Exercise Contract

I’m currently taking a class on health promotion and our teacher had us make a contract stating that we would make one health improvement during the 5 weeks of the course. I thought of what I should do and really wanted to improve the amount of sleep I get every night, but after browsing through the material required for class that first week I decided that being more active was more important at the time. So I made the contract, starting with small baby steps. Beginning small gives one better chances at success than starting a big exercise program that only gets us too exhausted to continue. I had said that for the first week I was going to walk 10 minutes a day, three times a week, and that I would add 10 minute increments for the next 4 weeks. That first day I got out of the house, set the alarm for 5 minutes and went for a walk. When the alarm on my phone went off, I turned around and walked another 5 minutes back home. I had done 10 minutes and even though I could do more, I was determined to start small so instead of walking more, my son, who had gone with me, and I, decided to walk many times through one of our neighbor’s sprinklers that were getting the side walk wet. Fun! As the weeks have gone by, the 10 minutes have turned into 20, 30, and often I find myself being active more than one hour. I walk, ride my bike, swim, and have on occasion, as I notice my endurance building up, jogged. It feels great!
 

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Exercise has incredible benefits. Not only is it good for heart health, but it is also good in cancer prevention and treatment, diabetes management, bone health, and even at fighting psychological disorders such as depression, anxiety, and stress. Oh, and as I am finding out, it’s great at improving one’s sleep too.
 
I want to encourage you to become more active. Begin small, even just 5-10 minute quick walks around the block, but do start. Maybe make a contract and reward yourself for the small accomplishments. Two beautiful new house plants are part of my reward. In no time you will start noticing great improvements in your health.

Taking charge of the tongue

I was reading a book on healthy living and a little sentence caught my attention. It said: “we are slaves to the first inch of our tongue.” I thought about it for a while and just had to agree. For most of us our motto is: “if it tastes good I’ll eat it, but if not…”
 
Yet what we eat matters, and it matters a lot! A few years ago I had the opportunity to spend a few days at a health center, and the staff shared a study they had done on  the benefits of exercise vs diet on weight loss. They divided participants into two groups. One group focused on exercising a lot, but made no changes on their diet. The other group made changes to their diet, but did not exercise at all. At the end of the study, the people who changed their diet had lost a considerable amount of weight, while the group that only exercised lost about 1 pound!  Now this is not to say that we don’t need to exercise. Exercise is extremely important for heart health, depression, diabetes management, and cancer prevention among others, but what we eat has an incredible impact on our lives.
 

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I would like to encourage you to take control of that first inch in your tongue and begin choosing foods that will improve your health, give you good quality of life, and help you feel better. Choose foods that are as close as possible to the original. I heard someone once say that we should  choose foods that have no labels and don’t come in packages. Sounds like good advice!

Friends

Friendships! Do you feel it’s important to have friends and maintain healthy relationships with those who are close to us? In our busy world it’s easy to put our social needs on hold, but the answer to this question is a big yes! Having friends and developing a good social network is very important. Did you know that research has shown that good friendships help strengthen our immune system and makes us stronger in fighting disease? In fact, those with strong social connections have reduced stress and seem to live longer.
 
These and so many more are great reasons to invest yourself in building strong and healthy relationships. It doesn’t have to start big. Just spend more time with those around you, send quick text messages to your friends, call a friend just to say hi, invite someone over for lunch, or attend prayer meeting.
 
Why not start reconnecting with your friends and family today?

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