Healthcare is a'changin'. The current model of health care will not look anything like the futuristic one. Sure, the model is broken and need fixed but as a provider of healthcare for a great many years, we as Americans should be careful what we wish for.
I do strongly believe that each individual is going to have to be held responsible for their health and wellness. My paradigm reads like this: Health care is ILLNESS driven. You get the flu, poison ivy or bronchitis, you go see a prescribing provider and you get "fixed". You take an expensive antibiotic for 10 days, nasty cough medication and finally feel better after 8 days. In the meantime, you probably will get a nasty diarrhea and make yourself prone to tendon ruptures (a little know side effect you are rarely made aware of, by the way).
In this scenario, do your daily wellness habits ever get mentioned? Do you know how many people I have treated with an awful bronchitis who smoked just before they came into the office? Wellness is not discussed because the prescriber has to hurry to the next patient.I do acknowledge that, as a provider, I am not the absolute model of perfect health due to my weight. But, (and my 'butt' is getting smaller), I am losing and I am fairly fit, take NO medications at all at age 50, and have very few lifestyle factors that are not being actively addressed. Many of my peers do not model good health fitness or wellness.
Which is more important, weight loss or fitness? I am currently looking at a couple of products to enhance my professional practice. Both are decent products and both has reps that are engaging, informative and polished. There is a distinct difference between the products and their programs. One's claim to fame is weight loss. Lots of weight loss. The other has a reputation of helping people become more fit and they end up losing weight. Decisions, decisions, decisions.
What do you see as more important? Weight loss or fitness?? Give me some feedback..
Body..Mind..Heart...Soul
Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts
Showing posts with label obesity. Show all posts
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Self Inflicted Nonsense
We had a weekend in which we were traveling quite a bit in the car. When that happens, I usually am a poor planner and we end up eating the dreaded fast food. Yes, I should know better, especially since I made a bold prediction of losing a boat load of weight. There is actually "good news" on that front. I had a couple of body compositions done using different formulas and my absolute lean body weight is 213 pounds. So, unless I amputate body parts, I will not be getting below 200 pounds anytime soon.
On Sunday morning, the exercise ritual began with a lot of aches and pains. The knots in my thighs were so huge and painful and referred pain into my hips. I set out on my bike ride after stretching and moving to get things loosened up a bit.
As I started on the bike, I thought to myself, "You know, the pain is your fault because of your food choices." I could not argue with myself. Everything I was feeling was certainly self inflicted. Self Inflicted NONsense..As I was pedaling, I shortened "self inflicted nonsense" to SIN.
What? SIN? And you know what? Sin is also self inflicted nonsense. Think about it for a second. No one forces us to sin. Take Adam and Eve for instance with the first sins against God. Adam TRIED to blame Eve but Adam was more than well aware of the instructions they had received from God. Adam did it to himself, or self inflicted the act. And, the act was for a nonsensical reason. Adam and Eve LIVED IN PARADISE. and they threw it all away for nothing.
The opportunity for us to sin WILL cross our path. There has not been a person yet who was not faced with sin. It can be a great big sin, or it can be a little, itsy bitsy sin. However, sin IS sin and it is not graded on size.
Now back to my muscle pain..I KNOW that my aches, pains and myofascial problems can be worsened with poor dietary choices. I know that eating with Kings and Clowns will only bring me down. Instead of planning and making a wise choice, I settled for the convenient choice and paid the consequences. I am talking about 20-30 minutes of hard labor with a foam roller and "The Stick" and take it from me, that is no fun.
Choices and consequences go a lot deeper than muscle pain. Kind David, like the rest of us, had a choice when it came to Bathsheeba. He could have walked away, but instead he really made a tangled mess of things. He certainly had consequences to his actions. If a person eats crap, then their legs will hurt and if a person commits a sin, then there will be a consequence and/or a punishment.
You know what is really bad? Chocolate tastes so sinfully good. It lures me in and I indulge only to feel the pain in the muscles and at the scales. Temptation is attractive. If sin was not attractive, we would never fall prey to it. Knowledge sounded good to Adam and Eve. It represented power. Temptation and sin will appeal to us on some level.
