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Prevention is the topic on Exploring Mind Body today and it’s something that needs to be address which is why I chose it. So many of us look to treat, we look to medicate, we look for the easy way out when if fact whatever our issue is, it could have been prevented. In the show you’ll hear me talk about Valentine’s Day first, this is just my perspective and questioning why we do the things we do.
Back to prevention though….
I talk about prevention all the time. I talk about it’s better to do something now instead of later. That whole philosophy of ‘smile now, cry later’ is on the way out, trust me. Now more than ever I’m learning that I teach lifestyle more than anything. I never teach just fitness, I rarely talk about just nutrition but they often go hand in hand. I talk about sleep and stress, raising your standards and demanding more of yourself. This is all lifestyle, it’s not fitness, it’s the whole picture.
This comes up more when I look at our class members and see how far they’ve come, how far they continue to go and how whatever the topic, discussion or problem a complete lifestyle is addressed. I wouldn’t call myself a lifestyle coach, I wouldn’t call myself a coach at all but that’s neither here nor there. I don’t want this segment to be about me, I want to get back to prevention but I also want to relate how the teachings I go over are a complete makeover most of the time.
Never is someone overweight because they eat too much or because they eat unhealthy. They eat unhealthy for a reason. Maybe they were never taught how to prepare food properly, maybe they’re hiding an emotion deep down and mask it with food. Never liked the gym or feel uncomfortable, maybe you were made fun of as a child, maybe you were never good at sports so you were always picked last. And that’s why you avoid the gym. What needs to be done when addressing health and fitness is the entire scope of someone’s life. You’d be hard pressed to find a good ‘let’s say TRAINER’ for lack of a better word, that doesn’t address lifestyle and only tries to push someone in the gym. No food addressed, I don’t see the point. Why would you put in all that time and effort and then have no idea what to do for the other 23 hours you’re NOT in the gym.
As a fitness/lifestyle teacher, I practice what I preach, I live the lifestyle I teach and of course I have unhealthy friends, they give me a hard time, they send me pictures of their unhealthy food and joke about it, which is fine, I don’t have a problem with that. I also have family members that do the same thing. Some things are funny, some times I’m given a hard time because of the choices I make, none of that matters, it’s not a big deal. What does matter, is something very serious, something we all have and something that’s very precious. It’s our health.
I read the millionaire next door by thomas stanley and william danko; in the book they site that 10 out of 10 millionaires would give up their riches for their health. This is a documented study, that talks mainly about being frugal, which I don’t exactly agree with, I mean what’s the point of having all that money if you don’t spend it, however I do believe in being ginsu analytic with money managing but that’s an entirely different subject. The point is they actually interview a large number of millionaires to get their perspective, their thoughts; to find out exactly what their actions were and what their beliefs where to become a millionaire. Although, as I just stated, I don’t agree with everything in this book it’s very interesting and well worth picking up.
Every single millionaire would give up their riches for their health, and do you know why? Because without health we have nothing. Sounds cliché or played out but that’s the truth. Have you ever been so sick you’d do anything to be well again, how about it pain? Have you ever been in so much pain that you’d give anything for an instant of relief?
Some people don’t believe this statement, they might say, I’d die painfully rich, which again is another joke, even funny at times but when the time comes, when you have the choice to have family and your health or money I promise money will be the last thing you think about.
So why do we continue to put jobs or finances in front of our health and loved ones. We spend more time at the office than we do at home with our family. We miss a family function for work. We lose sleep over work more frequently than we do over family disputes. We don’t go to the gym cause we have no time, course we have a job, we have kids and a family, not to mention millions of ‘busy’ people with a family and a job find the time to workout themselves.
How about food, we don’t have time to cook, that’s what the drive through is for, that’s what microwave dinners are for. I don’t have time to sit down and cook every night. A great quote comes to mind although the author has eluded me at the moment. Whoever it was said something to the effect of, if you don’t make time to be healthy, ultimately you’ll have to take the time to be sick.
And that’s the truth, I see it every single day. I see people that could have prevented. They could have done something about their health but chose not to. They chose to not educate themselves on what’s good for their body and what isn’t. They chose not to be active and exercise their heart and lungs in a healthy way, they chose to do absolutely nothing for their health, for their loved ones and for themselves. And now what’s left, they pay the ultimate price with their health. Above money, above fame, diamond rings and fancy cars….what do you have without your health. You have nothing.
To me it’s selfish, hard words to digest but without a doubt absolutely selfish when a person knows there was something that could have been done, they know they could exercise, they know they needed to make the time, they know their food choices aren’t the best and now, now, when they are scared for their life, it’s time to do something about it. Who suffers, I can tell you it certainly isn’t only the unhealthy person who decided to be unhealthy. What about family, what about friends, what about the people that truly care and are now scared to death for you.
Regardless of whether it’s family, friends or someone walking down the street, each and every one of us make our own decisions. It wasn’t destiny we chose to eat that burger, it wasn’t fate we flipped another channel instead of increasing the speed on a treadmill. We are rarely if ever diagnosed with anything out of the blue just because.
So now maybe we’re stuck with a pill, maybe we NOW have no other choice but to medicate and now maybe our only choice is to deal with the side affects of medication. But make sure we all know here that these were choices we made, we could have prevented, we could have chose differently and because we didn’t, now we’re in the predicament weren’t in. And because of all that, our loved ones suffer because we chose not to care at the time.
The good news is it’s not too late. My intention wasn’t to use a scare tactic or put anyone down, these are real facts I see every day. These are experiences that I go through, and the hardest part about all of it is I know exactly what’s going to happen. It’s like watching a train wreck in slow motion and not being able to do a single thing about it because we all make our own decisions.
Sure it’s funny now, I recently had a friend send me a giant plate of bacon. Hilarious, in all seriousness, more funny that they actually ate the whole plate but not so when they come to me a few years and ask what they can do about this or that.
It’s going to happen, I can tell you that. If you don’t change your lifestyle, if you don’t take some things seriously especially your health, sooner or later you’ll be asking for lifestyle help.
Earlier I said the good news is that it’s not too late and it’s not. Our bodies are incredible creations. We can heal, we can rejuvenate, we can grow and form and change. We can be more active, we can eat healthier. Hopefully there will come a time when most people don’t look to nutrition and exercise when they have no choice.
Remember one thing if you take anything away from this segment. The choices you make or don’t, don’t just affect you, they affect your loved ones also. If you won’t do it for yourself, maybe you’ll do it for them.
Thank You
Thanks so much for tuning in, I appreciate every chance you get to read or listen. If you have any questions please ask below and if you have any comments on my controversial perspective on Valentine’s Day, you can place them below as well. All the best in prevention and addressing your health before it becomes a real issue.