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I’ve always thought the entire concept of Men’s Health Week was a bit of an oxymoron. It’s not that Men’s health doesn’t deserve its own week – it’s more that many of the men I know probably won’t even know the week came and went. They won’t focus on or discuss their health for a full 10 minutes, let alone a whole week! Does anybody else feel me on this? My partner is as stubborn as can be when it comes to caring for his health. I see some of his habits – the ones that I’ve been slowly but surely trying to put a stop to for a while now – and I can’t help but wonder, “How did this man even live to be this age?” (And that age is only mid-thirties, by the way). Men seem to think they’re invincible. They’re aware of best practices, but they just don’t seem to think that those apply to them. Even though it sometimes feels like men are a different species than women, they do know that they’re…not, right? They’re also humans who need to take care of their health like all people do. I try to explain to my partner that it’s not fair that he has habits that could make me an early widow. And I try to explain to him how it’ll be downright infuriating, and just embarrassing, to tell people, if I do become an early widow, that he passed from something totally preventable. I think a lot of women feel this way. Dear men, here are 15 ways your partner wishes you’d take better care of your health.
Reconfigure your understanding of veggies
Ideally, half of your plate should be vegetables. So, adding jalapenos and olives to your pizza doesn’t count. Neither does adding grilled onions to your burger. Or wrapping your burger in lettuce, protein-style. No, the salsa you put on your carnitas tacos doesn’t give you vegetable points. Nor does the teeny, tiny tin of coleslaw you eat with your ribs. Stop acting like this counts.