How do we deal with Self Inflicted Nonsense? First, we need to RECOGNIZE that it exists. The allure of cupcakes looms in my future and I must recognize that a cupcake will not kill me, but I can assure you that the foam roller will be needed. Next, I must UNDERSTAND my limitations. I know my weaknesses and need to know that I am vulnerable to those weaknesses. And finally, I need to firmly and emphatically say. "NO" because there is too much at stake. Oh, look, to deal with SIN (Self Inflicted Nonsense) a simple strategy is to RUN...sometimes as fast as one can.
On that note, I break in a new pair of running shoes in the morning..
On Sunday morning, the exercise ritual began with a lot of aches and pains. The knots in my thighs were so huge and painful and referred pain into my hips. I set out on my bike ride after stretching and moving to get things loosened up a bit.
As I started on the bike, I thought to myself, "You know, the pain is your fault because of your food choices." I could not argue with myself. Everything I was feeling was certainly self inflicted. Self Inflicted NONsense..As I was pedaling, I shortened "self inflicted nonsense" to SIN.
What? SIN? And you know what? Sin is also self inflicted nonsense. Think about it for a second. No one forces us to sin. Take Adam and Eve for instance with the first sins against God. Adam TRIED to blame Eve but Adam was more than well aware of the instructions they had received from God. Adam did it to himself, or self inflicted the act. And, the act was for a nonsensical reason. Adam and Eve LIVED IN PARADISE. and they threw it all away for nothing.
The opportunity for us to sin WILL cross our path. There has not been a person yet who was not faced with sin. It can be a great big sin, or it can be a little, itsy bitsy sin. However, sin IS sin and it is not graded on size.
Now back to my muscle pain..I KNOW that my aches, pains and myofascial problems can be worsened with poor dietary choices. I know that eating with Kings and Clowns will only bring me down. Instead of planning and making a wise choice, I settled for the convenient choice and paid the consequences. I am talking about 20-30 minutes of hard labor with a foam roller and "The Stick" and take it from me, that is no fun.
Choices and consequences go a lot deeper than muscle pain. Kind David, like the rest of us, had a choice when it came to Bathsheeba. He could have walked away, but instead he really made a tangled mess of things. He certainly had consequences to his actions. If a person eats crap, then their legs will hurt and if a person commits a sin, then there will be a consequence and/or a punishment.
You know what is really bad? Chocolate tastes so sinfully good. It lures me in and I indulge only to feel the pain in the muscles and at the scales. Temptation is attractive. If sin was not attractive, we would never fall prey to it. Knowledge sounded good to Adam and Eve. It represented power. Temptation and sin will appeal to us on some level.
How do we deal with Self Inflicted Nonsense? First, we need to RECOGNIZE that it exists. The allure of cupcakes looms in my future and I must recognize that a cupcake will not kill me, but I can assure you that the foam roller will be needed. Next, I must UNDERSTAND my limitations. I know my weaknesses and need to know that I am vulnerable to those weaknesses. And finally, I need to firmly and emphatically say. "NO" because there is too much at stake. Oh, look, to deal with SIN (Self Inflicted Nonsense) a simple strategy is to RUN...sometimes as fast as one can.
On that note, I break in a new pair of running shoes in the morning..
Tuesday, October 23, 2012
Less weight=less depresion
I have put my big mouth to the test and have made a public challenge to lose 100 pounds. I know, what was I thinking? No more cakes and pies. No more "good stuff" that makes me feel so bad. Ugh. Another one of those things in life that a person has to give up, even if they enjoy it.
In order to try and keep myself motivated, I thought I would look at the reasons I decided to to this. I have worked most of my life in the mental health field. I have seen thousands of people suffer from depression. Since I have been a nurse since 1986, I have seen thousands and thousands of people who suffered from obesity. I see this one guy every single day. He looks back at me from the mirror. Do not tell him, but I noticed he has a bit of a growing bald spot too.
