Health and Wellness
A primary purpose of much of this website is to assist people with their individual quest to live a health enhancing lifestyle. Although a Physical Educator, Youth Sports Coach, and Personal Trainer that is certified by the American Council on Exercise, I had a tough time overcoming some self-destructive tendencies and habits that once had resulted in a rather unhealthy lifestyle. I changed my ways for the better, and prayerfully, I've been successful in steering my lifestyle away from a path toward disease and deterioration, and onto the path of wellness. This was done, not by the force of sheer willpower, but rather by a process that literally changed me into a person that now, can live a healthy lifestyle without a lot of effort. Hopefully, you'll read on, and this website can be of some help to you and others that you know. You may follow me on Twitter @ChristianTrainr. I plan to regularly Tweet nuggets of wisdom to help those that aspire to live a long and healthy life.
In regards to living a healthy lifestyle, I consider priority #1 to be for people to get to a place where they are truly appreciative of the health they've been blessed with, and feel the importance of good stewardship of it. We are not to take our health for granted, and we need to truly understand the realities associated with an unhealthy lifestyle.
In the Bible, Romans 6:20-23 of the New International Version states:
When you were slaves to sin, you were free from the control of righteousness. 21-What benefit did you reap at that time from the things you are now ashamed of? Those things result in death! 22-But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves of God, the benefit you reap leads to holiness, and the result is eternal life. 23-For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in[a] Christ Jesus our Lord.
Among the things that I battle to stay free from, are over-eating and enjoyment of foods that come against good health. These things can certainly lead to death. I am a Christian, and my belief and willingness to attach "action" to the "faith" I have in God's desire for me to live out my purpose in life, have been huge factors in my success. Though I believe in God's power to supernaturally heal any of us of any ailment, I also, however; recognize that God has natural laws of health; sufficient sleep and exercise, good nutrition, and the prevention and elimination of harmful stress. Just as our society encourages us to be ok with promiscuity, violence, greed, and poor life and time management; it also makes it easy for us to accept an unhealthy lifestyle, that trivializes God's natural health laws. Regular consumption of unhealthy foods, along with over exposure to harmful ingredients in household, and personal care products, have become accepted, as the consumption of organic foods is looked upon by the majority as unnecessary.
For information on Giving Your Life To Christ, feel free to contact me.
Many are distracted from a pursuit of a healthy lifestyle, focused on other issues, content to downplay their poor choices, and unfortunately, require a major crisis to get their attention. Even then, a return to the previous lifestyle may be too tempting to resist.
I was one of those people. About ten years ago, I had a heart attack. Looking back on that time, I was in the midst of a project, outside of my 9-5 job, that I felt would make my family and I rich. I realized that I was living a very unhealthy lifestyle; eating poorly, not getting enough rest, and highly stressed, but I was distracted; by my goal, and with the long and intense hours I was putting in. This had gone on for years, but I kept telling myself that after my project became a success, I would do better. The health episode derailed my project, but by no means resulted in me making an immediate and significant improvement to my lifestyle.
In the ensuing years, I often again got distracted from pursuing a healthy lifestyle by my quest to make a lot of money, but to my credit, rather than wait for another health crisis, I did, and still do, make many attempts to do better. Often I tell myself that God is giving me another chance to get my act together, and that He has spared me from harsh consequences. I realize I am not to take that mercy for granted. Though eventually coming up short in many of my past efforts, my well intentioned and well informed attempts to live a healthier lifestyle, gradually brought me to a place where I am now, a person that does not struggle with many of the bad habits that were problems in the past. Eating reasonable portions is now very doable, eating too often is no longer a problem, gorging on meats is no longer an issue, sweets don't appeal to me as much anymore, so passing up; treats at work, and that sweet snack before bed time, are not big problems. Though never morbidly obese, I've lost a fair amount of weight. I'm now, able to maintain my healthy lifestyle without as much mental and emotional effort, and able to give more attention to improving in other areas where I am lacking, Praise Jesus!
Something that also helped me, was repeated participation in my church's corporate "Fast", which included no meats for two weeks, and no sweets for three weeks. That may seem drastic for some people, as it did for me at first. The first time I did the "fast", it was very difficult. I even refused to participate the next time our church did it. The next time that I participated, months later, it was easier; and after coming off of the "fast" this latest time, I just found it so much easier to eat like I should. Various cravings that used to help lead me off track, pretty much vanished. (When fasting, I believe it is wise for churches and individuals to educate the membership about fasting, and to consider and respect various guidelines, ie; those that involve considering medical conditions.)
In addition, I give God the credit for allowing me to also stumble upon some works of the late, great author of personal success literature, Napoleon Hill. The books "THINK AND GROW RICH", and "SELLING YOU" have been tremendous blessings to me. Not only in my professional life, but very importantly, for putting me in the frame of mind to become a more productive person, and more able to achieve any goal I set for myself, including goals for living a healthy lifestyle! Check out this video where Mr. Hill maps out some success principles.
Communicating with your physicians, and utilizing websites like WebMD and ChooseMyPlate are good starting points to help you formulate a plan for a healthy lifestyle. Giving appropriate attention to any present medical conditions you may have, along with periodically checking in with your physicians is critical as well. Being proactive in this area can make something that is potentially very serious, to be very treatable. Establishing a healthy lifestyle can also be a key element that supports your medical treatments, leading to a cure or reversal of your condition(s). Looking into what some of the Health Gurus, like Andrew Weil and Dr. Oz are saying can also be very helpful, providing guidance and education as to what constitutes healthy lifestyle choices. The tough part, however; is making this thing work long term, ideally, for a lifetime. Helping you accomplish this, is a primary purpose of this website. Take a look at some of the other pages on this site that concern health, and reference them as needed.
Live a healthy lifestyle one day at a time, but if God forbid, you come up short on various occasions; pick yourself up, and go back at it. May God bless you.