The Illusion of Good Health

2002-09-22T06:56:00.000-07:00

Relationships

I guess for several weeks, I must continue to look at my blog as one that is still very much in the infancy stage with only a few entries. For those of you out there, who just happen to come across this blog while searching the web, I hope it strikes a cord. The whole idea of being a healthy person is such a broad topic and many of the aspects of being healthy can so easily elude us. I know they eluded me for many years. Some people look at true health strictly in the physical sense while others will incorporate the emotional aspect along with other parts of the equation. However, there are more people out there than one might think who truly believe that spiritual health is in essence the most important which leads to a completeness of good health. What do you think?

I find it fascinating to think of the parallel there is between searching for a healthy relationship with God and also desiring healthy relationships with family and friends. It is so common to meet people who are involved in difficult relationships with a parent, spouse, child or friend. Many have asked me for suggestions and it is not every easy to give them advice. We can all remember the difficult relationships we have been involved in or the ones we are currently dealing with. What is the answer in order to find reconciliation? As my oldest girl turns 13 next month, I am facing firsthand the challenges of maintaining a good relationship with a teenager. I am reading books and talking to others as I anticipate dealing with the teenage years for many years to come as my two others girls move in the same direction. Have you ever considered how your life is affected when a relationship is not right—at home, at work, or in your neighborhood? I know my stress goes way up and the quality of everything I do is affected. Every aspect of one’s life involves being able to get along with others and yet so few see the spiritual connection that leads to healthy relationships with others.

You will be hard pressed to find disagreement among researches on the value of having close relationships with those whom we can trust. The most unhappy people in the world today are those who have no friends. When will we realize that it has been built into our human nature to long for deep loving relationships with others? Where did this longing come from? I have discovered in my own life that when I pursue a relationship with God first; it helps me establish a foundation for maintaining lasting and positive relationships with others. I am not writing an exhaustive discussion of this topic, but my goal is to challenge people to think about their relationship to God and the ones they have with other people. When I have been faithful to do this, I have been amazed to see how God has helped me negotiate through the maze of relating to others with so many different experiences and personalities.

Living overseas in a foreign country can be lonely without friends. In the country of Indonesia, it is the responsibility of the new family in the neighborhood to visit the neighbors. One can sit back and wait for others to come visit and then become really depressed when this does not happen; however, like so many other areas in one’s life we must take the initiative. When we do, the reward is so great, because there is nothing that is more beneficial to good health than honest, open and mutual love for the people that God puts into our lives.

I hope you will join with me today to begin, if you haven’t already, to build a relationship with God that in turn will open the door to having lasting friendships that multiple into good health. When I think of friends I think of God and vise versa. They go together to provide us all with a solid spiritual and emotional health that will provide a completeness to our lives.

2002-09-15T07:36:00.000-07:00

Time Management: A Health Issue or Not?
How is it possible that the last few days have gone by so fast and I am just now making a new post? I can think of one person who most likely is wondering how quickly this blog has become an illusion. I am learning to admire the bloggers out in the WWW who manage to post new material once, twice and even three times a day. I am a laid back person who doesn’t always look at time as a commodity when in reality it truly is.

I find it fascinating to read and observe how people deal with time management. I constantly have to evaluate and juggle my time between all the demands that are forced upon me; it is a never-ending battle. I put a top priority on spending time communicating with God and then comes family, work, and leisure time; however, where does time go when tasks are not completed, relationships are not improved, blogs not written, prayers not prayed, and exercise not carried out. I have recently seen a direct parallel between good health and how it relates to time management in my own life. Who knows for how long I have managed to compartmentalize the different parts of my life not realizing or not wanting to admit how interrelated they all are. When I don’t find the time to run I feel so lethargic which in turn affects all the other things I do during the day. The same can be said about spending time with God; an appointment that in my opinion should never be broken and yet to my demise I will postpone the commitment. When I don’t communicate with my wife and children, I have to question my priorities. We all live complicated lives in a complicated world, and how we organize our time has a direct relationship, in my opinion, to good health.

