Health and Wellness
A primary purpose of this website is to assist student-athletes and their families, but not to be forgotten, is the importance of all concerned to take care of their health. In regard 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.
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 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.
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.