Anna is a friend of mine.
She is a working mother of two, always trying to have healthy food on the table.
Her husband, Ben, is always complaining about her healthy cooking. He doesn’t really like beans and greens, he is the kind of person who feels that he didn’t really eat unless there is meat in his dinner. Ben exercises a lot. He goes to the gym almost every day and follows a program aiming to build (even) more muscle. He looks really fit.
A few months ago, Anna called me to book a consultation session with me. She sounded quite worried. I thought it is something about her health or her children’s health she wanted to talk about, but it proved to be Ben’s blood tests she was worried about.
Cholesterol, blood pressure, uric acid, and blood sugar were all way off-limits.
Ben was very reluctant to join our session, but after some very persistent bed talk, he did.
After spending almost one and a half hour talking about the effects that these elevated values have on his long-term health, the discussion went like this:
Ben: “I know I must change my diet, but really, I am in a phase of my life that I just cannot deal with it. I work so much, I have so much stress… at the end of a crazy day, I just want to go back home, eat my steak with a cold beer and relax with few cigarettes!” “I will… I will start eating healthily after few years… I will quit smoking too…”
Procrastination. But not due to perfectionism.
Ben says he will deal with his elevated cholesterol when he manages to achieve his “most important goals”.
Priorities.
Ben is in investment banking. He is a really gifted professional. A very hard-working person. He has an impressive CV and in his mid-40s his monthly salary slip has 5 digits. His dream is to make enough money so that he can stop working in his mid-50s. He dreams of a boat and a nice house on a Greek Island where his children can spend time with Anna’s family, and they can enjoy traveling. There, he will grow his own vegetables and eat a plant-based diet. He will take care of his body.
Ben has calculated all the numbers. The interests, the capital, the expenses. He has invested in many different schemes to reduce the risk. He has invested in shares, in fixed deposits, in real estate, even in gold. His investment plan is carefully designed.
Only that… it is not.
Some very important influential parameters are missing. Those extremely important numbers:
- Ben’s high cholesterol levels raise his chances of having a heart disease about 200%. [1]
- Ben’s high blood sugar indicates he has a very high risk of developing type 2 diabetes, a disease that is the 7th leading cause of death in the world. Diabetes raises the chances for many other conditions, like cardiovascular disease, blindness, kidney failure, and lower limb amputation. The prevalence of end-stage renal disease (ESRD) is 10 times higher in people with diabetes. [2]
- Just by smoking, Ben reduces his life expectancy by approximately 15 years. [3]
Ben’s investment is a high-risk investment.
A high risk of not being around to enjoy the money he is gathering with so many sacrifices today.
Don’t be like Ben.
Invest In Your Health.
Let me help you.
P.S. This imaginary story is dedicated to a beloved family member of ours that spent all his life following this wrong investment plan and left us early from a preventable disease.
