The cost of getting healthy
Nothing is more expensive than being unhealthy; eating healthy could be a close second.
I got some bad news from a blood test: My liver enzymes tested high. No big deal; You can regrow a liver, right? Long story short- I read that drinking beet juice detoxes the liver. So I ordered up some apple, beet and ginger juice from Jugos on Mass ave. 16 oz ran me $8.
One a day for a week is $56. $224 a month to restore my liver. That’s about $3000 if I drink one a day for the entire year.
I read that Lebron James spends over a million dollars a year on his body. This makes sense for him because a healthy Lebron commands a LOT of money. 10 years at a million dollars per can be recouped with a single one year contract.
Eccentric millionaire Bryan Johnson spends upwards of $2 million a year on his health regimen and claims “My chronological age is 44, measured biological age is 36." He can afford it, and it will add years to his life and quality to those years.
My dream of NBA riches has faded and I can already outperform the typical 36 year old (at 44). How healthy do I want/need to be?
What is the cost of that level of fitness? I’ve seen healthy people keel over at 50 while some old lady subsisting on Diet Coke and cigarettes lives past 80?
Is an investment in your health worth it?
Always.
You have choices.
Drink Diet Coke, smoke a pack a day, watch soaps, eat frozen pizzas, lose your breath walking to the bathroom. We can’t say when you’ll croak but we can assume your last 7-10 years are a maze of Doctor visits ($), surgeries ($$), medication ($$$), anxiety and discomfort.
or…
Buy the juice ($), hire the trainer ($$), install the sensory deprivation chamber in your basement ($$$), embrace physical discomfort, walk to work, lift weights, go on hikes. Fitness/Nutrition are the fountain of youth! Your last 7-10 years are still a long defeat; but that’s inevitable. This way you’re on your feet for more of it.
Those are the extremes, but you get my point. Age like Tom Cruise in Maverick, or age like one of the other beauties who didn't make the sequel. No guarantees except death, taxes and at the end you can’t take anything with you.
An extra $3k on juice is sounding like a bargain.
Bottoms up.