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Is this being Healthy?

I see many people working out at the gym, trying to get fit, trying to reverse the aging clock, trying to lose weight. Yet is this being healthy?

Maybe I’ll become a vegetarian. I’ll eat only whole grains and vegetables.  All red meat will be eliminated from my diet. Yet is this being healthy?

I see many people at church—most of the time the same ones, lifting hands in worship to God and listening attentively to the sermon.  Yet, is this being healthy?

Who cares if I run my body down, serving in God’s kingdom? Who needs rest? There is much work to be done for God, and heaven is my reward?  Yet, is this being healthy?

I look fit. I look great! But I feel a wreck on the inside. My mind is cluttered. I struggle to focus. But I look great! I’m on the front cover of the magazine. Is this being healthy?

Is it being healthy physically? Or is it being healthy spiritually? Or is it being healthy mentally and emotionally?  To only be healthy physically is like a car without the internal organs—the engine, the radiator and all that makes it work.  To be spiritually healthy without being physically healthy is like a car with only the internal organs. How far will the car go without its body ? To be healthy mentally and emotionally only is like a car without its body and its internal organs. It just doesn’t exist.

To be healthy is to be one, whole—a body, mind and spirit engaged with its Creator.

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Rest your Mind

Imagine a sports car traveling 80 miles an hour. Imagine capturing a camera shot of events past, present and future—some beautiful, some fearful, some regretful, some prideful. Imagine a “to do” list with no end in sight. Imagine a choir of voices consisting of your mother, father, teacher, pastor, friends, boss all creating a cacophonous of sounds and somewhere there is your voice. This is your mind.

Sh! It’s time to take a break. To do nothing but bask in love. God is love. Let every thought be about love. Let every thought dwell in love. Close your eyes. Be still and do nothing but bask in His love. For God is love. Let every thought be about love. Let every thought dwell in love.

Sh! It’s time to take a break.

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Random Thoughts

When 2011 rolled in, I wasn’t promising myself that I would eat healthier, exercise more or procrastinate less, I was making a promise to myself to build a thought life that would reflect the world that I wanted. With that said, I promised God that I would watch my thoughts because my thoughts determined my mental attitude, and my mental attitude determined my action.

Such a thought itself required meditation.  But, unfortunately, it was not long throughout the day as I was cleaning up my place, enjoying the solitude when my husband left that I wandered off into the Wasteland. I had no idea how I had gotten there. I found myself thinking about certain events that did not turn out the way I expected them to and people who had disappointed me. As I cleaned, disinfecting the counter tops, mopping the floor, I found myself growing angry. I became so angry that by the time my husband came home, I had no desire to speak to him. Though my anger had nothing to do with him, it was directed at him. He was confused; he had no idea what he could have possibly done. In actuality, he had done nothing wrong. Instead it was I.

I could not believe my behavior.  I was disappointed in myself. I had just made a promise earlier that day that I would watch my thoughts, and I had failed. I had entertained the wrong thoughts, resulting in an angry disposition which affected the way I reacted to my husband. I had not disinfected my mind or kept it clean.  Like staying fit and healthy, I realize this training of the mind will take some consistent work too.

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The Best Time to Exercise

I like to do my cardio in the mornings on an empty stomach, then weight training in the afternoons. There are several reasons for this type of training.

Why Cardio in the Morning

In performing any cardiovascular activity, the body uses the aerobic system which requires oxygen to make energy for the body.  Using oxygen, glycogen is broken down to produce glucose (sugar) for energy.  However, in the mornings, this glycogen storage is somewhat depleted by the body working overnight to maintain itself while in a fasted state. That’s why we have break-fast to break the fast. What happens when our glycogen storage is low? Where does the body attain its energy? The body has an energy reserve called “fat”. It will begin to break fat down when the glycogen storage is low.  In other words, the body will burn fat if it has no other alternative. Getting up early is certainly worth the sacrifice then.  Don’t you think? I was even more encouraged by someone I met recently in the gym.  He was an 87 year old man who looked to be 69. I asked him how often he comes to the gym. He said five days a week at 6:30 a.m. I thought to myself, what an inspiration!

Why Weight Training in the Afternoon

Making sure the body is properly fueled up is the main preparation of weight training. To ensure a proper workout, it is important to have had a meal at least one hour prior to working out. As in cardio training, the body needs glycogen. But unlike in cardio training, resistant training, which functions on a system called anaerobic, does not need oxygen to make energy. Sometimes it has been difficult consuming a meal on time, and so I have had to resort to a quick meal replacement shake.  It’s liquid so it is fast absorbing unlike food.

 Another reason is the muscles do like to be warmed up first. They even like certain temperatures, such as about 70 degrees. Though I have weight trained in the mornings around 6 a.m., my workouts in the afternoons are far better.

In training, the “when” is just as important as the “what”. Timing is important when choosing to do certain exercises. But sometimes what’s most important is getting exercise in when we can.

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It’s Mainly in the Head

I learned from a professional basketball player that their success was 80 percent mental and 20 percent skill. I have come to realize that this percentage could be applied to many areas of life as well.