We each have our own ideas about how to manage our time—some find it easy and others like me find it more difficult. My wife falls into the easy category and I just wish it would rub off on me. I guess the question that I am constantly having to ask myself is: Where is my time going? If I want to exercise than I better make it a priority to discover what I am doing that is preventing me from enjoying the benefits of running. I guess in reality time management, just like eating right, is a lifetime pursuit. However, my goal is to discover a solution so that what I value the most can always be included in my daily life. If time management is not a health issue than maybe we need to re-evaluate just how healthy we really are.

2002-09-10T08:18:00.000-07:00

Comprehensive Good Health

I am disappointed that I have not been able to set-up comments on my blog. I keep trying to set this up through YACCS, but they are not accepting any new people. I am still new at blogging, so I hope I can eventually figure out another way to do this.

I would like to add a little more depth to my blog and I hope to do this by sharing some thoughts I have concerning comprehensive good health. Why did I give my blog the title “The Illusion of Good Health”? I initially wanted to focus on the illusion I had concerning my physical health, which I wrote about in my first two blogs. My health has become extremely important to me after having a complete physical a year and a half ago and finding out I wasn’t so healthy. This led me to become a fanatic in trying to find out everything I could about good health. One thing for sure, I plan to never go back to the old habits I left behind.

I have a lot to be excited about in my life right now. After having a victory in the area of physical health, it has led to other victories, which have a direct correlation to overall good health. It was shortly after I started seeing positive improvement in my physical health that I began to ask questions about other areas of my life. If I had an illusion concerning my physical health then what was the prognosis on my mental, emotional, and spiritual health. I have begun to look at each of these, but I strongly believe that my spiritual health is the key to all four. I consider myself a spiritual person, but I am thankful that it is a work in progress. While I have been focusing a lot of my time and energy on physical health, God has convicted me of my need to focus just as much time and even more energy on my spiritual health. The question I ask myself (and I hope you do the same) is: Do I have an illusion concerning my spiritual health? I will conclude this blog with a question from Jesus, “What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?”

2002-09-08T17:03:00.000-07:00

Get Back To Running

I didn’t grow up loving to run; however, I went through periods where running was necessary for playing sports such as soccer and basketball. In my life now, running has become important again in order to maintain good health and the proper weight. It took some effort as I began to run consistently after being lazy for so many years. I remember the running events I participated in during high school to raise money for our sports trips. It felt so good to cross the finish line after running 20k. I use to run early in the mornings with my girlfriend, who is now my wife, during college. The things we do for love! High school and college days are in the past and I am older and a whole lot slower. My reasons for running now have to do with good health. I have discovered that if I can look at running as a health benefit then I have a significant amount of motivation to drag myself out of bed or make myself run before dinner. The benefits are enormous. For me the three most important benefits are increased energy, positive attitude, and weight control. I find it interesting that people either like to run or they hate it. I am guilty of hating to run at times in my life, but I have learned to actually enjoy it. It can be done! Setting goals when it comes to running can actually make it fun. I have to constantly remind myself that motivation comes after I begin. I can testify that this has been true in my desire to run consistently. For a long time I kept waiting for the push from within to make me run, but I finally discovered it came after I began. I have a long way to go when it comes to being a competent long distance runner, but a year and a half ago I ran a block and then had to walk a block and now I can run a good ways without having to stop. I recommend it! If you haven’t run in a long time then stop putting it off-- put on your tennis shoes and go run or walk and let me know how good it makes you feel.

2002-09-07T01:05:00.000-07:00

It Seems Like A No Brainer

For years and years I have heard about the importance of drinking plenty of water. My mother would always put a big glass of water on the table for me to drink. I usually didn’t want the water and I managed to get out of drinking it on many occasions and especially as I got older and wiser—RIGHT!

I read an article yesterday that said, “It seems like a no-brainer. To avoid getting dehydrated…” It also said “"If you wait until you are thirsty to replenish your fluids, you're already dehydrated.” In other words, we have to consciously be thinking about replenishing our fluids and not just assume we’re okay until we are thirsty. In a future blog, I plan to write about pure, clean delicious tasting water. Doesn’t it taste absolutely great after a long run or work out! However, I have a tendency to avoid drinking water unless I am close to dehydration. There is a life lesson we can learn from this. Water--It is free, plentiful and clean in most developed countries and yet I wonder how many of us drink enough on regular basis. How aware are you concerning this vital fluid that keeps us alive? Since I have spent most of my life overseas, I will never take water for granted. In many places in the world today water is a commodity. Our bodies can’t live without adequate water and yet people become dehydrated all the time because they fail to drink enough water. It seems like a no-brainer, but in reality we are fooling ourselves if we don’t consciously think about how much water we are drinking.

