Choice

Did you know that you have a lot of power? Well, maybe not in terms of wealth or influence or political power, but you do have power. What am I talking about? I’m talking about the power of choice. And that power goes a long way toward giving you the ability to lead a healthy life.

There’s a good reason why choice is the first principle in the Creation Health model, because the choices we make day by day and moment by moment determine how we live and how healthy we are. And the first step in becoming healthy is simply to decide to do it.

A story in the book Creation Health Discovery tells about a young doctor who was overweight and beginning to experience health problems. Aware that heart problems ran in his family, one day he looked at his newborn daughter and thought, “I’d really like to see her grow up.” But he also realized that unless he made some lifestyle changes, he might not be around to see that happen. So right then and there, he made a choice. He decided to begin an exercise program. He stuck with it and lost 40 pounds. He had chosen to take charge of his health.

For that young doctor, living long enough to interact with his children and even grandchildren as they grow up was the motivating factor. I don’t know what or who is important to you, but I challenge you today to think about why you want to be healthy and then choose to work toward that goal. You can do it. Remember, it’s all about choice.

Pat

The Wellness Lady

The Golden Key

Imagine that you have found a golden key that unlocks a certain door. When you unlock the door and step through the threshold, you immediately begin to feel your aches and pains melt away as a refreshing feeling sweeps over your body. Sinus problems and headaches become a thing of the past and sleepless nights turn into sound, revitalizing sleep. You wake up bounding with energy that lasts throughout the day. Your blood pressure normalizes, your mind becomes clear and you are more alert, and those extra pounds begin to fall off. You’ve never felt better in your life. You wonder what took you so long to find the key that allowed you to walk through that door.

If you could purchase or obtain that golden key, how much would it be worth to you? And what wouldn’t you do to somehow get possession of it? Would you like to have that key? I have good news! You can have it. And the only cost is a change of thinking and some adjustments in your daily routine, along with a little bit of consistent effort and determination. You’ve probably guessed by now that I’m talking about making some lifestyle changes. And I have the perfect plan for you.

Remember the C.R.E.A.T.I.O.N. Health acronym that I mentioned yesterday? For the next week or so, I want to take you through what I think is an ingenious plan for restoring or maintaining good health. It’s based on the concept that each of us “has the ability to create good health and healing in our lives and the lives of those around us” (Des Cummings, Creation Health Discovery, p. 7).

So what does C.R.E.A.T.I.O.N. stand for? Here it is:

C—Choice

R—Rest

E—Environment

A—Activity

T—Trust in Divine Power

I—Interpersonal Relationships

O—Outlook

N—Nutrition

There you have it. A formula for a better life, the golden key—the key to optimal health. Stay tuned. There’s more to come.

Pat

The Wellness Lady

Knowing Isn’t Enough

At a women’s ministries convention this past weekend I had the opportunity to hear Dr. Monica Reed, CEO of Celebration Health at Florida Hospital in Orlando and author of the book The Creation Health Breakthrough. (Available at www.amazon.com.) Over the next 8-10 days I want share with you some highlights from her presentation, along with a few thoughts of my own, in which she outlined a very simple but effective framework for health, based on the acronym C.R.E.A.T.I.O.N. I’ll tell you more about that later.

Because of my passion for health, along with the fact that Dr. Reed is a delightful presenter, I naturally lapped up everything she had to say. But it was her opening words in her afternoon seminar that really struck a chord with me. “I’m not going to tell you anything you don’t already know,” she said. In other words, the reality is, most of us know what we should be doing to be more healthy. But the question is, Are we doing it?

That thought aligns very closely with something I heard in a seminar on health ministry coaching that I attended a couple years ago, when the presenter said something to this effect: “People have been bombarded with health information,” she told us. “But studies show that soon after going through a health education program, most of them return to their old bad habits. What they really need is someone to encourage them to make and maintain behavior changes and to point them to a power—God’s Word—that can help them to provide the context, basis, and motivation for change.”

