Can money buy us a healthy lifestyle?

Money is an essential part of our lives and is needed for almost everything. Health has become desirable in today's society and is something that most want or aspire to. There is a common question of 'Does money buy us happiness?' but I wanted to find out if money is important to live healthily. Has being healthy become a luxury? And if so why is it this way?

There are a few main factors that contribute to a healthy life in my opinion. Diet and exercise. Let's look into diet first. Scientists say that to have a healthy diet you need to be eating a variety of food groups in correct proportions to provide the body with optimum nutrition. The key food groups include carbohydrates, protein, fats, fruit and vegetables and vitamins and minerals. However many of these food groups in the supermarket can be expensive. In tesco whole chicken is £3.50 cheapest, and pork sausages are £1.80 cheapest. Some families do not have the luxury of being able to provide themselves with all the food groups every day as it is simply too much money. If we look into so called 'junk foods' we find that on average they are a lot cheaper in all supermarkets and therefore they are more accessible to everyone. These foods include, crisps, biscuits, and sweets. In addition, supermarkets often have deals on these types of food such as, buy 1 get 1 free and 15% off with a clubcard. This once again draws customers in to buying products that they may not necessarily want or need. This contributes to people living an unhealthy lifestyle and although we need everything in balance but, if we overindulge in junk food this is not balanced.

Furthermore drinking water is crucial for healthy living and luckily in the UK, we have access to clean and safe water from our taps. Realistically, because of the water access people should be able to live healthy lifestyles, instead of drinking alcohol and soft drinks which are firstly more expensive and secondly not beneficial for our health.

The other factor contributing to a healthy lifestyle is exercise. Anyone can easily take part in exercise however, those with money do have better access to exercise resources. With their money they can afford to gain access to personal trainers, gym memberships and more exclusive sports such as sailing and rock climbing, which people deprived of a disposable income, do not have. As a result it may be harder for them to get good excericise. A pair of trainers is not going to blow your bank account and they are something that is accessible tomost people. With trainers you can go for walks, run and do you own workouts. You don't necessarily need much else to have quality exercise. In addition many cardio workouts and home workouts can be done with an internet connection. Joe Wicks showed us all thought the lockdowns that exercise is accessible to everyone with his PE with Joe workouts. Yes, if you have money excericse may be more fun and easier however it doesn't mean you have to have money to excericese. Many exercises can be done with our own bodyweight such as press ups and squats showing we don't actually need anything else to get fit. People with more money may be getting an enhanced exercise but it does not mean that they are having a healthier lifestyle.

Ultimatley having a healthy lifestyle is down to motivation and self control. Seeing discounts in supermarkets does not mean we have to buy them, no matter how much we are drawn to them. It acts as a sales strategy to save us money but, we don't actually need to buy into it. As with exercise having money is not any more likely to make us do exercise and at the end of the day its weather you can motivate yourself to do it. Money can not buy you motivation!

Obviously not everyone has a healthy lifestyle, but if people wanted to it is something that is fairly easy to achieve. As discussed a healthy lifestyle is achievable so if you really want it, whats stopping you?

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thomasjlblog

3rd March 2021