Better Health = God’s Plan

10 Immediate Changes You Can Make Health Wise To Explode Into God’s Plan For Your Life!

 

“Keep it simple silly!”  I know this is supposed to say “stupid” but I didn’t want to offend anyone.  Do you have any idea how many times I say that to myself each and every day?  Of course you don’t, but I can assure you it’s a ton.  Simple wins every time.  Simplicity is the way – it’s easier, it’s less stressful and it can be duplicated.

When it comes to your health and wellness, things can get pretty complex…or it can be very easy.  I’ve been dishing out health and wellness advice in my practice for over 20 years.  The advice that gets followed is the easy stuff.  I’ve even tried to get complex with my sage wisdom with patients and I’ve found that I’m just trying to impress myself.  So here comes the easy stuff.  If you’ll do these ten simple things to improve your health, you can really begin to move into God’s call for your life. 

If you don’t feel good and take care of yourself, you will never be able to carry out His mission for you.  It all starts with having the discipline to take care of the temple that He’s given us.  In John 10:10, it says that He has come to give us life MORE abundantly.  How can we experience an abundant life if we don’t have enough energy to get through the day?

In 3 John 1:2 it says, “I pray that you may prosper in every way and that your body may keep well, even as your soul keeps well and prospers.”  John realized that to prosper in the kingdom of God, we must take care of our body so that we can carry out our calling. 

Over the next 10 blog posts we are going to uncover ten easy things we can do immediately to start moving into outstanding health and wellness.  Then, God’s call on our lives will not be hindered due to our lack of energy and effort. 

Number 1:  MOVE YOUR BODY!! 

I can just hear you now, “I know that Dr. Jeff, I’ve heard that a million times.  Tell me something I don’t know.” 

Listen up…

65% of us are either overweight or obese http://www.usatoday.com/news/health/2003-05-13-obesity-usat_x.htm 

44% of adults suffer adverse health effects from stress: (http://stressdirections.com/content/view/16/3) 

75 to 90 percent of all physician office visits are for stress-related ailments and complaints.  Also, stress is linked to the six leading causes of death – heart disease, cancer, lung ailments, accidents, cirrhosis of the liver and suicide. 

According to the World Health Organization, America is ranked 38^th out of 42 industrialized nations in overall health.  We’re sick!  I could go on and on but I’ll spare you the bleak picture.  Moving your body is proven to help the above ailments and more.  What does it do?  Well first it gets us up off the couch or out of bed and catapults us towards God’s plan.  If you need to know more here you go…  Moving your bod does the following:

• Improves efficiency of your heart and lungs
• Burns body fat
• Raises your metabolism so you are burning calories faster, even while you rest
• Helps control your appetite
• Increases your energy
• Helps relieve stress
• Slows aging
• Reduces levels of cholesterol in your blood
• Lowers high blood pressure
• Helps control and prevent diabetes
• Reduces risk of some forms of cancer including colorectal, prostrate, and breast
• Aids rehabilitation from heart attack and stroke
• Promotes intestinal regularity
• Helps promote restful sleep
• Strengthens muscles of your legs, hips, and torso
• Strengthens your bones and reduces bone density loss in older women
• Reduces stiffness in your joints due to inactivity or arthritis
• Relieves most cases of chronic backache
• Improves flexibility
• Improves posture
• Promotes healthier skin due to increased circulation
• Improves mental alertness and memory
• Spurs intellectual creativity and problem solving
• Elevates mood
• Helps prevent and/or reduce depression
• Improves your self-esteem
• Increases sexual vigor
• Helps control addictions to nicotine, alcohol, caffeine, and other drugs

Let’s get something straight here - I’m NOT telling you to go out and buy a gym membership, or a brand new treadmill.  I’m just saying…MOVE!!

Jesus walked everywhere.  You may be thinking, “He had to; they didn’t have cars!”  He was the Son of God, ladies and gentlemen, He could have flown if He wanted to, but He chose to walk.  Just having some fun here… but it is obvious He was physically ready for the challenging plan that God had in store for Him.  We should all be grateful for that! 

The distance around the world at the equator is 24,901 miles.  According to the website http://www.blessitt.com/?q=miles_jesus_and_mary_walked, it’s estimated that Jesus walked 21,525 miles over the course of His life.  He was in shape!  He literally walked around the world.  If He could walk around the world to fulfill God’s plan, couldn’t you and I walk around the neighborhood a couple of times per week?

Let’s take a look at a few easy ways to move the body:

• 1) Dust off your sneakers, grab your honey and go for a walk.  It’s a great time to chat with your spouse, or re-connect with your best friend – get out there and log a few miles every week! Hippocrates said that, “walking is man’s best medicine”.

According to: Richard Weil, MEd, CDE, walking is a great way to get fit.  Weil is  the author of dozens of articles on exercise and health, and the director of the New York Obesity Research Center Weight Loss Program at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital Center in New York City.  Why walk?  Read on…

1. Walking prevents type 2 diabetes. The Diabetes Prevention Program showed that walking 150 minutes per week and losing just 7% of your body weight (12-15 pounds) can reduce your risk of diabetes by 58%.

2. Walking strengthens your heart if you’re male. In one study, mortality rates among retired men who walked less than one mile per day were nearly twice that among those who walked more than two miles per day.

3. Walking strengthens your heart if you’re female. Women in the Nurse’s Health Study (72,488 female nurses) who walked three hours or more per week reduced their risk of a heart attack or other coronary event by 35% compared with women who did not walk.

4. Walking is good for your brain. In a study on walking and cognitive function, researchers found that women who walked the equivalent of an easy pace at least 1.5 hours per week had significantly better cognitive function and less cognitive decline than women who walked less than 40 minutes per week. Think about that!

5. Walking is good for your bones. Research shows that postmenopausal women who walk approximately one mile each day have higher whole-body bone density than women who walk shorter distances, and walking is also effective in slowing the rate of bone loss from the legs.

6. Walking helps alleviate symptoms of depression. Walking for 30 minutes, three to five times per week for 12 weeks reduced symptoms of depression as measured with a standard depression questionnaire by 47%.

7. Walking reduces the risk of breast and colon cancer. Women who performed the equivalent of one hour and 15 minutes to two and a half hours per week of brisk walking had an 18% decreased risk of breast cancer compared with inactive women. Many studies have shown that exercise can prevent colon cancer, and even if an individual person develops colon cancer, the benefits of exercise appear to continue both by increasing quality of life and reducing mortality.

8. Walking improves fitness.Walking just three times a week for 30 minutes can significantly increase cardiorespiratory fitness.

9. Walking in short bouts improves fitness, too! A study of sedentary women showed that short bouts of brisk walking (three 10-minute walks per day) resulted in similar improvements in fitness and were at least as effective in decreasing body fatness as long bouts (one 30-minute walk per day).

10. Walking improves physical function. Research shows that walking improves fitness and physical function and prevents physical disability in older persons. 

Now…turn off the computer and go for a walk in real time!  Tune in again soon…over the next few weeks,  join me online for three more fun and simple ways to move your body.  You don’t want to miss number three!  Later, we’ll discuss nine more ways to get fit and explode into God’s plan for you.