And that’s where I come in. Perhaps you’re wondering why I started this blog and what motivates me to keep it going. My purpose isn’t just to share information with you—although I certainly plan to do a bit of that. More importantly, I recognize that we all need encouragement, someone who takes a personal interest in our health and wellbeing—a coach—someone who is willing to go the extra mile to cheer us on to success. I hope that’s what this blog will do for you. Probably the best way I can express my desire is in the following words from the Bible: “I pray that you may prosper and be in health” (3 John 2, NKJV). That’s my wish for you today!

Pat

The Wellness Lady

(By the way, if you find this blog help, please post a comment. Thanks!)

Something's Wrong With This Picture

Today, as I was leaving the physical therapy center where I get my treatments, which is located in the same building as a fitness center, I passed by a young woman who was sitting outside the fitness center. She was dressed out in her exercise clothes and athletic shoes, and it appeared that she had just finished her workout. I almost did a double take, though, when I noticed that in one hand was a bottle of Vitamin Water, which she was guzzling down, and in the other hand, a cigarette that she was smoking. "There's something wrong with this picture," I said to myself.

Obviously, she was interested in her health, and probably more so than the average person, or she wouldn't have been there working out. But as I watched her puff away on that cigarette, I couldn't help but think that any good she was doing for her body by exercising, was simply cancelled out by the smoking. This is substantiated by research. For example, according to the Campaign for Tobacco Free Kids, cigarette smoking reduces a person's ability to uptake oxygen and deliver it to the muscle cells (which is one of the goals of exercise). Studies have shown that "Smokers have a reduced performance at all levels of physical training, smaller improvement with training, and less endurance than nonsmokers." Furthermore, smokers have higher resting heart rates and lower maximum heart rates than nonsmokers. Young men and women who smoke are significantly more likely to incur exercise-related injuries. And smokers heal more slowly from exercise-related injuries than non-smokers. (You can find these and more statistics on their Web site at www.tobaccofreekids.org.) I wonder if that young lady realized how counterproductive her smoking is to her desire to be healthy. Probably not.

Now I realize full well that the quest for health is a battle for all of us, and that we each have our own personal struggle with something, whether it's food or tobacco or some other temptation. And I have no idea where that young woman is in her struggle for victory over the addiction of cigarettes. She just might be making progress. But watching her contradictory behavior also reminded me that we are often guilty of the same kinds of senseless actions. Like ordering a salad and soup and then finishing off the meal with a rich, high-fat, calorie-laden dessert. Or being a person who is careful to eat right and get regular exercise, but at the same time is a workaholic, stressed out, and suffering from lack of sleep.

My point here is that good health comes not as a result of adding one or two good habits to our lifestyle while we continue to practice our bad habits; rather, healthy living involves a total, comprehensive, holistic approach to health--one that involves everything we do, and the lifestyle choices we make from morning to night, day in and day out. We'll talk more about that holistic lifestyle in upcoming posts.

How Healthy Do You Want to Be?

In his book entitled The Spectrum, Dean Ornish, M.D., outlines a proven lifestyle program that can help people to feel better and live longer. The program is based on solid evidence gained through scientific studies of people who were able to stop or reverse the progression of heart disease by making lifestyle changes. While most of us recognize that what we eat and how we live can affect our health, one finding of his really caught my attention. He said that: “We found a direct correlation between the amount of change in diet and lifestyle and the amount of change in these patients’ coronary disease after one year and also after five years. In other words, the more people changed, the better they got.”

The whole premise of his book is based on that one principle, and when you think about it, it really makes sense. Many times when people are confronted with health challenges and lifestyle changes are recommended to them, they balk and complain about having to make those changes. They somehow view healthy living as restrictive, unpleasant, and even ascetic.

But that’s not Dr. Ornish’s approach at all. He views healthy living as a spectrum of choices. And depending on how healthy or unhealthy we are, and where we want to be, we need to make our choices accordingly. And the rewards we receive in terms of how we feel and how healthy we become are directly related to the good choices that we make. So, rather than viewing healthy living as something unpleasant that we have to do, it’s actually something that we choose to do and it's something that brings positive rewards.

So whenever the question comes to mind, “How many lifestyle changes do I really need to make?” remember to also ask this question, and your answer will be apparent: “How healthy do I want to be?”

Remember, it's all about choice. More on the subject tomorrow.