Fragile

There is nothing more valuable than time. Nothing.

I personally have been in the process of making such a change over the last 3 years. I do compound lifts and do extensive cardio nearly every day. For about a month now, I've been bike commuting to work (30 miles round trip) even in the rain. I used to eat a load of red meat every week, but now I've been pescatarian for a good two months. I typically sleep before midnight and brush my teeth twice a day (gum infections are bad! and expensive to treat!).

But what I find much more difficult than taking care of myself is getting friends to take care of themselves. Telling them bluntly that "you need to get in shape" or "you should go to the gym" or "you should stop eating junk food" isn't likely to get them to change. But what I've found is that oftentimes, indirect methods are more effective tools for bringing about change than the blunt, direct, brash modes of influence. A person might not want to go to a gym by themselves, but they're much more likely to come out to a long hike with a small group of mutual friends, followed by a healthy lunch downtown.

I have a longtime friend who's become out of shape over the years that I hadn't seen him (I was out of the area for the good part of the last 10 years). He's has easily one of the sharpest minds I have encountered, completely trumping my own mind in every way. To think that his health may expedite his eventual demise is an idea that tortures me.

I'm hoping that I'll be able to gently, indirectly, steer him back to the good health he used to be in 10 years ago (he used to compete on a national level in a certain sport).

BTW, if you Google his name, you'll find a large number of articles from right-wing sites that allege there was foul play...which I guess is the kind of BS that we have to expect in partisan politics. What is surprising to me is that the OP talks about how Okrent's death has made him more conscious about health, but Okrent did not look at all like the stereotype of unhealthy. I wonder if the heart attack was related to some congenital heart disease?