If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more and become more then you are a leader. John Quincy Adams
We generally think of fitness as a solitary activity. That is, it is us against ourselves, daily doing what we must to either get in better shape or to keep from slipping back into old unhealthy patterns. In other words, when it comes to diet, supplements and exercise, we are on our own.
How can this be? Everything else we do seems to involve everyone around us. We do not take our coffee breaks alone. We do not eat dinner alone. We do not go to the Golden Arches alone (if indeed we are still doing that.) We do not go to church alone. All of these are social activities, or at least most of us live as if they were.
For some reason, fitness is different. Very seldom do we go to the club with a friend or family member. Almost never do we take them with us when we go to vitamin shop. Only if we are fortunate do we share what they enjoy eating. All too often, we eat special diets, making us and everyone else uncomfortable.
This occurs because fitness is still a brand new way of being for most. Our families are still living on the "three square meals from the four food groups plan." That may be a step above the Wonder Bread and American cheese of Ozzie and Harriet, but not by much. Supplements are still viewed with suspicion, largely because MDs do not support them. Too, exercise is an organized play activity for high school kids, not a discipline for serious adults. That is where we continue to be at, even after eighty years of Jack Lalanne and fifty-plus of Jane Fonda, saying nothing about a universally acknowledged trend toward obesity.
What we take for normal (grocery store food, no vitamins, sedentary living) is dragging us down-- making us unenthusiastic, robbing us of our vitality. It is causing us to get increasingly unfit by the week. We think that we are only getting older but, the truth is that we are getting more and more out of shape because of our normal American way of life. In other words, our health-culprits are grocery store food, mandatory everyday inactivity, and vitamin-phobia, or in some cases vitamin-apathy. It is these, not the number of candles on the sugar-laden unhealthy birthday cake, which are making us look and feel the way we do. Together they are impacting diabetes, heart disease and strokes.
If something is not done about all of this, health care costs will continue to sky rocket.New fitness lifestyles must start and continue right at home. That is where the solitary health nut keeps trying to get or stay in shape while hanging onto his or her dignity. Everyone, not just this one individual, needs to get into the act. For that to happen, both parents need to get tough on junk food, microwave dinners, junk food, sitting too much in front of the computer, and being too tired to do a daily workout.
The First Lady started a number of initiatives to combat our fitness problem.They are well known, and they are likely to continue to another term, even if with a different leader. Why? Our problem gets more serious by the week, suggesting that it will not go away for a considerable period of time. It may actually exist longer than the economic down turn. To maximize the First Lady's effectiveness, her actions have to be done in concert with what should have been going on for the last twenty years at home.
Young people will not respond to anything positive unless they are given a good example from their parents. Granted, if harmful foods are no longer available in school cafeterias, they will not be as easy to get. But, they can still be bought from elsewhere. That is what will happen unless parents are leading by way, setting a good example at home.But, this is unlikely in families where there is only one family member trying to live a fitness lifestyle, all the while surrounded by Standard Americans angrily defending their pop-tarts, red meat, and Mountain Dew.
The same type of thinking is true for exercise. If parents are continually complaining about how hard they work, implying that they do not have the energy for workouts, their children will follow suit. Having to put up with teachers, home work that seems irrelevant to the everyday world, keeping up grades, and the like, can be just stressful as putting up with bosses. It is only natural then to follow then in their parents' footsteps with an attitude of perpetual exhaustion. This makes regular workouts even for the young appear to be a complete absurdity.
Supplements are next. MDs say these are a waste of money. In hard economic times that is a welcome message. However, is it true? There are few MDs who work out, but fewer still who use supplements. Maybe if more of them would get to the health club every day before going on rounds at the hospital, they might see a need for the enhanced nutrition, which comes from supplementation. If they did, they might find a better quality of life--something which they could enthusiastically communicate to their patients, namely the mothers and fathers mentioned above. Doing so could indirectly ward off disease, radically changing the health of our country.
MDs and parents should always be respected by their subordinates. But for that to happen, these leaders must be all about habits that really do make an enviable difference. That will never be the case if they hold fast to the lifestyles of the past decades, refusing to get with the new age of diet, supplements and daily workouts. That is the very thing we all need. It is the only sure way of combating our skyrocketing health care costs, to say nothing of our country's less than mediocre healthiness.
If it is any help, Thomas Jefferson- a friend and cohort of John Quincy Adams- believed that two hours of working out per day, rain or shine, was what everyone needed. Ben Franklin, even though portrayed with a paunch during his later diplomatic years, believed in diet and exercise. If we have already forgotten the late peerless Jack Lalanne, or fitness innovator Jane Fonda, let us try to remember some of our Revolutionary War heroes. That can be the best motivation for us if we are the lone health nut who aspires to motivate the rest of our family.
For further thought on fitness lifestyles within the family order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
We generally think of fitness as a solitary activity. That is, it is us against ourselves, daily doing what we must to either get in better shape or to keep from slipping back into old unhealthy patterns. In other words, when it comes to diet, supplements and exercise, we are on our own.
How can this be? Everything else we do seems to involve everyone around us. We do not take our coffee breaks alone. We do not eat dinner alone. We do not go to the Golden Arches alone (if indeed we are still doing that.) We do not go to church alone. All of these are social activities, or at least most of us live as if they were.
