Wellness? What’s that?

Wellness is a choice – a decision to move toward achieving optimal health and fitness.

Wellness is a way of life – a lifestyle that you choose to achieve health and fitness, not just a short-term diet plan.

Wellness is a process – continual, no end point; a lifestyle change.

Wellness is loving acceptance of yourself and others.

Wellness is nurturing your spititual and emotional health, as well as your physical health.

Wellness is taking good care of yourself, being a good steward of your time, using your mind constructively, and effectively expressing your emotions.

Wellness is learning how to handle stress.

Wellness is self-responsibility

Wellness is movement to improve blood circulation, digestion, reproduction, and overall fitness

Be well!

Long Lasting Weight Loss

The very thought of trying to lose weight can seem like an impossible task.  The hardest thing about it is our mindset.  Once we set our mind to achieve our goals, and set forth a plan, we can realize them.

We can lose weight by cutting calories and portions, but the best prescription for success is to combine our food plan with regular exercise.

To lose one pound of weight, you must decrease your current calorie intake by 500 calories per day (a coke and a snickers bar), or increase your activity to burn an additional 500 calories per day.  Why not do both to achieve your goal weight in half the time!  You will burn approximately 10-15 calories per minute during intense exercise.

This sounds easy, and it is, if you remember these tips:

* Set realistic and acheivable goals for yourself.  Have short-term goals and long -term goals.  Break those goals down into steps.  For example, keep a log of all your activity and a food diary.  Write your daily and weekly goals down and check them off as you achieve them. 

* Recognize the difference between realhunger and mistaken hunger.  Avoid eating just for something to do. or out of habit.  THINK about each food that you are about to eat. Are you really hungry?  Go for a walk, or do something else you enjoy instead of chowing down.

* At times when you don’t do so well on your plan, DON’T GIVE UP!  You will do better the next day.  Everyone backslides.  Old habits take time to change.

* Be patient with yourself while you are learning new things, such as how to do step aerobics or building up endurance on the treadmill.

* Be accountable to someone else for your activites and food intake for each day.  Having someone to report to will keep you focused and will help you to adhere to your plan.

* Make time every day to do something that you enjoy.  Take care of your emotional, mental, physical, and spiritual self.

* Look at how far you have come, not how far you have to go.  I like to see those pounds lost add up.

* Give yourself a pat on the back, and a reward (not food) for each goal that you accomplish.

You can do this!  I know you can.

The Organ Loaner Program

My eldest daughter teaches 5^th grade.  One of the student’s parents brought some human organs to school for show and tell during Science class.  It is my understanding that she brought a heart, brain, lung, liver, and various other body parts.  One of the young girls asked if these were from the “organ loaner program”!  Now, I’ve heard of lending an ear, a hand, or a voice, but never an organ. 

This set me to thinking about this little girl’s organ loaner idea and who, if anyone could benefit from anything that I could loan or donate.  Starting with my skin, as I surveyed it, I decided that it has been a long time since it was smooth as a baby’s butt.  In fact, mine could serve as a loaner to some elephant in need of a few more wrinkles.  I’ve tried astringent, goats milk, mud, mask, mayonnaise, cucumbers, oils, lemon this, peach that, raspberry something else until my pocketbook can’t try another product.  The discount store aisle is stacked with anti-aging potions and lotions.  I have been meditating on trying this new product, but I just can’t bring myself to shell out another $22.95 in hopes of erasing the lines of time.  I am fighting this aging thing with everything I can get my hands on, but there is coming soon the day when I just have to face the fact that there isn’t a thing I can do about it.

Next, I stare at my hair.  If I were to loan my hair, it could adorn a fine scarecrow.  I can’t begin to count the number of times it has been colored, frosted, ironed, foiled, teased, sprayed, moussed, fluffed, clipped, snipped, and flipped.  Nope, no one would want to borrow my chemically dependent mop.

