I have a hunch that everyone, if not all the time, sometimes ignores what is known to be the "healthier way", and feels bad for doing so. What un-healthfully things do you do, or have you done, and then wondered later why? Smoke, drink, poor diet, ill-fitting shoes, name it! Frank
I don't want to make it a long boring list so just a couple things are I smoke cigarettes, I drink about a 12 pack of diet soda a day and I use salt liberally. None of which I feel guilty about. I am overweight but I have no health problems at all.
I could stand to lose some weight. Other than that, I'm pretty good. I smoked for a few years starting in high school, but I was in my early twenties when I quit. I only smoked a half a pack a day at that. I have been drunk only a few times in my life, and only once after high school. It doesn't take much because I don't generally drink alcoholic beverages. I tried marijuana a few times but it just made me feel tired and stupid. I did acid several times in the 60s but that was about as far as I went as far as recreational drugs. I tried a few other things but didn't like them. During the first thirty years of my life, I didn't pay much attention to what I ate, but for the past thirty years I have been staying away from most processed foods, opting for organic over non-organic, and buying as much as possible from farmers markets, including local meats. Although not religiously, as we do buy stuff from the supermarket as well. My largest vices are diet sodas. I drink about two six-packs of Moxie or Ginger Beer per week, sometimes more. Once in a while I'll treat myself to some Hagen Dazs vanilla ice cream, but there's no point in cheating if it's not Hagen Dazs. When I'm dieting, for some reason I have an urge to eat potato chips and dip, but I don't often give in to that, and the times I have done so, I've regretted it because it makes me sick.
But you do not mention age. Not too important, really, except I think the smoker who makes it to 70-75 beats the odds. My sister started Freshman year in high school, I recall vague but loud discussions about it, I was 5 then. Her heart gave out at 65, unable to pump enough blood to and from ruined lungs, she being 12 years older than I, gone in 1995. Curious story: I worked with a guy whose wife was a heavy smoker; they had a little girl about 4. Both of them despised smoking. His wife, when we visited, invited to dinner at his house, excused her "disgusting" habit! Ken, on the other hand, understood the craving. He gave it up, but explained that once daily, he allowed the indulgence of ONE CIGARETTE, after dinner! I believed him, as I never saw him smoke. It told me, "It CAN be done. Smoking CAN be controlled." But, easy for me to say. I smoked two "Tiparillos" once, playing Poker. That's it. But, ......but...Alcohol? Another story!! Frank
@Ken Anderson "I've regretted it because it makes me sick" Sick due to submitting to the urge, or sick, due to the chips? Frank BTW: Appreciated post. We all help ourselves, in some way, by "revealing".
I used to smoke but quit about 9 years ago, not early enough. I never really drank except when I lived in Hungary those 6 years. Probably made up for all the years I didn't drink in those 6. I tried pot once and didn't like it at all. Probably the worst thing I did was diet pills in the 70's, when they were still Full of amphetamine, Probably after my daughter was born to lose the weight. I didn't start smoking til I was 26 so thankfully I didn't smoke when pregnant because back then they didn't tell you not to.
It's no secret. I love beer. And pizza. And bread. Can't just have bread alone. It screams for lunch meat, cheese, lots of cheese. And horse radish. And onions. So, I guess food and drink were my downfall. Smoking was easy for me to stop, since I only smoked off and on anyway. Exercise was hard to stop. My exercise came from physically demanding jobs, from prowling the woods and fields hunting, and from trying to maintain a house during any 'free time'. When I had to stop working, I had to stop most everything else too.
Like @Ken Anderson, my vice is soda. I love ice cold Mountain Dew and it is tradition here to place the can in the freezer before we sit in the dining table. And obviously, another of my sins in the health department is eating salty food. I seem to have been addicted to fish sauce, that I use as dip for some dishes. Remember that I have issues with kidney stones so salt and salty foods are taboo. In fairness to me, I do a little exercise in the morning whenever I have time before dressing up for work.
I will admit to being a bit of a junk food junkie. I would eat probably eat a bit better if my budget allowed, but I like most things that are unhealthy, and torpedo the consequences! I do eat fruits and vegetables, drink water, and ocassionally get great exercise. I suppose my biggest vice would be too much of everything! Most foods in moderation...are not going to kill you. At least not right away...
I am one of those who drink coffee and soft drinks almost daily and was wondering later why i had heartburn and a high response to stress. When I stopped these caffeine drinks, I suffered withdrawal symptoms that include headaches and listlessness.
I don't consider coffee to be a vice. I drink coffee from the time I get to just before I go to bed, particularly in the winter, but not so much in July and August.
Yikes! I drink one cup in the morning but it's probably as strong as all of yours. I make it very strong.
Sometimes, a full length mirror is what we need. I tried on a shirt today and was saddened and shocked by what I saw in the store mirror. Flashes of all the unhealthy items I have been treating myself to came to mind.
I'm 72 years old and have been smoking since I was a young teen. I've been drinking diet soda since I was about 30.
@Chris Ladewig Diet soda, yep, in summer I drink perhaps 6 to 8 cans daily. Hard to equate the unhealthfulness of colored water to that of smoking, for me. You have heard all the stories, I won't go there. Here is an interesting fact, though, rather unbelievable, revealing that if all the air sacs in a pair of human adult lungs were spread out flat they would cover an immense are. Frank "Estimates of the total surface area of lungs vary from 50 to 75 square metres (540 to 810 sq ft);[7][9] roughly the same area as one side of a tennis court"