For some reason, fitness is different. Very seldom do we go to the club with a friend or family member. Almost never do we take them with us when we go to vitamin shop. Only if we are fortunate do we share what they enjoy eating. All too often, we eat special diets, making us and everyone else uncomfortable.
This occurs because fitness is still a brand new way of being for most. Our families are still living on the "three square meals from the four food groups plan." That may be a step above the Wonder Bread and American cheese of Ozzie and Harriet, but not by much. Supplements are still viewed with suspicion, largely because MDs do not support them. Too, exercise is an organized play activity for high school kids, not a discipline for serious adults. That is where we continue to be at, even after eighty years of Jack Lalanne and fifty-plus of Jane Fonda, saying nothing about a universally acknowledged trend toward obesity.
What we take for normal (grocery store food, no vitamins, sedentary living) is dragging us down-- making us unenthusiastic, robbing us of our vitality. It is causing us to get increasingly unfit by the week. We think that we are only getting older but, the truth is that we are getting more and more out of shape because of our normal American way of life. In other words, our health-culprits are grocery store food, mandatory everyday inactivity, and vitamin-phobia, or in some cases vitamin-apathy. It is these, not the number of candles on the sugar-laden unhealthy birthday cake, which are making us look and feel the way we do. Together they are impacting diabetes, heart disease and strokes.
If something is not done about all of this, health care costs will continue to sky rocket.New fitness lifestyles must start and continue right at home. That is where the solitary health nut keeps trying to get or stay in shape while hanging onto his or her dignity. Everyone, not just this one individual, needs to get into the act. For that to happen, both parents need to get tough on junk food, microwave dinners, junk food, sitting too much in front of the computer, and being too tired to do a daily workout.
The First Lady started a number of initiatives to combat our fitness problem.They are well known, and they are likely to continue to another term, even if with a different leader. Why? Our problem gets more serious by the week, suggesting that it will not go away for a considerable period of time. It may actually exist longer than the economic down turn. To maximize the First Lady's effectiveness, her actions have to be done in concert with what should have been going on for the last twenty years at home.
Young people will not respond to anything positive unless they are given a good example from their parents. Granted, if harmful foods are no longer available in school cafeterias, they will not be as easy to get. But, they can still be bought from elsewhere. That is what will happen unless parents are leading by way, setting a good example at home.But, this is unlikely in families where there is only one family member trying to live a fitness lifestyle, all the while surrounded by Standard Americans angrily defending their pop-tarts, red meat, and Mountain Dew.
The same type of thinking is true for exercise. If parents are continually complaining about how hard they work, implying that they do not have the energy for workouts, their children will follow suit. Having to put up with teachers, home work that seems irrelevant to the everyday world, keeping up grades, and the like, can be just stressful as putting up with bosses. It is only natural then to follow then in their parents' footsteps with an attitude of perpetual exhaustion. This makes regular workouts even for the young appear to be a complete absurdity.
Supplements are next. MDs say these are a waste of money. In hard economic times that is a welcome message. However, is it true? There are few MDs who work out, but fewer still who use supplements. Maybe if more of them would get to the health club every day before going on rounds at the hospital, they might see a need for the enhanced nutrition, which comes from supplementation. If they did, they might find a better quality of life--something which they could enthusiastically communicate to their patients, namely the mothers and fathers mentioned above. Doing so could indirectly ward off disease, radically changing the health of our country.
MDs and parents should always be respected by their subordinates. But for that to happen, these leaders must be all about habits that really do make an enviable difference. That will never be the case if they hold fast to the lifestyles of the past decades, refusing to get with the new age of diet, supplements and daily workouts. That is the very thing we all need. It is the only sure way of combating our skyrocketing health care costs, to say nothing of our country's less than mediocre healthiness.
If it is any help, Thomas Jefferson- a friend and cohort of John Quincy Adams- believed that two hours of working out per day, rain or shine, was what everyone needed. Ben Franklin, even though portrayed with a paunch during his later diplomatic years, believed in diet and exercise. If we have already forgotten the late peerless Jack Lalanne, or fitness innovator Jane Fonda, let us try to remember some of our Revolutionary War heroes. That can be the best motivation for us if we are the lone health nut who aspires to motivate the rest of our family.
For further thought on fitness lifestyles within the family order my e-book "Think and Grow Fit."
Obese 48 years ago; state champion power lifter 1978; in better shape today at 62 than when on swim team in high school
http://blog.foreverfitness.info (subscribe for weekly fitness updates)
Author of "Think and Grow Fit" the no hype guide to getting fit and staying that way forever
http://www.foreverfitness.info (6.00 ebook or 15.95 softcover from publisher I_Universe, Amazon or Barnes and Noble)
YouTube - mcfitnessguru19
http://blog.foreverfitness.info (subscribe for weekly fitness updates)
Author of "Think and Grow Fit" the no hype guide to getting fit and staying that way forever
http://www.foreverfitness.info (6.00 ebook or 15.95 softcover from publisher I_Universe, Amazon or Barnes and Noble)
YouTube - mcfitnessguru19
