Active Survival – What is it?

I was talking to a morbidly obese man at work one day about diets and he mentioned a diet called the Warrior Diet. It sounded interesting so I decided to research it a little. The designer of the Warrior Diet, Ori Hofmekler wrote,” Not actively surviving is passively dying” and this statement impressed me. Exercising and eating well is actively doing something about the state of your health. If you don’t exercise, your muscles are wasting away and your cardio-vascular system is deteriorating. Fat is building up, trying to strangle your internal organs – you are passively dying. You are lying about doing nothing to stop it. The challenge is on to fight back and actually improve the body and mind as we age.

I decided to take the concept a little further and develop the idea of the Active Survivalist. This is someone who is interested in surviving as long as possible and in the best condition as possible. The last part is important as no one particularly wants to live a very long time in a decrepit and miserable state. So the intention is to expand the middle years – basically have middle age extend beyond the sixties and into the eighties and nineties. It will be no good to enter the eighties in an overweight and feeble state. If that happens you may well live to be a hundred but you are just passively making it through with a considerable loss of enjoyment of life and prone to more disease and discomfort. You will also be more reliant on those around you to nurse and care for you. People have successfully got to their eighties and nineties and managed to remain independent and active - the Active Survivalist consciously aims to achieve this.

The Active Survivalist is also interested in any technology that prolongs the human life beyond the natural. Why not remain active well beyond a hundred? Currently it seems a difficult challenge yet new discoveries that enhance longevity may be just around the corner. The Active Survivalist is training for the day when some genetic engineering marvel arrives on the scene and saves the day. You will have a much better chance of taking advantage of these discoveries and inventions if you are in good shape. Imagine a new ‘elixir of youth’ drug becoming available yet you are no longer in a position to benefit from it because your body has gone beyond repair? How sad that would be.

Aside from the possibility of living forever it feels good to be fit and slim no matter what age you are. Largely it is a matter of developing the right habits and over time it becomes very easy to maintain a healthy lifestyle. There really is no excuse for someone to let himself or herself go and become a burden on all those around them.

Your body and mind are the most precious things you possess. A healthy body is worth an incalculable amount and it is a true under statement to say that it is worth preserving. Preserve it at all costs.