I am reminded of a running event I participated in during high school. I was only interested in finishing the race and made sure I grabbed a class of water at each km stop along the run. It was a hot day in the tropics of Indonesia and the length of the run was 20K. The man in the lead was in good shape and he had everyone beat, but he made one critical mistake—he didn’t drink enough water. He most likely didn’t feel real thirsty, but during the run his body began to overheat and crave fluids to help cool it down. When his body could no longer take the lack of fluids, he collapsed just a few feet from the finish line. People wanted to help him across the finish line; however, thank goodness a doctor was present who realized how insignificant the run was compared to the life-threatening situation of heat stroke. The doctor who helped was there that day to watch his son and if he hadn’t been there the runner would have most likely died. He was in the hospital for several days recovering from the heat stroke brought on from dehydration. The Illusion of good health at some time in our life is going to effect us all if we don’t heed the external warning signs before they become internal and then it might be too late.

2002-09-05T06:41:00.000-07:00

Calories-Calories-Calories: Count Them and Burn Them

It wasn’t all that long ago when I would tease my friends about low fat food and counting calories. I didn’t understand why anyone would spend more money on food that didn’t taste as good. My reaction to skim milk was—You might as well drink water! Diet coke—nasty; fat free--cheese, dressing, sour cream you name it—They taste terrible. So how did I go from being close minded to a fat-free fanatic as my wife would call it or I would say a willingness to try just about anything that was low fat or fat free? I found out how many calories were in what I was eating and drinking and I knew I couldn’t lose weight unless I made a change. We all have to face the fact—to lose weight we have to burn up more calories or reduce the amount of calories we eat. I find it interesting that almost 20 years ago my biology professor in college made the above statement in class one day and yet I didn’t think it applied to me. If you have read this far then give this some thought: It is extremely important to view the change in food choices you make as progressive and long-term. It is without a doubt an illusion if you are thinking that dieting and exercise for a week or a month is the long-term solution to losing weight. If we are to have good health then we must discover the motivation to change our eating habits and lack of activity in order to remain healthy and fit for the rest of our lives. Don’t just eat anything and everything, but estimate how many calories are in the food and make sure you know how many calories your body needs to lose weight or maintain your weight. You can go to the following site and find out exactly how many calories you need each day. (BMR Calculator) The Calorie Counter will help you count calories for food. Give it a try; what do you have to lose? If you need some encouragement then send me an E-mail.

2002-09-04T06:35:00.000-07:00

COFFEE: MY FAVORITE HEALTH DRINK

I am sure there are some of you who will be disappointed to know that in my pursuit of good health I still enjoy several cups of coffee a day. It is the first thing I do in the morning after managing to drag myself out of bed. I turn on the one-cup coffee maker as I anticipate drinking a freshly brewed cup of coffee. I’ve given up a lot of foods to lose weight, but so far I have not been convinced there is any good reason to cut back or quit drinking coffee. I absolutely love to drink coffee morning, noon, and night and even in between. To all the coffee drinkers out there, I would love to know what kind of coffee you recommend? If you are feeling guilty about drinking too much coffee then look up the following Web-Site: http://www.coffeescience.org. I had to share this with my fellow coffee connoisseurs. I am always interested in anything that supports my coffee addiction; however, I will never admit to being addicted even if my wife calls it an addiction. Go ahead and fix yourself a large cup of coffee and enjoy reading more than you probably want to know about coffee. I think you will find it interesting and then you will have an answer for all of those obnoxious people who give you a hard time about all of the delicious coffee you like to drink.

2002-09-02T17:09:00.000-07:00

“Cold Turkey” (Part 2)
As a child and throughout high school, I was an active person who never had to worry about being overweight. I ate what I wanted when I wanted which included lots of candy, desserts, and 2nd and 3rd helpings. It was not until college with “all you can eat” buffets that I began to gradually gain weight. Over the space of 14 years I went from 160 to 242 pounds. I needed to lose weight to bring my blood pressure down and to change my diet to lower my cholesterol. The doctors didn’t believe a change of diet would lower my cholesterol enough, but they were wrong.

