How our grandparents lived

For most of us (and by most of us I mean our entire generation) grabbing a bite at the nearest fast-food or checking our email on the bus are normal thigs we do everyday. “Stress” is a real disease nowadays and obese children are no longer weird. If THAT doesn’t scare us, what will?

Healthy living is something our children may never know the meaning of, but there are a few things that we can still do for ourselves and maybe teach the next generation.
We cope with a lot of work and problems every day but there is still a way we could have a healthier lifestyle.

The past generations are the best example. Our grandparents knew how to enjoy life and be healthy and happy. At least most of them 🙂
They had different eating habits , other ways to make time pass and lived a lot longer than we ever will.

First things first.
Skipping a meal was forbidden! I know for a fact my parents had never skipped breakfast, lunch or dinner unless there was a life and death emergency. I know this because my grandparents never alowed it. Eating is important and respecting a schedule for the family meals is of great importance.

Nowadays we skip breakfast because we say there’s no time, we skip lunch or eat it at dinner time because we had to work and we skip dinner altogether or order fast food because we are to tired to do anything anymore.
These are not excuses.
If you want a healthier lifestyle, get up 10 minutes earlier and have breakfast! Those few minutes of less sleep never harmed anyone and breakfast is very important because it gives us a nice boost of energy to start the day.
Lunch is also a must. If you have a lunch break, use it! Don’t waste your lunch break for something else if it’s not crucial. Skipping it can result in… hunger and you’ll be less efficient as a result.
As for dinner, try at least eating some fruit or a simple sandwich.

Our grandparents walked a lot. They had cars to go to work but used bicycles or their own feet to visit someone, to go out, to go buy bread etc. We would use our car to go to the toilet if we could. I have friends who take their car to come visit and they live 3 blocks away.
There’s a saying in my country, “walking makes your feet beautiful”. We need to use our muscles unless we want to end up unable to move at all. The sedentary life we live nowadays is responsible for back aches, muscle problems and, from what I understand, a whole bunch of diseases such as anxiety, depression, obesity etc.

Another thing the past generations had that we now find less and less: friends. I mean REAL friends, not a long list of contacts on social networks.
I remember my parents used to schedule small dinner parties from time to time for their closest friends. They visited eachother taking turns, played games, talked, made vacation plans and HAD FUN.
We, on the other hand, have virtual friends we know nothing about and chat. Not everyone is a maniac (although it’s best to be extra carefull who you befriend on the ‘net) but sitting in a chair and chatting is not enough. People need human interraction, it’s how we are “built”. I can’t wait for school to start to see my colleagues face to face, it’s much more interesting that just typing words.

So, as a comparison, I think our grandparents had a better life than us, from certain points of view. They were healthier because they ate well and had physical activity and they were happier and more optimistic because thay had real friends to turn to.

Of course, our life is much easier: cell phones, online shopping etc. For a healhier life style though, we need to learn how to take the good parts from every generation and use them in our favor.