Oh No, Not Another Blog

Welcome to the LoneStart Wellness Blog. Whether you’re interested in a workplace wellness program for your organization, or a single individual wellness strategy, we think you’ll find some worthwhile information here. If you are familiar with what we offer—great! If you are new to LoneStart, Please visit our website (www.lonestartnow.com), look at the downloadable articles and newsletters on The Workplace and Hospital Initiative pages, and get a feel for what we’re all about. While you’re there, sign up for the complimentary monthly e-newsletter, “Wellness in the Workplace.”

So, why a LoneStart Wellness Blog and why should you care that we’re here? We intend to show people that there is an attainable and sustainable solution to a big problem, one that’s getting bigger every day (we mean that both literally and figuratively). For almost three years we’ve been helping people realize that they have everything they need to take charge of their personal health and wellness. And you know what? When they believe they can, they will—and do. Now, why does this matter to you (and me and every one of us)?

Well, chew on a few of the following statistics:

• One of every seven deaths is attributed to diet and lack of physical activity. (American Cancer Institute)
• Adults gain two hours of life expectancy for each hour of regular exercise. (American Heart Association)
• In general, 50 percent of the calories we consume are void of any nutritional value, and almost half of our food dollars are spent on fast foods. (Center for Science in the Public Interest)
• Approximately 65 percent of the nation’s adult population is overweight, and 30.5 percent, about one in every three Americans, is obese. (Centers for Disease Control)
• Obesity is associated with 53 health conditions and has roughly the same association with chronic health conditions as 20 years of aging. (Centers for Disease Control)
• Obesity is now more costly to U.S. companies than smoking or alcoholism. (The Conference Board)
• More than 50 percent of corporate profits now go toward health care costs, versus only 7 percent three decades ago. (American Institute for Preventive Medicine)
• Each extra pound of body weight in all of today’s vehicles results in the need for more than 39 million gallons of extra gasoline each year in the U.S. (University of Illinois and Virginia Commonwealth University)

This blog will offer both fresh and well-worth-repeating insight into the problem (we have become still and ill and overfed yet undernourished), our perspective on solutions, and some interesting, inspirational and very human stories. We hope it will provide some “food for thought” as well as practical, real and life-altering information you can put to good use. And we promise, each post won’t be as long as the first.

Ours' is a grassroots effort to get a positive, realistic strategy in the hands of anyone who can benefit from it, so please pass this information on. Keep checking back, because our intent is to make each post a story worth telling. And if along the way we sometimes get a little "in your face," keep in mind that sometimes that's what it takes to affect change.