When making a food or beverage selection, ask the fundamental question: is this going to be a deposit into the health savings account, or a withdrawal.
Not all food and beverage selections need to be a deposit, but the ledger needs to stay in the positive.
The adverse effects on health start to arise when the account balance is consistently in the negative - too many withdrawals and too few deposits.
That does not mean that the goal is to only make deposits and live a life void of enjoyment.
It cannot, however, be strictly focused on hedonistic consumption that keeps making withdrawals long after the account balance has gone negative.
When this happens, the body will impose penalties in the forms of mental fatigue, physical discomfort, joint inflammation, weight gain, muscle loss, weakening in the bones, wrinkles in the face…the list goes on and on.
Keep the health savings account analogy top of mind when making food and beverage selections.
It is not something to be obsessed about, but rather, to be mindful of.
Do not get into the habit of eating without thinking.
Be aware of the choices that are being made and acknowledge that there is freedom of choice, but not freedom from consequence.
By consistently choosing nutritious foods that will add to the balance in the health savings account, the ledger will steadily grow, allowing plenty of positive accumulation that can be withdrawn against to enjoy life’s culinary pleasures.