Healthy. It's a compliment.

PC: Grainy Tomato

A few years ago, the last thing I wanted to be called was healthy. To me, it was the furthest thing from a compliment. Why? Because I didn’t want to be healthy. I believed that to look ‘well’ was a bad thing. It was a metaphor for having put on weight and I did not want to gain weight. I wanted to remain as thin as possible and thought to be the fastest runner I could, I needed to look ‘unhealthy’. Deluded I know. However, fast forward a few years, and healthy is an incredibly positive thing to be called, and something I don’t even second guess. It is a compliment, because our health is the most precious thing we can have, so we should embrace it. 

I wanted to write this blog as someone called me healthy the other day and I remembered how the word didn’t always have positive connotations to it for me. However, this time, it made me smile, because to present day me, to be healthy is to be exactly where I want to be; in a strong place. I didn’t always think like this, so I want to explain to you why being ‘healthy’ is 100% a compliment, and to help others who maybe don’t view the word in the amazing light they should. 

What does health signify?​

Health signifies a lot of things, but to start with it is a sign of strength. In order to be the strongest we can be, we need to be the healthiest we can be. This is because to get stronger and build muscle, we need to fuel ourselves properly to allow muscle to build. Without sufficient fuel, we would be unable to recover properly, and therefore not repair and build muscle maximally. 
To me, I see health as a green light for training. I know, every month, when my period comes around, it is a sort of green tick that everything is on track. My period tells me that my body is working as it should, and I am fuelling myself plentifully to sustain my body and the training I ask of it. It is a sort of comfort and reassurance, that may body is functioning well. 

Being healthy is one of the main things that can help reduce injury risk! If our bodies and bones are in a healthy state, they are likely to be more robust, and therefore withstand the demands of training a lot better. As an athlete, injury is something a lot of us fear and do not wish even upon anyone, therefore, why not one of the simple things we can to prevent it? If we can help prevent it simply by having a healthy body, why not?! 

Finally, the word healthy indicates having high energy levels. Health is wealth, because with health on our side we can perform to the best of our abilities. By fuelling ourselves with plenty of wholesome food, we can provide ourselves with the energy levels we need to train at our hardest. Not only can we have enough energy to train, but also to meet the demands of daily life on top of this. There is nothing worse than feeling energy dead before you have even started a run, and not because you are tired from training, but simply because you haven’t fuelled properly, so we can avoid this, by eating well. 

If anything, I hope this has allowed you to see that being healthy is an incredible thing to be, and it is the most precious thing we can all individually have. Some people have their health taken away out of no reason that is their own, so why would we take it away ourselves?