Health Plan

Movies like Super size Me and television shows like Honey, We’re Killing The Kids point to our awareness that something is not right with our health. Each year, billions of dollars are spent on health equipment, diet books, health food, diet supplements, weight loss pills & potions and fitness center memberships. So if we’re so aware of our current health situation, and apparently spending tons of money to do something about it, how come we lead such unhealthy lives? How come obesity is considered such a national epidemic?
We don’t need statistics to tell us that 21st century life can be unhealthy. There
seems to be a fast food outlet on every corner (and between corners, too). We
lead sedentary lives at work, sitting at a computer all day and then after work in
front of the television. On top of that, we’re stressed and busy so we don’t even
get the rest we need to re-energize your bodies.
A little over a century ago, while North America was still being settled, people
worked long hours and life was hard, but they ate balanced meals, got plenty of
rest, and lead relatively stress free lives.
The medical industry may have advanced in its ability to save our lives but we
are making its job harder by becoming unhealthier every single day.
So what are Your Long Term Solutions
For Improving Your Fitness & Health?
It all comes down to just a few important factors
My Personal Fitness & Health Balance
Right now, we’re not balanced. There is too much going on in our daily lives.
From the moment we wake up we’re unbalanced.
Consider this typical daily lifestyle scenario:
6:00 AM – Alarm goes off, again. You jump out of bed and start your morning.
7:00 AM – The kids are at the table and you’re eating your Super-sized toasted
bagel (400 Calories of High Glycemic - Blood Sugar Spiking Refined
White Flour Bread) lathered with saturated full fat cream cheese,
while you quickly dress for work. What did you do with the report you
worked on late last night? Do the kids have their homework? Did you sign
the note to allow one of them to go on a field trip?
7:15 AM – There’s no time to finish your bagel, so you drink your High Octane
Caffeine Loaded 20oz Travel Mug of Coffee loaded with Tons of
Sugar & Full Fat cream, as you buckle the kids into the car and wave
goodbye to your spouse, who’s tearing off to work in the other car…
slightly late.
7:45 AM – You’ve just dropped off your youngest to daycare and now you’re
headed to school but traffic is getting heavy and you’re starting to get
stressed out. Someone cuts you off, which upsets you even more as road
rage starts to kick in.
8:00 AM – You drop off your oldest child at school then rush to work. If traffic
doesn’t lighten up, you may be late.
8:30 AM – You slide into your desk – you just made it! Now you begin your day.
As usual, there’s a lot of work to do and you see that you’ll have to bring
some home tonight in order to finish.
10:15 AM – Coffee break - No Time for a Healthy Snack – Just Grab a Candy
Bar from the Vending Machine Down the hall and some more High
Octane Coffee loaded with sugar and high saturated fat dry creamer.
Just the Perfect Choice for making your Blood Sugar Sky Rocket Again
12:00 PM – Lunch. You didn’t have time to pack a lunch so you slip across the
street to one of those Fast Food Hamburger Drive Thru and grab a
Burger with Cheese and you Super-Size your order with an Extra
Large Order of Grease Laden French Fries, but you make an
awesome decision and only order a Diet Soda to offset your 1,000
plus calorie lunch.
1:00 PM – You’re back to work and your manager is heard yelling on some kind
of rampage about work not getting done. You heard there could be cuts at
the end of the month so you find yourself pushing to work harder.
3:30 PM – Coffee break. – No Time to Snack – Feeling a Bit Sluggish
5:30 PM – You rush out of work and fight traffic because you have to pick up
your oldest child from the after school program, then you have to rush to
the daycare before 6PM to pick up your youngest child.
6:00 PM – You don’t feel like cooking tonight so you call your spouse on the cell
phone and ask them to pick something up on the way home.
7:00 PM – You all sit down to a dinner of two slices of pepperoni pizza and a
beer that you so desperately need after your stressful day of work.
At least you don’t have any dishes to do!
8:00 PM – You fight with your oldest child to do their homework while you get
your youngest child to bed.
9:00 PM – You fight with your oldest child to start getting ready for bed.
10:00 PM – Your oldest is now in bed, a half hour late and you can sit down for a
few minutes before you have to start on your report.
10:15 PM – You begin your report and realize that it’s going to be a late night
tonight.
2:45 AM – As you crawl into bed you realize today was just like every other day
and tomorrow doesn’t look any different.
This is how many households function! Is yours like this? Some
are worse! Consider how much harder it is for a single parent, or
a parent who has to work longer than 8:30 to 5:30
A quick diagnosis of the example above shows that…
Ø You are only getting half of the sleep you should be getting.
Ø You ate large portions of Fat Laden, High Calorie Convenience
Meals that made your Blood Sugar spike up and down all day.
Ø No Time to Work Out
Ø There is a lot of stress in your life.
This is unhealthy living and the sad reality is that many of us are living it because
we feel trapped and unable to get out. We want to live healthier lives but because
we’re unbalanced, it feels like we don’t have a lot of choice.
A balanced life is one where our physical activity is moderate, our resting activity
is moderate, our food intake is moderate, and our stress is moderate. Each of
these fitness factors works together to determine our overall level of health. A
few minutes on the treadmill each week won’t make up for a lack of sleep, poor
eating habits, and the high stress we feel.
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