Taking Care of Your Temple!!
If someone were to ask you what the number one killer of American adults is - what would your answer be? According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the United States; one in every three deaths is from heart disease and stroke, equal to 2,200 deaths per day." http://www.cdc.gov/Features/HeartMonth/. Do you know if you are at risk for developing heart disease? Do you also know you can reduce your risk for developing heart disease? The Word of God tells us in Hosea 4:6 (NIV) "my people are destroyed from lack of knowledge". Don't let this be you. I want to challenge you today to make it a priority in your life to take care of your temple. 1 Corinthians 3:16 (NIV) "Don’t you know that you yourselves are God’s temple and that God’s Spirit dwells in your midst?"
So what factors raise the risk for developing heart disease? Your age, gender and heredity are factors that increase the risk. However, these factors are ones that we can not change. The older we get, the more we are at risk. Men are at a greater risk in their younger years, but as women get older, their risk for developing heart disease increases as well. But there is good news - the other risk factors include those we can control or change. They are:
elevated cholesterol
elevated blood pressure
diabetes
smoking
physical inactivity
obesity
stress
alcohol abuse
poor diet & nutrition
We may not be able to control the fact that our blood pressure, cholesterol or blood sugars have gotten out of control due to genetics or age, but we can make healthy lifestyle choices and take our medications to control their long term effects on our bodies. By the way, the more risk factors you have the greater your risk for developing heart disease. To discover your 10 year risk of having a heart attack or from dying of heart disease, complete the Heart Attack Risk Calculator at
https://www.heart.org/gglRisk/locale/en_US/index.html?gtype=health
Next week we will begin to take a closer look at those risk factors we can change.
Have a blessed week!!
In Christ,
Rhonda
Tuesday, January 31, 2012
Monday, January 23, 2012
Abundant Life - Healthy Living Series
What is Stress?
Have you found yourself feeling overwhelmed by all the issues of life? Many of us work jobs, have a house to maintain and church work to do. Each one of these areas put demands on us and if we are not careful the these demands turn to stress. And what results from carrying around all this pressure or stress is we find ourselves really not enjoying life at all. Jesus said that He came that we would have life and "have it to the full" (John 10:10 NIV). This is where I found myself just a few years ago. I was living a STRESSED OUT life and the only abundance experienced was an abundance of problems in every area of my life. But I am here to tell you that God is my Victor - hold on tight to Him and He will deliver you!!! While looking through my prayer journal from that time, I found where the Lord told me - you have all this out of balance. What I came to realize was - I was not taking care of me.
I have heard it said that there are two types of stress - the good and the bad. There are times in our lives when we have increased stress as when moving to a new home or getting ready for an event. An example of "good stress" occurs when the activity is over, we let it go and think little about it later. Bad stress occurs when we can not let go of the activity and our mind continues to think or worry about it over and over again. Many times it is how we are allowing ourselves to handle the situation that is causing us stress.
According to Don Colbert, M.D. on pages 13-17 his book Stress Less, there are "four basic truths about stress". "Principle #1: Not all stress is bad". He says the right portion of stress in our life such as a happy event is a blessing and keeps us going. So, we need some stress in our lives. But many of us are living with an overabundance of such blessings. "Principle #2: Too much stress is bad". Too much stress can open us up to developing health problems such as heart disease, skin problems, digestive issues, decreased immune system, "chronic fatigue" and "autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis". Other more chronic illnesses can also be a result of too much stress such as "osteoporosis", "memory loss" "emotional problems" and much more. "Principle #3: What you perceive to be stressful to you...is". Each person looks at life and its stresses differently. What stresses me out might not affect you at all. "Principle #4: You can choose to control much of the stress level in your life". First get to know all you can about what causes you stress. Then decide what you are going to do about it. Use the steps from the last blog and develop a plan.
