Category — Health Plan

I know a man who works out, eats right, is not overweight, takes the right supplements and does virtually everything he can do to stay healthy naturally.  Yet he still has to take medicine daily to control his high blood pressure.  He asked me why, if he does everything the books and health studies tell him to do to stay healthy, does he still have high blood pressure? 

Good question. 
We don’t always have an answer to those questions.  Sometimes bad things happen despite our best efforts.  We all are endowed with a set of genetic DNA we inherited from our parents that was passed down to them from previous generations.  A safe assumption for why his blood pressure is high relates to his genes.  A particular gene had a genetic mutation that altered it causing the problem.  Of course, there could also be other reasons.

The point is that sometimes bad things happen despite our best efforts to prevent them.  At some point, we are all going to have a health problem of some type during our life.  So instead of asking, “Why did this happen?” change the question to:
1) Am I doing everything I can to prevent health problems, and
2) How can I respond to them when or if they occur?  

Flying High for Answers
I own and fly airplanes.  As an airplane owner, I am required to have an annual inspection on my plane.  During the inspection the entire plane is taken apart, inspected, and put back together.  This would be similar to you having your yearly check-up, except your doctor doesn’t take you apart.  Your doctor, however, checks for signs and symptoms that could cause you health problems.

In addition to the annual inspection, the airplane goes in throughout the year for oil changes and maintenance on different parts as needed.  Yet most people never go back to the doctor throughout the year unless they are really sick.  Worse yet, many people do not even go in for their yearly examine.

Can you imagine if I just kept flying my airplane until something broke?  Worse yet, would you like to fly on a commercial airline where the pilots just hoped everything was going to work on a plane? Of course you wouldn’t?  So why do you do that with your health? 

Taking Care of Important Possessions
Your most important possession is your health.  When you are sick, nothing else matters.  Your health is what enables you to live the life you want to live.  Your lucky. The human body is so amazing it can handle a lot of abuse without breaking down, but that doesn’t mean you need to wait for something to break to get checked out. 

Instead, get a maintenance schedule.  Like an airplane, you need an annul inspection to find things while they are still small problems that could potentially become big problems.  But you also need more. 

There are certain parts on our “human aircraft” that have time sensitive checks.  Examples include:
1. Prostate exams for men over 45,
2. Colonoscopies at age 50,
3. Stress tests,
4. Mammograms, and
5. Other wellness tests and blood work to assess things are still in good condition and functioning properly.  

Continual Maintenance Needed
You also need to make sure and do daily weekly, and monthly maintenance on your body.  Every time I fly my plane I do a thorough pre-flight inspection of the plane.  I check the oil and make sure I have the right fuel. 

Do you have a daily pre-flight of yourself?  There are lots of things you should do daily like exercise, eating right, brushing your teeth, and many more things.

It always amazes me that folks don’t do much of anything to maintain their “human airplane” and then they are so surprised when they have problems.  Are you watching what fuel you use to feed your body?  My book, The Green Beret Doctor’s Health Plan for Life, goes into great detail on the types of fuel you need and the things you need to avoid.  You can purchase a copy on my website.

Sometimes bad things happen even if we do everything right, but we are much more likely to prevent them if we maintain our “human aircraft” as we should and treat it with the respect it deserves.

I’m not sure how long ago it happened. I cannot tell you exactly what it was that prompted it. It may have been something that happened to me, or it may have been something I read or heard. This much I do know: It dramatically changed my life forever. Since discovering this secret, nothing in my life has ever been the same. I am not the same. The way I view the world is not the same. It has made decisions easier for me to make. So what is it?

Life is Up to You
When I came to the realization deep in my heart that whatever was going to happen to me in this lifetime was up to me, my life changed. Once you realize your entire life is completely up to you, your life will change too.

Many people sit around and give the responsibility of their lives to someone else. The day I finally realized there was a good chance no one would take responsibility for my life, I woke up and took control of my life. Until that moment, I had been living in a fantasy believing someone else would be there to take care of me. Many people fall into the trap. They think it is the responsibility of their spouse, their parents, their boss, or even their government, to take care of them throughout their lives.

