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When I was a small boy, a group of about 50 people took a week-long trip in about 20 boats, vessels of various shapes and sizes. We cruised exceedingly slowly, much slower than my family usually travelled when we were on our own. I asked my father why we were going so slowly. "When travelling as a group, you can only go as fast as the slowest member," he said. Health is comprised of many facets. It hinges as equally upon nutrition as it does upon adequate sleep. Someone who is mentally healthy but physically unfit could not be considered fully healthy. The various aspects of health are not just interrelated, they are interdependant. The "Amazing Sandow" was perhaps the world's strongest strongman. He could break chains that were wrapped around his biceps when he flexed. He was not a very healthy man, however, and he died of a heart attack. Jim Fixx was considered by many as the world's most fit man, at least in the category of cardiorespiratory fitness. He literally "wrote the book" on this aspect of fitness. Many folks considered him to have amazing health because of his fitness, but like Sandow, Fixx also died suddenly of a massive heart attack. It is a mistake to equate fitness with health. Some of our best Olympic athletes suffer from severe health problems ranging from asthma, to diabetes, to Grave's disease. If a person is healthy, then s/he must be fit, as fitness is one integral aspect of health. But being fit is not a sure sign that a person is healthy. Think of the links in a chain . If the chain was health and the links had names, we could call them, "fitness, nutrition, adequate sleep, rest, sunshine, fresh air, pure water, emotional poise, etc." The total chain would obviously only be as strong as its weakest link. In the same fashion, health hinges on the weakest link of anyone's program. Mistaking nutrition or fitness for overall health is a delusion. The beauty of this concept is that you can gain the most overall progress by paying attention to the weakest links of the chain rather than strengthening the strongest links. It is easier to strengthen your weaknesses than it is to strengthen strengths. In other words, for the best results with the least effort, strengthen your weak health links. The rest of the links in the chain are sufficiently strong. Like the boats in our small armada, had the slowest one sped up the others were all ready, willing and able to go faster. If you are a sedentary person, your total caloric needs will be lower than those of an active person. Yet we are designed to be active. Activity is fun for us, and a necessity of life. In Nature, we would each have to walk, run, and often climb for our meals. Our food supply offers specific nutrient density based upon the premise of us being active. The amount of food we are designed to consume rests on the idea that physical activity is part of our daily requirements. Without being active, we would not eat enough food, would not be sufficiently well nourished and therefore cannot be healthy. If a sedentary person eats foods according to caloric needs, he will not consume sufficient nutrients and will not be well-nourished or healthy. If he overeats on total calories, he may be well nourished, but will become overfat and hence cannot be healthy. Do not mistake sheer fitness for health. Health can be no better than its weakest link. Strengthen the weakest links in your health regimen and get the most "bang for your buck" in terms of results for your efforts. Strive to be fully healthy, and not just fit or simply well nourished.
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