A to Z Guide to Healthier Living

D.Min Biebel David B.

Description

Everyone wants to live a healthy, long life. The A to Z Guide to Healthier Living is a practical, scientifically reliable, biblically sound, and easy-to-read handbook that combines current research on living healthfully with important findings on the connection between longevity and faith. From commonsense advice to innovative ideas on how to live better one day at a time, this book is a unique and welcome resource for healthy living.

Sujets

• Philosophie et théologie

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 janvier 2012
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441237521
• Langue: English

Extrait

© 2008, 2012 by David D. Biebel, James E. Dill, and Bobbie Dill
Published by Revell
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.revellbooks.com
Previously published under the title 70 Ways to Beat 70
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3752-1
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
The internet addresses, email addresses, and phone numbers in this book are accurate at the time of publication. They are provided as a resource. Baker Publishing Group does not endorse them or vouch for their content or permanence.
To our mothers, for trying to get us to eat our spinach.
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1. Accept Your Mortality
2. Attend a Healthy Church
3. Avoid Fad Diets
4. Avoid Infections
5. Be Content
6. Be Kind to Your GI Tract
7. Be Who You Really Are
8. Break Bread Together
9. Breathe Clean Air
10. Build Strong Bones
11. Create Your Legacy
12. Cry More
13. Dance—Or Learn To
14. Develop Resilience
15. Discover, Use, and Celebrate Your Talents
16. Dodge Cancer
17. Don’t Give In to Chronic Disease
18. Don’t Smoke or Hang Out with People Who Do
19. Drink Lots of Clean Water
20. Eat Well, Be Well
21. Enjoy a Hobby
22. Enjoy Your Work
23. Feast on Fiber
24. Forgive Others
25. Forgive Yourself
26. Get and Keep Your Affairs in Order
27. Get Out There
28. Hang Loose or Stress Could Get You
29. Have at Least One Close Friend
30. Hold On to Hope
31. Invest in Joy by Giving
32. Jollify Your Life
33. Keep an Eye on Your Eyes
34. Keep Your Heart Smart
35. Keep Your “Wow” Working
36. Know the Skinny on Fat
37. Lighten Up
38. Live in the Now
39. Love and Be Loved
40. Love God without Being Religious
41. Mind Your Mouth
42. Nurture Family Relationships
43. Nurture Something
44. “Owe No One Anything . . . but Love” (or Owe Less . . . Save More)
45. Pay the Kindness Forward
46. Play More
47. Practice Safe Sex
48. Pray 24/7
49. Prevent Accidents
50. Question Supplement Claims
51. Remember Who’s in Charge of Your Health
52. Save Your Skin
53. Seek Solitude
54. Simplify Your Life
55. Stay Active
56. Stay Connected
57. Stay Creative
58. Surround Sound Your Soul
59. Take a Nap
60. Take a Walk
61. Tune Your Immune
62. Understand and Fulfill Your Purpose
63. Value Yourself
64. Volunteer and You’ll Never Be Bored Again
65. Worry Won’t Change a Thing
66. Xpress Gratitude
67. Yearn to Learn
68. Zssss—Get Enough of Them
Conclusion
Notes
About the Authors
Back Cover
Acknowledgments
W e wish to thank Sue Foster for her research and written contributions to the manuscript.
We wish to thank Betsy Dill for her valuable involvement in this project.
We wish to thank Dr. Robert Martin III for contributing the original text for the chapter entitled “Save Your Skin.”
The Voice of This Book
When we say “we” or “our,” it means that we agree on the point in question. When we are describing our individual perspective or experience, we identify who is “speaking” in each case.
Disclaimer
Neither the authors nor publisher are engaged in rendering medical, health, or any other kind of personal professional services in this book. Readers should consult their health professional before adopting any of the suggestions in this book or drawing inferences from the text. The authors and publisher specifically disclaim all responsibility for any liability, loss, or risk, personal or otherwise, which is incurred as a consequence, directly or indirectly, of the use and/or application of any of the contents in this book.
Introduction
Y ou want to live long; you want to age gracefully. And we want to help you do that.
But there’s so much hype and hooey out there, it’s hard to know who to trust or where to start if you want to beat 70. Many people use supplements of one kind or another to try to slow the aging process, even though few products have any real science to offer in support of their longevity-related claims. It’s not uncommon for baby boomers to show up in their doctor’s office with a bag full of bottles and the question, “Doctor, which of these will do me the most good?”
In a broader sense, that is the question we tried to answer in this book. Of the thousands of products and programs promoted via the Internet, advertising on TV and radio, print ads in magazines and newspapers, and even whole books touting one thing or another, with ample “testimonies” offered as “proof,” where does the health-conscious person start? This question is crucial, because with time rushing on and 50 million of your cells replacing themselves with each sentence you read on this page, you don’t want to start down the wrong path if you can possibly avoid doing so.