Gazing into the mirror, I look at my eyes.  The problem is that I have to put on my glasses or use a magnifying glass to be able to see them.  With age they have started to dim.  However, they do work with assistance and I make the most of them.  Maybe I’m onto something now.  Just maybe there is some part of me that could be useful to someone else.

Behind my eyes is a brain.  Now, you might question as to whether I possess one of these, but I can assure you that I do.   An MRI last year revealed that not only do I have a brain but that it fills up my whole head!  While I might not be able to loan it, I’ll bet that I can donate it some day.  Who knows, maybe it hides the secret to curing cancer.  Maybe it contains a beautiful song, story, or novel.  I probably won’t be using that part, so I might as well let someone else give it a whirl.

My lungs are clear and healthy.  I don’t smoke, dip, or chew and I have exercised regularly for 25 years, so they are plenty strong.  To allow someone else to breathe a breath that is not belabored would indeed be a gift that would keep on giving.   

My heart, just like my lungs, is strong and efficient at pumping blood, because I have spent many years pumping my arms and legs to keep it fit.  My heart is the biggest part of me, because it desires to always help and serve others.  It has been broken more than a few times and stomped on many more, but it has lots of love left to give.  It would please me if someone would use it to its full potential. 

While an organ loaner program doesn’t exist, the organ donor one does.  If I could loan any part of me, I would gladly do it.  But since I can’t, I have willingly signed the back side of my driver license as an organ donor.  If you want to join me in making a lasting contribution, give the gift of life and sign your donor card.   While the 5^th grader had a wonderful idea, I don’t believe it is a keeper.  Donor, not loaner, is the one that will work.

Now, if you will excuse me, I am going to go soak my aching feet, stretch my tense, tight muscles and go to bed.  Judging from what I just saw in the mirror, I am in need of some major beauty sleep.  I hope that I dream about inventing that miracle face cream.     

The Skinny On Fat

Here’s a riddle for you. You can’t buy it at any store or sell it at any yard sale, but it can be manufactured. We’ve seen it displayed in the mall, at the beach, in the movie theatre, and in every restaurant. It can be burned, vacuumed, and shaken. We can even have it as a pet. Do you know the answer? It is body fat As if we didn’t possess enough fat, there is now a replica of it called “My Pet Fat”!

Can you believe it? This disgusting blob is supposed to motivate us to lose weight. Why would one need to pay hard earned money to buy fat to stare at when all most of us need to do is pull up our shirt. I wonder if this pet fat comes with a return policy? I wonder if the manufacturers need more? I have some that I would love to donate. Recycled fat. Isn’t that appealing? What’s next…my pet varicose veins or my pet stretch marks? How about my pet peeves? That’s a good one. Everyone could box up their pet peeves and display them as a reminder to let go of their anger and frustration. Maybe someone could open a pet market, then there would be no more need for flea markets, since these modern day pets don’t get them. We wouldn’t have to feed them, give them shots, or de-worm them either, so it makes perfect economical sense to me to replace the furry creatures with these motivational messages that massage our minds and inspire us to healthier lifestyles. After all, isn’t the purpose of a pet to please people? If we painted them purple, they could be called purple people pleasers.

I am awed by the fact that all of the billions of dollars spent on weight loss research could have been saved if only someone could have come up with this simple solution years ago. We would never have to learn to eat our fruits and veggies, drink our milk and water, or watch our portions. By staring at the pet fat, the excess adipose tissue could have just melted off our bodies. We wouldn’t be spending dollar after dollar to promote fighting disease with daily activity, rest, and eating healthy.I surely wish I could have come up with this fab, fat idea. I wish I didn’t have to exercise to burn my calories. I wish I didn’t have to avoid bellying up to the buffet, and it would certainly be nice not to have to work for a living, but rather sit back and rake in the income from the gullible people who would buy in to my idea. There surely is something else I could invent to give people an easy way out of our obese epidemic.

Maybe I can invent a recliner that comes with a remote control containing a button that says, “Delete Fat”. The problem with that is that I never get to hold the remote! Until then, I think I’ll do all of my pet shopping at Pet Smart.