Here are a few techniques to use to help reduce stress:
1. Walk, PrayerWalk or exercise - this releases endorphins or "happy hormones".
2. Watch nature. (Matthew 6:26)
3. Breathing exercises - breathe in life and breathe out the stress - give it to God.
4. Read and meditate on the Word and God"s love. (Psalm 48:9)
5. Read a book, listen to music or visualize yourself at your favorite vacation spot.
6. Place all your cares of this world in God's hands and leave them there.
7. Control the stresses of life when you can by not making too many life changes at once.
8. Lighten up - laugh. Watch an old "I Love Lucy" show.
9. Ask for forgiveness for not taking care of yourself. And by the way - forgive yourself too.
10. It is ok to say "no".
I will leave you with my favorite saying by Charles Swindoll:
Have you found yourself feeling overwhelmed by all the issues of life? Many of us work jobs, have a house to maintain and church work to do. Each one of these areas put demands on us and if we are not careful the these demands turn to stress. And what results from carrying around all this pressure or stress is we find ourselves really not enjoying life at all. Jesus said that He came that we would have life and "have it to the full" (John 10:10 NIV). This is where I found myself just a few years ago. I was living a STRESSED OUT life and the only abundance experienced was an abundance of problems in every area of my life. But I am here to tell you that God is my Victor - hold on tight to Him and He will deliver you!!! While looking through my prayer journal from that time, I found where the Lord told me - you have all this out of balance. What I came to realize was - I was not taking care of me.
I have heard it said that there are two types of stress - the good and the bad. There are times in our lives when we have increased stress as when moving to a new home or getting ready for an event. An example of "good stress" occurs when the activity is over, we let it go and think little about it later. Bad stress occurs when we can not let go of the activity and our mind continues to think or worry about it over and over again. Many times it is how we are allowing ourselves to handle the situation that is causing us stress.
According to Don Colbert, M.D. on pages 13-17 his book Stress Less, there are "four basic truths about stress". "Principle #1: Not all stress is bad". He says the right portion of stress in our life such as a happy event is a blessing and keeps us going. So, we need some stress in our lives. But many of us are living with an overabundance of such blessings. "Principle #2: Too much stress is bad". Too much stress can open us up to developing health problems such as heart disease, skin problems, digestive issues, decreased immune system, "chronic fatigue" and "autoimmune diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis, lupus and multiple sclerosis". Other more chronic illnesses can also be a result of too much stress such as "osteoporosis", "memory loss" "emotional problems" and much more. "Principle #3: What you perceive to be stressful to you...is". Each person looks at life and its stresses differently. What stresses me out might not affect you at all. "Principle #4: You can choose to control much of the stress level in your life". First get to know all you can about what causes you stress. Then decide what you are going to do about it. Use the steps from the last blog and develop a plan.
Here are a few techniques to use to help reduce stress:
1. Walk, PrayerWalk or exercise - this releases endorphins or "happy hormones".
2. Watch nature. (Matthew 6:26)
3. Breathing exercises - breathe in life and breathe out the stress - give it to God.
4. Read and meditate on the Word and God"s love. (Psalm 48:9)
5. Read a book, listen to music or visualize yourself at your favorite vacation spot.
6. Place all your cares of this world in God's hands and leave them there.
7. Control the stresses of life when you can by not making too many life changes at once.
8. Lighten up - laugh. Watch an old "I Love Lucy" show.
9. Ask for forgiveness for not taking care of yourself. And by the way - forgive yourself too.
10. It is ok to say "no".
I will leave you with my favorite saying by Charles Swindoll:
ATTITUDE
by
Charles Swindoll
"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think, say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company... a church... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we embrace for that day. We cannot change our past... we cannot change the fact that people will act in a certain way. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play the one string we have, and that is our attitude... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me and 90% how I react to it.
And so it is with you... we are in charge of our Attitudes”
Monday, January 16, 2012
Abundant Life - Healthy Living Series
Setting Goals for a Healthier You!!
Many of us have a lot of lifestyle changes we need to make and as a result find ourselves overwhelmed doing nothing. But get a made up mind about your health. Tell yourself, "in a year from now I will be in better health". For me, it took a year to meet my first goals of weight loss and exercise. Be patient with yourself. Most of us have slowly gained weight through the years and it does not come off overnight. A slow weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week is the most effective and long lasting. One pound equals 3,500 calories. If you reduce your daily caloric intake by 500 calories a day, you should loose 1 pound a week. If you add exercise to your life, the weight should come off even faster.