Each chapter will show the health-enhancing, longevity-producing value of whatever that chapter’s topic is. In creating the text, we reviewed hundreds of documents and visited thousands of websites, then summarized the best and most reliable information we could find, applying the “gold standard” of research as often as possible. The gold standard requires that a scientific claim should be based on independent, placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind research. While anecdotes may be helpful in pointing researchers in one possible direction of inquiry or another, the testimony of one or even a dozen individuals regarding the health-enhancing effects of one thing or another does not prove that anyone else could or should expect similar results.
The challenge in selecting our topics was not, “How can we possibly come up with seventy chapters?” Instead, it was more like, “Which seventy of the hundreds of health- and longevity-related subjects will provide the average person with a reliable foundation for the pursuit of optimal health for themselves and those they love?”
We started with the conviction that health is far more than the absence of disease and that it involves far more than the biological components upon which many people focus. Health and wholeness come from the same root word, implying soundness in body, mind, and spirit. To these we added relational health, which has been shown to have an effect on longevity.
As one of our friends says, health is not really a noun but a verb, because it is dynamic, always changing as the sum of the relative healthiness of the factors just mentioned. So we tried to emphasize that the hope of improving our health is there for anyone willing to make the changes that will take him or her in that direction.
We focused on prevention as much as possible, since it should be obvious to anyone with an interest in health that the treatment of disease is far more expensive and distressful than preventing that disease from occurring in the first place. We hope that this conviction will continue to spread, not only among laypeople but also among professional health care providers. Fact 1: Most chronic diseases are preventable. Fact 2: Spare body parts are hard to come by. Those who are waiting for science to fix everything that they have broken or may break in the future are playing Russian roulette with their cardiovascular system with each new supersized meal they consume.
We also focused on simple alternatives, well within the reach of anyone who chooses to adopt them. After all, the basic principles of health really are uncomplicated. For example, Grandma said, “Eat your fruits and vegetables, and be sure to get enough roughage.” Jesus said, “Don’t worry.” Mother Teresa said, “If we have no peace, it is because we have forgotten that we belong to each other.” St. Augustine said, “Love God, and do as you please!”
The bottom line is that if you practice the principles in this book, you will be motivated and inspired and equipped to make changes that may be necessary. You will have a healthier living resource that you can trust and recommend. And you will have a scientific basis for practicing a faith-based healthier lifestyle.
In the process of creating this resource, we ourselves have been challenged and motivated to make changes in various health-related areas of our own lives. For we agree with Gandhi’s exhortation, “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
We are your fellow pilgrims on the way toward better health, affirming as we go that health and even longevity are not the true ends in themselves but a means to the end of fulfilling the purposes for which we remain here, with as much strength and vitality as we can manage, moment by moment, day by day.
Dave, Jim, and Bobbie
1 Accept Your Mortality
I don’t want to achieve immortality through my work. I want to achieve it through not dying.
Woody Allen
N obody wants to die, but by the time we’re old enough to realize that “dead” means our pet cat won’t be with us anymore, we begin to come to grips with the fact that everything and everyone will eventually die, including us. As much as anything else, how we adapt to that fact will affect how we choose to live.
Many people go to enormous lengths to ignore, deny, and battle against the reality of their mortality. The first gray hair they see, the laugh lines that were not there yesterday, the “crow’s-feet,” and the various aches and pains all announce that they are in fact aging even though they may still feel very young at heart. The cosmetic industry and anti-aging products, for example, offer a little false hope that the process can be stopped, or at least postponed a bit.
Some people, usually younger rather than older, seem to