Healthier Health

This post is going to take a slightly different track. Even being in the wellness business, I’m continually amazed by what I don’t know—sometimes it’s something brand new, and sometimes it’s something I see and say to myself, “I should know that.” So, read on . . . I’m going to share some of the more unusual health and food facts I’ve discovered.

Did you know . . .

You’d have to make 2 trips to the top and back of the Empire State Building to burn off the calories in just two pieces of KFC Extra Crispy chicken!

Liquid calories account for more than 21 percent of our daily calorie intake—more than 400 calories every single day, which is twice as much as we drank 30 years ago.

An extra can of soda a day can pile on 15 pounds in a single year. The average American drinks about 2 cans of soda per day. By cutting soda and those 300 calories, you could save 8,400 calories in four weeks—and lose about 2.4 pounds. And, this means you haven’t consumed the equivalent of nine cups of sugar!

How much sugar? Each of us will eat the sugar equivalent of 3,628 Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups in the next 12 months.

According to a study in the Journal of the American College of Nutrition, people who drank one cup of black tea after eating high-carb foods decreased their blood-sugar levels by 10 percent for 2 and a half hours after the meal—which means they stayed full longer and had fewer food cravings.

Americans now spend more money on fast food than on higher education, personal computers, computer software, or new cars. They spend more on fast food than on movies, books magazines, newspapers, video and recorded music—combined.

All things being equal, boosting fiber by 8 grams for every 1,000 calories consumed results in weight loss of about 4.5 pounds.

The strongest muscle in the human body is the tongue.

Choosing organic foods can reduce carbon dioxide emissions by up to 68 percent.

A six-pack of beer generates 7 lbs. of greenhouse-gas emissions. The average American’s daily carbon impact is 153 pounds.

Americans spend approximately $25 billion each year on beer.

The average American spends 120 hours a month watching TV. That’s the equivalent of five complete days in front of the television.

Every hour we lose 125 acres of farm and ranch land. Each year 90 percent of U.S. cropland loses soil at a rate of 13 times above what’s sustainable.

Eating whole grains regularly can reduce your risk of heart disease by 25 to 28 percent, and risk of type 2 diabetes by 21 to 30 percent.

The average diner underestimates his or her calorie count by up to 93 percent when eating out.

An average human drinks about 16,000 gallons of water in a lifetime.

A typical American eats 28 pigs in his/ her lifetime.

And, thinking about pigs, food and odd yet interesting statistics, Dr. Seuss wrote “Green Eggs and Ham” after his editor dared him to write a book using fewer than 50 different words. (OK, this one just has food in the title, but it’s still an interesting food-related fact.)

Have you noticed that sometimes it’s what we never think about that really makes us think?

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.

A New Take on Independence Day

This weekend we’ll celebrate Independence Day—but are we really—independent? Are we self-determining, self-regulating? You know this is a wellness and well-being blog, so you can guess where this is going. But, read on . . .

Food for thought: Many of us are already focused on the traditional hot dog / hamburger cookout on the grill, accompanied by chips, soft drinks . . . the list goes on. But, what if we use this Independence Day as the time to shift our “food focus,” just a little bit at time? If we do, we can take a giant step in declaring our independence from chronic illness by Independence Day 2011 . . . a goal worth pursuing, a battle worth winning.

Here’s why: The foods we choose to eat on a daily basis contribute 80 percent to whether we will develop diabetes, heart disease, or cancer. Already, almost one-half of all Americans report having a chronic illness—and those illnesses account for 75 percent of our national spending on health care (and we are all well-aware of those costs). Furthermore, almost 80 percent of all chronic disease is caused by three preventable health behaviors—obesity and overeating, physical inactivity, and smoking. The good news . . . weight loss, as modest as 5 to 15 percent of total body weight in a person who is overweight or obese, reduces the risk factors for some diseases, particularly heart disease.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention says obesity has roughly the same association with chronic health conditions as 20 years of aging. It contributes to 53 diseases including heart disease, diabetes, arthritis and some types of cancer. Obesity costs our health care system about $147 billion a year. To put that figure in perspective, the American Cancer Society estimates that all cancers combined cost our health care system $93 billion a year. So ending obesity would save the health care system fifty percent more dollars than curing cancer.

How about this? What if this Independence Day (even if it’s after the big feast) we declare our independence from overly-processed, junk and fast food? What if we look for healthy substitutions? What if we find ways to work in a little more physical activity? What if we make just one modest yet meaningful change in our nutritional behaviors each month? If we as a nation of individuals can each make the effort to independently create a positive change for ourselves, we will collectively do great things for our country—and our own long-term health and wellness. “We the people” can take control of our wellness behaviors—and outcomes. “We the people” can become the solution rather than part of the problem. We are all stakeholders in this effort, and together we can turn the epidemic of overweight, obesity, and inactivity around and reduce our risk factors for preventable chronic illnesses.

Yes, it's a mouthful, but don’t you think it’s something well-worth chewing on?