There has been a recent discovery in the world of men’s health. Earlier this year a University of Houston grad student revealed he’d discovered a series of essays on men’s health authored by Walt Whitman. Yeah, the poet, but keep reading.
Is it Catholic to be concerned with health? Listen, if health can stop a Pope from doing his job, it’ll stop you from doing something important one day too. So you should make health important. Here’s what Walt says about health. Walt was a deist, not a Catholic, but he was smart so we’ll hear him out.
Be healthy!
“Put your body in a healthy and sweet-blooded condition—to be a man, hearty, active, muscular, handsome—yes, handsome—for it is not for nothing that all through the human race there is the universal desire that the body should not only be well, but look well.” Throughout Catholic culture there’s been an appreciation for good health and forming a manly look about oneself. There are more muscles painted on the Sistine Chapel than there are real ones in your gym.
Health starts with kids….
“For American children it would be a great improvement if the food were more simple and digestible.” Sound familiar? Take heed if you’re a kid reading this blog or even a man who still identifies as a kid or if you have kids or are put in charge of kids. The bottom line: give kids healthy food.
Cut out the junk, Walt says. “Modern taste and ingenuity have contrived not a hundred, but hundreds of solid and liquid stimulants, artificial tastes, condiments…these must be rigidly excluded. Simple and hearty food, and no condiments, must be his motto.” Go paleo, go organic, go au naturale, just don’t go junk food.
Health is a good investment
“From a money-making point of view, therefore, health is an investment that pays better than any other.” This 19th century literate knows about good investments and what makes men tick. All men love money. Admit it we do, we think about it a lot, more than we think of God. We want more of it and we want to invest it. Well, while the Bible says says “the love of money is the root of all kinds of evil,” (1 Tim 6:10) it never says that health is the root of all evils. So maybe transfer some of the money love to health love and make a better investment for yourself.
Live your prime…
Contemporary men’s health considers the prime age for men to be under 30. Walt considers the manly prime quite a bit longer: “twenty-fourth to near the fiftieth or fifty-fifth year, the body, in a fair specimen of health and condition, remains nearly stationary.”
As a thirty-something year old guy I prefer to believe in the Whitman theory and live by the under 20-55 rule. These means that if you’re under 55 you have no excuse for not being in great shape. You’re still in your prime. Get moving, start working out. Always consult your doctor first, of course.
Think less, work out more…
“In America, a great deal of the indigestion that prevails, is the result…(of) excessive mental action. Those who think much, or whose business cares return upon the mind… and year after year, takes no systematic exercise, and does not know even what the training for health means.”
Guys today can have a lot to worry about. We worry about our careers because we love our careers. Worry less, man. Worrying is not only bad for you but it’s anti-Bible, anti-Christian, anti-Catholic. “I tell you not to worry about your life.” (Mt. 6:25). The only thing you should worry about is your salvation and last I checked career is not a straight ticket to heaven. Quit worrying after 5pm and head to the gym instead. Going vegan is indisputably disputable.
Our poet, like much of the health community, doesn’t really know what to think of veganism.
On the one hand,
“Newton, the astronomer, it is well known, in his profound and intricate discoveries, sometimes occupying his powers for weeks and months at a time, lived on vegetable food, and drank water only.”
Isaac was vegan? A possible cause-effect relation between vegan and male genius? Doubtful, but if it makes you happy, go for it.
He makes a non-vegan friendly observation, as well,
“We have seen New England and New York vegetarians, gaunt, hard, melancholy, and unhappy looking persons, that looked like anything else than a recommendation of their doctrine—for that is the proof, after all.”
Yes, there are some irritable vegans out there. The Bible seems to welcome both the vegans (Daniel) and meat eating “Everything that lives and moves will be food for you,” (Gn). It’s an unresolved topic, the choice is yours. However, there are other things you definitely should be doing for your health:
Row 2 hours a day…
“An average two hours out of the twenty-four to rowing in a boat.” That’s hard core, pun intended. Ok, so we can’t all live next to a river and some of us find machines frankly quite boring. However, Walt leaves some alternatives: swinging the dumb-bells, or exercising with the Indian club. Now that’s a man’s work out, swinging things and hitting things. Most of us also don’t have two hours either to hang out with the weights but there are plenty of three-minute home routines you can follow on Instagram.
We live a world apart from Walt Whitman. Technology and machines today are enabling lazy people to do amazing things like fly from one end of the country to the other on a sleeping pill. However, health will always play a unique roll in a man’s perception of himself and his ability to fulfill his God given purpose. “Life and physical health are precious gifts entrusted to us by God,” (Catechism of the Catholic Church 2288).
Take it from Walt or take it from the Church, get in shape!
