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AN IMPROVED LIFESTYLE CAN KEEP THE DOCTORS AWAY...EVEN THEY SAY SO!By implementing an improved lifestyle, you can make a difference in your life that really matters. Today. Have you fallen victim to some of these fitness trends and misinformation? Do you spend over $100 a month on supplements but are still overweight? Do you take herbs to improve your health but still smoke cigarettes? Do you buy bottled water to avoid the chlorine and other contaminants in the tap water, but still drink far beyond a moderate level of alcohol every night? Or, do you actually believe that Coral Calcium is what improves the quality and quantity of life for the Japanese? Do you really believe that the health of the French is dependent on their Olive Oil intake? You don’t actually believe Asia is healthier than we are because of their intake of Soy do you? The answer to our improved health lies entirely in an improved lifestyle AND there is NO magic bullet!Don’t think an improved lifestyle is worth the trouble? Okay. So what do doctors really believe about an improved lifestyle concerning your health? Dr. Ted Ganiats, director of the UC San Diego Health Outcomes and Assessment Program says that “people tend to forget that lifestyle has by far a more important effect on maintaining health than anything else”. Thank you Dr. Ted Ganiats! “People shouldn’t rely on doctors for their overall well-being, staying healthy in the first place is far more important for a long and optimal quality life”, said Dr. Diana Petitti of Kaiser Permanente in Pasadena, Ca. Thank you Dr. Diana Petitti! Is an improved lifestyle financially worth it? Well, we are on track in the United States to bankrupt our county with our Healthcare System we need to roll up our sleeves and get to work. The truth is that we are so unhealthy in this country that the cost of higher health-insurance premiums, higher co-payments and higher taxes to help pay off Medicare patients’ services related to weight, tobacco use, and sedentary lifestyles is becoming cost prohibitive not only on the family level but also as an overall national community. Here are some suggestions: 1) Find a doctor that focuses on preventing disease, not just recognizing and treating it, 2) If you have a lifestyle that is detrimental to your health, take responsibility today and recognize it as such and create a plan to become healthy starting right now, 3) Develop a support group that has similar goals, and 4) Realize that it takes time to become unhealthy and diseased, and it will take time to turn it around, THERE IS NEVER A QUICK FIX!So, lets make an effort toward an improved lifestyle today! Here are some basic lifestyle choices to start with: Maintain a healthy body-weight. I am not a big fan of the Body Mass Index (BMI) in determining one’s health, but I do like the waist-to-hip ratio in helping to determine one’s well-being. There are more specifics to this, but everyone should know this, if your waist is larger than your hips, your health isn’t what is should be. In my opinion, a large waistline has more to do with a damaged metabolism than consuming too many calories. If you have high cortisol levels, a marker for a damaged metabolism, you can expect to have a high waist-to-hip ratio. Exercise. I believe we should at least exercise twenty minutes a day, everyday. Now, walking is one of the lowest levels of exercises available. If you have been on a walking program for a couple months, you HAVE to challenge your body with an activity of greater intensity. The benefits that we receive from a walking program diminish as quickly as the body adapts to the low stress of a walk, which is very quick. If you love walking, walk at a brisker pace, walk slightly up hill, or add push-ups and squats to your walking program. Walking may have some benefit for stress relief, but after that the rewards are very minimal, if not, non-existent. Drink Alcohol in Moderation (if at all). Alcohol is a toxin. Alcohol is a drug. Alcohol can damage your liver, cause depression and destroy your metabolism, among other things. Did you know that two drinks of Vodka consumed within an hour can actually slow your metabolism by 73%? If you are trying to drop body-fat while still drinking alcohol, it isn’t happening! Don’t Smoke (or breathe in second-hand smoke). I still run across some people that seem to be related to Phillip Morris and are adamant in supporting PM’s cause in anyway possible. I am not sure how we as a people could have ever thought drawing smoke into our lungs and holding it there wouldn’t cause anything but tremendous health challenges. (As someone who has lost one parent to lung disease and will most certainly lose another, I am amazed at the high rate of smokers in this area.)
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