Wake Up to Reality
Here is the hard cold reality. No one is responsible for the person you become and the life you will lead, except you. Sure, there will be people in your life who inspire and help you become the person you want to come. But it is not THEIR responsibility to shape your future. Only you can do that. Ironically, once you realize that, you will start to attract other people who want to help you reach your goals.

When you realize this, your choices get easier. It will probably scare the crap out of you at first because it’s new. But when you realize it is the one thing you can control, you will find freedom. You can’t control the economy, the government, your parents, or your boss. You do however have complete control over your thoughts, what you read, and your attitude. You cannot always control everything that happens in your life, but you can be in complete control of your responses to the things that happen.

Start Today
If you have not yet taken charge of your life, written your goals, and mapped out a plan to reach them, I want to help you. My book, Living Every Minute: Design the Life You Deserve, will take you step by step through the processes I took the day I decided to take control of my life.

Start today. Realize you are in charge of your future. Don’t wait for someone else to take charge for you. Only you can determine where you are going, and the good news is, your past does not equate the success you can achieve in your future. Remember, you can’t accomplish all your dreams in one day, but you can start in one day. You can make a decision that you are going to do everything you’ve always wanted to do. You can make that decision in an instant and change the direction of your life forever. Go ahead, I dare you!

Every month I religiously read muscle and fitness magazines. I have decided that with the exception of a few articles, all of the magazines are written for people in their 20s and 30s. There are great work out routines and good diets in the publications. Unfortunately, they are designed for people with the metabolism of a 20 year old. Even the advertised supplements seem to be aimed toward the younger crowd.

Advice for the More Experienced
If the health magazines are all aimed at a younger generation, what are those of us with a bit more “experience” under our belts supposed to do to stay fit and eat right? If you enjoy having your birthday cake each year, I recommend following these tips to keep you one step ahead of the experience curve, while still being able to fit into your favorite clothes and move with the agility you had in your youth.

Utilize the Aging Antidote
Exercise is the number one aging antidote. It is bar none, far and away, the best thing you can do to preserve your health as you age. Exercise increases growth hormone levels, helps testosterone levels in men, helps balance hormones in women, has been show to prevent Alzheimer’s, increases bone density, and makes you look and feel younger. If that’s not enough, it has also been shown to increase your sex drive and improve your sexual performance.

As you age, remember there are several types of trainings to incorporate into your fitness program. Working on each of them can lead to a balanced, active life.

Exercise #1: Resistance Training
The first exercise you need to do is resistance training, meaning you exercise your muscles against resistance. Exercises in this category include weight lifting, body weight lifting (such as Yoga), or rubber bands. These exercises increase muscle tone and cause your body to release growth hormones. They also cause your bone density to increase, helping to prevent osteoporosis. If you have back or joint problems, learn to work around them. Hire a trainer who has experience working with people who have health related issues.

Exercise #2: Cardio Training
The second exercise you need to do is cardio training to increase your heart rate and improve your heart muscle and your vascular system. Exercises in this category include walking, running, biking, and swimming. Twenty minutes of cardio training should be done daily in combination with your resistance training workout.

Exercise #3: Flexibility Training
The third exercise you should work on is flexibility training. The glaring difference between a young person and an “old” person is their flexibility. To improve your flexibility, start stretching a few minutes every single day day. If you want to read a good book on flexibility training, I recommend Three Minutes to a Pain Free Life by Joseph Weisberg.

Exercise #4: Balance Training
The final exercise you need to incorporate into your routine is balance. A large majority of the injuries I see at my clinic in older people come from a lack of balance. In order to maintain your balance as you get older, practice balancing exercises like standing on one leg, doing Yoga, or holding an object in each hand and closing your eyes and seeing how long you can maintain that position.

To learn more about tips for staying in great health at any age, get my book, The Green Beret Doctor’s Health Plan for Life.

No matter where you’re at in your life, you can’t stop the clock from moving, but you can fight against the negative things most people allow the clock to do to their bodies. Following these few simple ideas now can make your golden years more golden.