
care one way or the other.

-=-I just feel personally that when a person is truly
healthy, that they can fully appreciate and enjoy all that life has
to offer, not be limited in some way that they don't have to be.-=-

Fully appreciating and enjoying life is better than unnecessary limits.

-=-I want to give my children the same gift.-=-

Because you consider it a wonderful thing.

Don't back down when you think you're right! It's more okay to say "This is
important and RIGHT" than to wimp out and say "Well, I'm sure RC and moonpie
is just as good as homegrown vegetables."

Sandra

the_clevengers

--- In Unschooling-dotcom@y..., SandraDodd@a... wrote:
>
> In a message dated 10/19/02 4:37:19 PM, diamondair@e... writes:
>
> << I don't want my kids to be healthy because I think healthy
people are
> somehow "better". >>
>
> It's really okay to be honest. You must think it's better or you
wouldn't
> care one way or the other.


I am being honest, but let me be more clear. I think some *foods* are
better than others. I think *feeling* healthy is better than not
feeling healthy. I think having a body that can do what you want it
to is better than having a body that's limited (and having broken 13
bones in this life, I know what the limits feel like when they're
there!). But I don't judge people, friends or otherwise, on whether
they're healthy. I don't feel that they're a better *person* if
they're healthy. I want my kids to be healthy because I think they'll
have a greater quality of life for whatever time they're given to be
on earth. I don't want them to be healthy because I think that
somehow that would make them a superior person to those around them.
Hopefully that's a better definition of what I meant in the quote
above.

> Don't back down when you think you're right! It's more okay to
say "This is
> important and RIGHT" than to wimp out and say "Well, I'm sure RC
and moonpie
> is just as good as homegrown vegetables."

LOL, I don't think anyone who knows me would say that I'm the kind of
person who "wimps out" when it comes to my beliefs. I'm rather known
for stating my mind :-) I *do* believe it is better, for our family
and for our kids, for us to be healthy. I don't try to tell others
that they're a bad person because they had a moonpie and cola for
breakfast. I might think that they're not a particularly *healthy*
person if that's their regular daily breakfast fare, but that doesn't
mean I think that they're a *bad* person or someone I wouldn't want
to be around.

My whole statement about most people not being healthy was not meant
to be derogatory, just a statement of fact. But it is also true that
this topic pushes a lot of buttons for people. Our culture is very
caught up in weight, size, etc. issues. For many people big=bad and
small=good. Also for many people big=unhealthy and small=healthy,
which is not necessarily the case. For myself, I just want to be
healthy, and I want my kids to feel that way too. 'Nuff said.

Blue Skies,

-Robin-