Today, a young lady just stopped in to see me here at the office. She was the daughter of one of our patients. She had the gastric bypass surgery and had just completed another follow up visit with her doctor who was next door to us. She was not doing well. For the most part, the surgery went well, but she was not happy. I knew she was suffering from depression based on the discussion that I had with her mother. I was delighted to see her. For the sake of giving her a name, let’s call her Anne. My heart went out to Anne. I wanted to encourage Anne. Earlier this week, I had read a quote by Ralph Waldo Emerson that said “what lies behind us and what lies ahead us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us.” I shared this quote with Anne. She understood what I was saying.

The strength is within us all. Living a healthy life begins from within. Whether we opt for a gastric bypass surgery or not, we must condition or train our minds to think healthily. The body, by nature, is designed to destroy itself. Why else do we have to train ourselves to think positively or to stay or become healthy? Our minds must be transformed to bring about a healthy lifestyle. When we connect to God, we discover a power beyond ourselves. Many of us know from experience that will power will only get one so far. The God within us is greater. And the God within us can do far more than we can ever think or imagine. Connecting with God through daily prayers and meditation and training the mind to think constructively require no skill but a mental willingness and a desire to carry through.

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Staying Motivated

Last night a girlfriend and I got together to watch Macbeth at the All American Shakespeare Tavern Theater. Before the performance, she commented on how she had fallen off the band wagon.

 When I went home, I really got to thinking about “falling off the band wagon” .  How do we fall off the band wagon? Sometimes life over takes us. Sometimes we lack the discipline to consistently exercise. Sometimes we become distracted. Sometimes we don’t see the results we desire, so we quit.  Whatever the answer, we know that unless exercise is a part of our lifestyle like brushing our teeth, we will continually fall off the band wagon.

But then I got to thinking about myself. How did exercise become a lifestyle for me? Do I think about flossing after my meals? Not anymore. I simply have made it a habit to do so.  Personally, I think we give our feelings too much thought when it comes to exercise.  Just as feelings have nothing to do with flossing or brushing our teeth, feelings have nothing to do with exercise unless one is feeling sick or dizzy. The question, then, is how does exercise become a lifestyle?

 KNOWLEDGE LEVEL

First of all, we need to know what exercise is. Exercise is an ACTIVITY.  Activities can be gardening, hiking, walking, running, swimming or our traditional exercises in the gym, for example. What activities are you doing now?

 COMPREHENSION LEVEL

At this level, we understand the importance now of exercise. Exercise makes us healthy. It’s good for the heart.  It helps lower cholesterol.  It boosts the immune system. The benefits are astounding. Then why aren’t more people exercising if they understand the importance of exercise?

 APPLICATION LEVEL

At this level, we apply the knowledge and understanding of exercise to a new or real life situation.  We surpass the comprehension level. When I first started exercising, I was later encouraged to do bodybuilding.  Later, as my spiritual depth grew, I began to liken physical fitness to spiritual fitness. I found a new way to use my knowledge. Also, during the winter, I began challenging my fitness level in running 5k’s.  How can exercise be applied to another situation in your life?

 ANALYSIS LEVEL

At the analysis level, we are able to break down complex information into simpler parts. For me, becoming a personal trainer certainly allowed me to do this.  However, let’s say the goal of most people is not to become a personal trainer, so how is this stage attained? For one, it helps to understand how our bodies are affected by the exercise. When I am working my legs, I know which muscles are being worked on though I cannot actually see them. This is developing physical intelligence. Developing physical intelligence is part of connecting with our bodies.  If you do have a trainer, the trainer should be able to help you understand how each exercise affects the body. Analysis involves also being in the moment—being mindful.  For example, I am aware of my body when it wants to duck a workout. Sometimes I totally ignore it; other times, I check to examine why. Are you being lazy? Or do you really need to rest because you have received only four hours of sleep? In that case, I may need to listen to it. How can you develop physical intelligence by connecting with your body inside-out?

 SYNTHESIS LEVEL

A person can analyze and synthesize the same time.  For simplicity sake, the synthesis level brings in new found knowledge as a result of applying and analyzing. At this level, we have moved beyond the knowledge, comprehension, application and analysis level to apply principles to explain why we do what we do. It is no longer “I don’t want to be fat”, “I want to have a knock out body,” “I don’t want to be sick,” or even “I want to be healthy.”  Rather it could be knowing and understanding at a deep level the human body is designed to move. That exercising is one way to honor the body because it is the oil that lubricates it.  What principles can you develop involving exercise as a lifestyle?

 EVALUATION LEVEL

Here we make judgments against other standards. For me, it was moving from a fitness buff to a health advocate. Having two sisters diagnosed with cancer and lupus respectively got my attention. Thankfully, I had the knowledge, the understanding, the discipline to apply an exercise regimen but wanting to be fit was just not enough.  Exercise had to be a natural part of my life; it had to become organic. I defied genetics and declared that I would live a life that would celebrate life! The flow of oxygen rushing through my body made me realize that I was alive! I celebrated that my legs could move. My sister, though in pain from the lupus, often shared with me how she pushed herself to take walks. For her, her daily walks were painful but to not do them made the pain worse, she said.  In the past, I hated falling off the band wagon, because it was more painful getting back on. In other words, it was more work trying to lose weight rather than staying fit. Now I simply celebrate life.  For me, exercising and eating healthy physically, emotionally, mentally and spiritually is a way of life.  It’s a lifestyle of a celebration of life!!!!

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