The Most Important Thing

Have you given much thought lately to the most important thing you have? Your first response might be, “my children, my spouse or my family.” But, consider what it means if you put “my health” at the top of the list.

Your health is directly influenced by how you live your life. (And, this influences your family’s lives, and how you work . . . and the list goes on.) The decisions and choices you make every day have a direct impact on your health, vitality and well-being. And, this carries over into every other aspect of your life and your family’s lives. You can make positive choices that result in more energy, long-term wellness and a more positive outlook on life. You can make unhealthy choices that do just the opposite. It’s up to you.

The positive, healthier choices you make deliver immediate and long-term benefits to you and your family, by reducing your health care costs, feeling better about yourself, and knowing you’re doing the “right” thing. Consider too, that health is not just something you are, or have, or work for, or maintain. It's also an attitude, a state of mind, and a life-long goal.

So, back to the original question—what’s the most important thing you have? Then think about this statement: Health is the foundation for everything we build in life.

What are your thoughts?

Are You Friends With Your Food?

Remember the words of wisdom “Choose your friends wisely?” Think about what might happen if you re-word that thought to something like, “Choose your food wisely.” What do you look for in a friend? What do you look for in food? What do they have in common?

We all know some friends are better friends than others, easier to get along with, more supportive—a positive influence on our lives. And, we also know that some friendships are actually unhealthy. Some friends might be controlling or make unreasonable demands, leading to feelings of resentment and guilt. Some are love-hate relationships. Sounds a lot like food . . .

So, how does one go about making friends (the lifelong kind of friend) with food? For starters, there’s the “break-up.” Yes, it’s hard, but sometimes it’s the right thing to do. Sometimes you have to break-up with unhealthy food habits and find a way to make food one of your best friends—for life. Literally, for life. To reach a happy and healthy relationship with food (and that’s a key point), you have to identify the attitudes and self-destructive habits that get in your way—and break-up with them. Then, it’s time to make new friends.

Find new food “friends” that support your goals. Look for the food friends that don’t leave you with feelings of resentment, self-doubt or guilt. Find food friends that support your efforts to make positive choices, are there for you and your health, in happy times and sad, and who won’t sabotage your best intentions with self-serving or distorted views of “comfort.” In other words, food “friends” that will sustain but not disrupt or derail your health / lifestyle objectives.

We’ll bet you know who these friends are, and if you don’t, ask us. We’ll send you a “food friend” list.

Finish This Thought . . .

. . . Wellness matters because . . . Well, why does wellness matter? And, why does it matter to you? It’s not even that easy to define. We know wellness is “a multidimensional state of being describing the existence of positive health in an individual as exemplified by quality of life and a sense of well-being. Wellness is not just the absence of illness, but the active process of achieving an individual's full potential of physical, mental, and spiritual well being.” No doubt, defining wellness is a mouthful.

And, it’s sort of like poetry—most of us can recite a poem (even a bad poem), but can we define "poetry?” And, how do we individually define wellness? It seems that getting back to the individual definition brings wellness home to each of us.

So, back to why wellness matters. The National Wellness Institute says, “wellness is an active process through which people become aware of and make choices towards a more successful existence.” Who can argue with that? Employers know that better health means better productivity. We all know (or by now should know) that the prevention of expensive-to-treat and mostly preventable chronic illness means a reduction in the need for health care services—and less drain on our health care system.

Then there are the personal reasons—who wants to be ill? Don’t we all want to “be there” for our children, and our grandchildren? Don’t we want to enjoy our retirement? Don’t we just plain want to feel good?

LoneStart Wellness encourages everyone to take a fresh look at the opportunities we all have to begin to improve our personal—individual and collective—health. Call it healthy living, personal responsibility, even green health. With a little initiative, we 309 million Americans can dramatically reduce our health care burden and begin a new, national wellness movement based on knowledge, prevention and sustainability. A lofty goal, but one we each have the personal power to carry out.

That sounds like a pretty good way to explain why wellness matters . . . but why does it matter to you? Only you know the answer to that question, but we’d like to hear your thoughts.