Are depression and obesity related? For this, I went to the medical literature data base called "Pubmed". I am not an affiliate and I do not get a penny from them, but this is my "go to" site for information. The search alone for "obesity depression" landed 3458 references. That tells me there MIGHT be an association of the two.
A study is cited from the Finnish Research Center for Sport and Health Science. The abstract looks at the presence of low grade inflammation and depression as it pertains to ABDOMINAL FAT. Seriously, are there two more horrible words than "ABDOMINAL FAT"? Call me any name you want, just do not call me "Abdominal Fat". The study supports that the two evil doers (inflammation and depression) put a guy at more risk to develop "AF". I cannot help but digress a bit more down the road as it reminds me of the movie "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", when Steve Martin hears "cleaning woman"...
Abdominal fat leads to even more medical problems as it has been linked to increased incidence of diabetes and cardiac disease. But, the good news is found in Pubmed. The following is from an abstract found in the American Journal of Psychiatry September 2011 edition (hey, see, I bring you the BEST information)
"The association of depressive symptoms with subsequent inflammation levels was eliminated after adjustment for health behaviors associated with depression-physical inactivity, smoking, and higher body mass index."
So, in other words, if a body gets physically fit, then depression will have the possibility to improve. Depression affects the lives of so many on so many levels. Anything that helps battle depression makes a difference. Now, I changed my search criteria just a bit. I did a search for "childhood obesity". Sadly, it registered 7921 hits. We often hear about the impact now and the future impact of childhood obesity. Considering what we covered in this blog, realize that depression will have a great foothold on our future as a country.
I know it is election time and we are forced to listen to all of the politicians spout off the thought of the day. We can take control of healthcare by taking it on one person at a time and go after obesity with a vengeance. I will help you. I am not one of those skinny people who preach about the evils of obesity. I live with the disease daily and am fighting it pretty hard these day.
I hope this educates one person.
John
In order to try and keep myself motivated, I thought I would look at the reasons I decided to to this. I have worked most of my life in the mental health field. I have seen thousands of people suffer from depression. Since I have been a nurse since 1986, I have seen thousands and thousands of people who suffered from obesity. I see this one guy every single day. He looks back at me from the mirror. Do not tell him, but I noticed he has a bit of a growing bald spot too.
Are depression and obesity related? For this, I went to the medical literature data base called "Pubmed". I am not an affiliate and I do not get a penny from them, but this is my "go to" site for information. The search alone for "obesity depression" landed 3458 references. That tells me there MIGHT be an association of the two.
A study is cited from the Finnish Research Center for Sport and Health Science. The abstract looks at the presence of low grade inflammation and depression as it pertains to ABDOMINAL FAT. Seriously, are there two more horrible words than "ABDOMINAL FAT"? Call me any name you want, just do not call me "Abdominal Fat". The study supports that the two evil doers (inflammation and depression) put a guy at more risk to develop "AF". I cannot help but digress a bit more down the road as it reminds me of the movie "Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid", when Steve Martin hears "cleaning woman"...
Abdominal fat leads to even more medical problems as it has been linked to increased incidence of diabetes and cardiac disease. But, the good news is found in Pubmed. The following is from an abstract found in the American Journal of Psychiatry September 2011 edition (hey, see, I bring you the BEST information)
"The association of depressive symptoms with subsequent inflammation levels was eliminated after adjustment for health behaviors associated with depression-physical inactivity, smoking, and higher body mass index."
So, in other words, if a body gets physically fit, then depression will have the possibility to improve. Depression affects the lives of so many on so many levels. Anything that helps battle depression makes a difference. Now, I changed my search criteria just a bit. I did a search for "childhood obesity". Sadly, it registered 7921 hits. We often hear about the impact now and the future impact of childhood obesity. Considering what we covered in this blog, realize that depression will have a great foothold on our future as a country.
I know it is election time and we are forced to listen to all of the politicians spout off the thought of the day. We can take control of healthcare by taking it on one person at a time and go after obesity with a vengeance. I will help you. I am not one of those skinny people who preach about the evils of obesity. I live with the disease daily and am fighting it pretty hard these day.
I hope this educates one person.
John
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