Take a wellness inventory and write down the areas you need to change. As a result of making the list, the change or changes you need to make might become very obvious. I realized my weight was affecting many areas of my life, so there is where I began. A good tool to use in this process is found on the American Heart Association website at http://mylifecheck.heart.org/PledgePage.aspx?NavID=5&CultureCode=en-US. Or this Wellness Inventory tool created by a friend of mine, Anita Schambach. (To access or make larger, just double click on the picture below. The two pages below go together. Pictures can be printed by using the right click option on your mouse once you have make them larger.)
Set goals for yourself and remember to make them realistic. Lindsay & Smith (2007) on page 36 in their book Leading Change in Your World suggests we use the S.M.A.R.T plan when setting goals. Make them "specific", "measurable", "agreeable with accountability partner", "right to pursue" and "time-bound". Your goals should also be reachable. For example, if you need to loose 50 pounds, a S.M.A.R.T goal would read "I plan to loose 50 pounds by January 2013". Then after you set the goal, begin to write objectives or the steps that will assist you in meeting the goal such as:
Many of us have a lot of lifestyle changes we need to make and as a result find ourselves overwhelmed doing nothing. But get a made up mind about your health. Tell yourself, "in a year from now I will be in better health". For me, it took a year to meet my first goals of weight loss and exercise. Be patient with yourself. Most of us have slowly gained weight through the years and it does not come off overnight. A slow weight loss of 1-2 pounds a week is the most effective and long lasting. One pound equals 3,500 calories. If you reduce your daily caloric intake by 500 calories a day, you should loose 1 pound a week. If you add exercise to your life, the weight should come off even faster.
Again, this is not a diet or a temporary change, it is a lifestyle change! You maybe asking yourself - where do I begin or what changes do I need to make first? As I recommended last week, see your physician and discuss with him or her what they feel are the changes you need to begin to make. I suggest not setting yourself up for failure by making too many lifestyle changes at one time. Begin slowly and make no more than one to three lifestyle changes at one time. Last year, I began with only one goal - healthier eating habits and did not add my exercise goal until 6 months later. We are wholistically made and are multi-dimensional as mentioned in a previous blog. Every dimension of our life affects the other and if one area is out of balance your entire life is affected. For example, if you are depressed mentally, your physical health will eventually be strained as well.
Take a wellness inventory and write down the areas you need to change. As a result of making the list, the change or changes you need to make might become very obvious. I realized my weight was affecting many areas of my life, so there is where I began. A good tool to use in this process is found on the American Heart Association website at http://mylifecheck.heart.org/PledgePage.aspx?NavID=5&CultureCode=en-US. Or this Wellness Inventory tool created by a friend of mine, Anita Schambach. (To access or make larger, just double click on the picture below. The two pages below go together. Pictures can be printed by using the right click option on your mouse once you have make them larger.)
Set goals for yourself and remember to make them realistic. Lindsay & Smith (2007) on page 36 in their book Leading Change in Your World suggests we use the S.M.A.R.T plan when setting goals. Make them "specific", "measurable", "agreeable with accountability partner", "right to pursue" and "time-bound". Your goals should also be reachable. For example, if you need to loose 50 pounds, a S.M.A.R.T goal would read "I plan to loose 50 pounds by January 2013". Then after you set the goal, begin to write objectives or the steps that will assist you in meeting the goal such as:
- see my physician to discuss my plan.
- get someone to be my accountability partner for this goal.
- weigh myself weekly.
- write down everything I eat each day.
- make sure I eat at least a combination of 5 fruits and vegetables everyday.
- drink at least 8 - 8oz. glasses of water per day.
- eat broiled or steamed fish at least 2 times a week.
- choose lean cuts of beef or chicken and eat at least one meatless meal a week.
- etc.....
Billie Hudson and I will be praying for each of you as you begin this new chapter in your life. Remember to spend time with the Lord daily asking Him for the power and strength to reach your goals to a healthier you. Philippians 1:6 (NIV) "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
In Christ,
Rhonda Johnson
Billie Hudson and I will be praying for each of you as you begin this new chapter in your life. Remember to spend time with the Lord daily asking Him for the power and strength to reach your goals to a healthier you. Philippians 1:6 (NIV) "being confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus."
