2/3 of Americans are overweight--1/3 are obese. The stores are crammed with crap that should never see the insides of a human being. And yet, 75% of Americans say they eat healthy (NPR). 80% of Americans don't get the recommended exercise to maintain health (CDC). Only 31% make exercise a regular habit; 45% aren't active at all (UPI). Just 8% have meditated--not necessarily regularly (NIH).

Just 2.7% of Americans live a healthy lifestyle (Mayo Clinic). 1 in 3 don't get enough sleep; another 1 in 3 suffer chronic pain (CDC). We are the only developed country with a life expectancy stuck in the 70s -- all the rest range from over 81 to over 84. We compare ourselves to each other to evaluate our health, but being healthier than the person in the hospital bed next to yours doesn't make you healthy.

I watch people twisting themselves into pretzels with any approach conceivable except actually addressing diet, exercise, and meditation. That's like trying to fix a bucket with a whole in it by using different ways to put the water in the bucket. Or, "I know what to do--I just need to do it." Honestly? Not true--or you'd already be doing it. Either you don't know, or you're not going to do it.

Much of what we think is "aging" is actually the consequences of poor health. And, if we're all as healthy as we think, why do so many conversations feature virtual competitions to see who is sickest? "My knee is so bad." "That's nothing--you should have my headaches!" "You're both lucky--to have my bad back!"