I hate being sick. It is so unfair. After all, I try to eat right, exercise, avoid unhealthy behaviors and I still get sick. I am not sick often, but I would prefer to never be betrayed by my body.

While lying in my bed this past week feeling sorry for myself and swearing that I must have swine flu, I began thinking that the paradox I was experiencing just might be one of the reasons we live in a society that is so unhealthy. Let me explain. We have come to expect immediate satisfaction in many areas of our lives. We want instant breakfast, fast food for lunch and a seven minute dinner. We are tied to our cell phones, Facebook and Twitter for instant news and communication.

With our health, results are not usually immediate. Good health is kind of like a 401K plan. It is an investment. You pay in a little bit every payday with the hope that you will have enough saved for retirement. You build your health nest egg by avoiding artery-clogging foods such as meat and cheese. Over a period of many years, good eating habits can help most of us avoid many lifestyle diseases such as heart disease, diabetes and cancer. We can diversify our investment by adding a walking routine, yoga or tennis.

The problem with this analogy is that Americans are about as bad at saving and investing for retirement as we are at taking care of our health. Both of these habits require delayed gratification, at least to some extent. We must make an intellectual decision to save for our retirement. If we are lucky enough to have an employer with a retirement plan, we can be nudged to make that commitment through automatic payroll deductions.

Wouldn’t it be nice if there was an automatic Good Health Plan that we could sign up for and then just mindlessly allow that plan to make the necessary contributions to our health? No such luck. But we can do something. If we force ourselves to do something like take a walk every day for a month, it will likely become a habit. This is the type of habit we need to form. Just stick with it until you do it automatically, without even thinking. It will become like your morning cup of coffee, reading the newspaper or contributing to your IRA.

In the end, some people hold on to the hope that they will someday win the lottery so they don’t have to save for their retirement. Some people hold on to the hope that they will defy the odds and live a long healthy life despite their bad diet and lack of exercise. There are no guarantees in life or health but I am playing the odds that good diet and exercise will pay off in the end. And even if they don’t, taking care of your body does have a benefit that saving for your retirement does not. Every day I wake up feeling better because I am lucky enough to have a body that responds to being treated well-even if I still do occasionally get sick.