Wholesomeness

While wholesomeness can refer to one's moral nature by it's dictionary definition, the Roman Virtues focus on it's aspects of physical health and cleanliness. Because of this may then seem difficult to think of health in terms of virtue, however, since the word "virtue" usually applies to moral or ethical principles and most people don't consider being unhealthy the same as being unethical. One can, however, consider taking proper care of their body a moral behavior in the sense that they are choosing to respect the value of their own life and the quality of life they can share with their loved ones. It would be wrong to judge someone who has made poor health decisions to be a bad person, but it isn't wrong to see your personal decision to protect your health as an extension of your own respect for yourself and for those that depend on you.

The first point of wholesomeness is physical health, and this is a large umbrella topic under itself. If this site weren't dedicated specifically to virtues, this topic could spur dozens of entire philosophies and methodologies to being healthy. There are some points, however, that are not very controversial and should be taken seriously by everyone, and these are diet, exercise, and prevention.

In America and many other developed places, it becomes all too easy to develop eating disorders—sometimes even being unaware that we have a problem. Food is readily available to us at a historical low cost, and the unhealthy foods are cheaper and prevalent than the things that we should be eating. Like most creatures, our bodies are naturally aimed at surviving times of distress and famine, but now that we have our environment relatively under control it is hard to keep from putting on the pounds since our bodies are designed to make use of every calorie we ingest. In fact, the food industry is developing fats and sugars that our body can't use just to avoid this simple fact of nature. If we are going to live a modern life-style in a state of reasonable health, we are simply going to have to have self-discipline—and possibly some outside help or resources to keep things under control; food can be an addiction just like drug abuse or bad behavior, but with a twist: we simply cannot "quit" eating food altogether. If you are looking into changing your diet, make sure you prepare for the fight that it is likely to be for you.

Exercise is also crucial to overall health, and it has been shown repeatedly that those who exercise regularly have a far better quality of life in their later years and are more liable to avoid disease. This not only helps avoid a life tortured by physical ailments, but it also improves our chances that we can be an active part in the lives of those we love. The unfortunate truth is that modern people can't really exercise as much as our bodies were intended too—some people think our ancestors were constantly on the move, even hunting by chasing after prey over hours on foot as we wore them down. Since our bodies for some reason don't naturally relish in constant exercise, we also need discipline to get regular exercise and learn to love being out of our chairs and moving around.

Finally, we have to take care of ourselves through prevention. This means overcoming a fear of seeing the doctor and following their advice. Despite what the "unconventional" health practitioners say, our doctors are not really trying to kill us and keep to eternal life out of our grasp. The truth is that most people really do live longer, healthier lives by visiting a doctor regularly and by following the advice of health-professionals. This means that when you get injured or sick that you see the doctor sooner than later, that you follow his or her advice, don't take prescribed medication incorrectly, and follow up with them after treatments. Believe me, you really will be better off.

Now, for the second portion of Wholesomeness, cleanliness can be important to both our health and our mental well-being. We are all probably aware that being clean can help us avoid disease (and that it can prevent us from turning others away with fowl odors). There are other benefits too in that it can help keep one in better spirits. Personal cleanliness can help improve our own self-image and pride in ourselves, and having a clean home will help improve the mood and outlook of most people—this is something that has been proven time and time again.

In fact, the importance of health and cleanliness is something that few are going to dismiss. The problem of living in a clean environment and being healthy is usually one of self-discipline and good habits and not of ideology. That is what we will tackle with our exercises below.