I don’t necessarily recommend the cold turkey approach for everyone, but that is exactly what I did. I switched to fat free or low fat in everything and I ate very little sugar and counted calories religiously. I didn’t eat at buffets and I didn’t buy food at the grocery store that would tempt me. I began to run/walk a mile a day and eventually I could run the full mile without walking. I continued to add more to the distance as I increased my speed. As my pants got looser, I bought suspenders to hold them up. The victories came in 10-pound increments and after each 10 pounds I was more motivated than ever to continue.

I have come to the conclusion that most people have no idea how many calories they are eating. I’m guessing I was eating at least 4,000 calories a day. One thing I know for sure is that I gained weight at a fairly rapid pace for 2 years prior to March 2000. What helped me the most was learning about foods. I never realized that 2 tablespoons of peanut butter had almost 200 calories of fat. As I began to discover the caloric content of food that I really liked, I saw clearly how I could cut back. I didn’t need to drink 3 and 4 glasses of juice everyday. I switched to 1% milk and then to skim milk. I looked for low calorie foods. Salsa along with low fat chips became my favorite snack. For someone who still loves to eat desserts, I was able to cut back in one area which allowed me to eat desserts occasionally. I continued to eat 2,000 calories a day and my weight continued to drop.

In August 2000 after 4 and half months, I had lost 42 pounds. I was running 2 miles a day and my blood pressure was back to normal along with my cholesterol down to 140. My doctor couldn’t believe it and I was prepared to continue to lose more weight. I continued losing weight until I finally had to add more calories to my diet. I don’t think we can hear it said enough: if we eat more calories than we burn than we are going to gain weight. For me, calories were the key. As long as I manage the fat and calories I eat then I can eat anything I want. However, reading and studying about nutrition has also been extremely helpful. I recommend it.

My plan is to continue to be informed about nutrition and I hope through this medium I can gain some input from many of you who have stories to share. We can help one another as we fight against the bombardment of diet fads that lead to seesaw weight losses and gains and bad health. Before March 2000, my motto for cutting back on food was: “I will begin tomorrow.” I am convinced that each day we put it off the harder it will be to make the life style change that is desperately needed if any of us hope to conquer the battle of the bulge.

2002-09-01T19:48:00.000-07:00

I have been challenged by a friend to become a blogger and to be honest I am not sure how I will respond to this new phenomenon of blogging, but I am willing to give it a try. I want to begin with a topic that has become a big part of my life for the past year and a half. I would have never dreamed in a million years that I would ever be attempting to encourage others with “My Story: The Illusion of Good Health”. If you can relate at all to my experience or have one of your own to share then I look forward to hearing from you.

“The Wake-Up Call” (Part 1)

The amount of money that is spent every year in the search for a way to lose weight is incredible. It is big business with the emphasis usually on losing weight without much thought being given to health or on a strategy to keep the weight off. Unfortunately, all three of these are not easy to do. We live in a world that bombards us with advertisements of food to eat along with countless buffet restaurants that serve food that is anything but healthy, but tastes good. How can any of us make the right choices when it comes to food while we are constantly being told to eat anything and everything that taste good? I want to tell you my story because it has changed me forever. It wasn’t easy to change the habit of eating too many calories on a daily basis for many years, but it has been worth it. I am sharing this with you because I hope it might encourage some of you who find yourselves facing a similar situation to mine. I am not claiming to be promoting the “miracle diet program” and I am not a health professional.

A year and a half ago I found myself in a situation that I had heard about from others and read about in magazines and books. I heard the words from my doctor “lose weight or you are going to continue to have declining health and your ability to continue in your job is in jeopardy.” As a 38-year-old man with a wife and three children, I made a decision in March of 2000 that I was not going to continue to remain unhealthy. Before my physical, I had no idea that my cholesterol was 270 along with high blood pressure. It was a wake-up call for me and as I look back I am thankful that it woke me up. I have managed to keep the weight off and remain healthy and I guess only time will tell if I can continue to do so. As I continue to pursue good health, I am hoping many of you who read this will find what I did helpful or offer me advice from your experience. Staying healthy is an on going process and my goal is to never again have the “illusion of good health”, but truly be healthy for years and years to come.

Next Blog: “Cold Turkey” (Part 2)