In Christ,
Rhonda Johnson
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Abundant Life - Healthy Living Series
Making Changes - Moving Towards a New Self
2012 is here and many of us have made a New Year's resolution to become healthier. It has now been two years since I decided to become healthy and make those lifestyle changes that I knew I had to make. See, I was overweight, on high blood pressure and cholesterol medication and pre-diabetic. I was also experiencing pain in my legs when I walked more than a half mile. As a nurse, I knew my future was not looking too good. Teaching classes about health and lifestyle changes was something I was good at, but applying what I knew to my own life was a different story. I had to decide and do as Nike says, "Just Do It".
But making lifestyle changes are not easy. One of the reasons I made the changes in my life was I felt God calling me to do what I knew I could do to be healthy. So, as you begin this new journey, ask for God's guidance and help. Make it a commitment to Him! Then learn all you can about eating right and exercising. Find a support system that will work for you. See your Doctor and discuss with him or her what you are planning. Just like you investigate buying a new car or TV, learn all you can about living a healthy lifestyle.
In 1983 Prochaska and DiClemente developed a behavioral health model for change called "Stages of Change". They discovered when people made permanent changes in their lives, they begin to pass through these stages. In the precontemplation stage - the person has no intention of making a lifestyle change. They really do not recognize the need for the change. The contemplation stage - is where most of us live. We know we need to do something, but not today. Then the person moves to the preparation stage - they are getting ready for the change and even making the plans for the change. For example - they buy the tennis shoes or a piece of exercise equipment from an infomercial. Then when they get serious about the change - they move into the action stage. They are making the changes and as they see positive results from the change, they are motivated to continue the change. The maintenance stage occurs when the goal is met or being met and the person has made the change a lifestyle. The relapse stage is also a place many of us are familiar with.
A lifestyle change is just that - something you begin to do for life. So, let's move away from the words diet or exercise and make it a part of your LIFE!!! Begin a new pattern and embrace the new you. I would like to urge you to begin to move out of the contemplation stage and through the preparation stage into the action stage. Get ready to begin this exciting new journey towards health and wholeness!
In Christ,
Rhonda Johnson
SHCOG Health & Wellness Director
2012 is here and many of us have made a New Year's resolution to become healthier. It has now been two years since I decided to become healthy and make those lifestyle changes that I knew I had to make. See, I was overweight, on high blood pressure and cholesterol medication and pre-diabetic. I was also experiencing pain in my legs when I walked more than a half mile. As a nurse, I knew my future was not looking too good. Teaching classes about health and lifestyle changes was something I was good at, but applying what I knew to my own life was a different story. I had to decide and do as Nike says, "Just Do It".
But making lifestyle changes are not easy. One of the reasons I made the changes in my life was I felt God calling me to do what I knew I could do to be healthy. So, as you begin this new journey, ask for God's guidance and help. Make it a commitment to Him! Then learn all you can about eating right and exercising. Find a support system that will work for you. See your Doctor and discuss with him or her what you are planning. Just like you investigate buying a new car or TV, learn all you can about living a healthy lifestyle.
In 1983 Prochaska and DiClemente developed a behavioral health model for change called "Stages of Change". They discovered when people made permanent changes in their lives, they begin to pass through these stages. In the precontemplation stage - the person has no intention of making a lifestyle change. They really do not recognize the need for the change. The contemplation stage - is where most of us live. We know we need to do something, but not today. Then the person moves to the preparation stage - they are getting ready for the change and even making the plans for the change. For example - they buy the tennis shoes or a piece of exercise equipment from an infomercial. Then when they get serious about the change - they move into the action stage. They are making the changes and as they see positive results from the change, they are motivated to continue the change. The maintenance stage occurs when the goal is met or being met and the person has made the change a lifestyle. The relapse stage is also a place many of us are familiar with.
A lifestyle change is just that - something you begin to do for life. So, let's move away from the words diet or exercise and make it a part of your LIFE!!! Begin a new pattern and embrace the new you. I would like to urge you to begin to move out of the contemplation stage and through the preparation stage into the action stage. Get ready to begin this exciting new journey towards health and wholeness!
In Christ,
Rhonda Johnson
SHCOG Health & Wellness Director
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