You Can Choose To Be Healthy

Through following a few lifelong habits, you can maximize your changes of being safe and healthy.

How Can You Choose To Be Healthy?

Routes to Affecting Your Health (Outline)

Tom G. Stevens PhD

==> ALSO SEE A LONGER ESSAY,  from Ch-9,  You Can Choose To Maximize Your Health

INFORMATION 

Physical health is necessary for life itself and provides the faculties and energy to do what you want in your life.  How well you eat; exercise; follow safe practices; sleep; avoid smoking, drugs, and other harmful substances; and otherwise lead a healthy lifestyle is a vital key to energy, longevity, and happiness.

Despite our many advantages, Americans are the the most overweight people on earth; a high percentage smoke or take drugs; most fail to get the nutrients their bodies need; most eat too much fat, sugar, and calories; and most fail to exercise at least 3 to 7 times per week adequately.  

Good health habits involve simple actions that almost anyone can do regularly, yet most don't.   Good health, energy, physical fitness, and longevity are to a large degree a choice that you can make.  You say that most of your friends or family don't have excellent health habits so why should you?  Relatively few people are in excellent health by the time they reach 40-60 years old.  The daily practices beginning in their earlier years are what make the difference.  If you want to reach 85-100 and be relatively healthy even at those ages, these are the factors that can make the difference.

1. Nutrition: vitamins (A-E,K), minerals (Ca,K,Mg,Sel,Cr,trace), fats (especially Omega-3 fatty acids), Key additional supplements research shows is effective (such as alpha lipoic acid (antioxidant), glucosomine (joints), bioflavonoids, CoQ10, etc.)  fiber,protein,etc. 

    For extensive nutrition information go to these three sites: 
        * Life Extension Foundation (LEF): http://www.lef.org
        * Dr. David Williams' site: http://www.drdavidwilliams.com
        * Dr. Julian Whitaker's site:  http://drwhitaker.com/ 

2. Exercise: Norwegian study-more is better! At least 3-4/week, 20-40 minutes. Also, do repetitive full range of motion exercises for all joints daily.

3. Safety Habits: driving, fire, biking,

4. Addictions: smoking, alcohol, drugs and medications

5. Pollutants: pesticides, smog, water, etc.

EMOTIONS and HEALTH

Emotions linked with immune strength or suppression-link to many illnesses.

Emotions linked to cancer, heart disease, and many other illnesses.

Eg. Holmes & Raye stress test

2. Stress Model 2: Your beliefs and thoughts mediate emotions

Harmonious Functioning (HF) versus Anger, Anxiety, & Depression

3. Emotional Coping Skills:

Go to Chapter 8 to learn strategies for controlling HF, emotions, stress

4. Getting Control of your life- Internal & External Routes to Happiness

Go to book contents.

Health values and beliefs.  Assess your own health values.  How important do you make your health? Your nutrition?  Your safety and health habits?  Your stress levels and happiness?  Do you think of your health has being out of your control (genetics, environment, a mystery) or do you take responsibility for reading and learning about the above topics and then practicing what you know?

Underlying value of self: Self-Esteem/Self-Worth.  How can you say you love yourself and value yourself when you don't take top care of your body?

Self-worth, Happiness & health as Ultimate (top) Concerns. Health boosts happiness and is necessary for life and energy.  Make it a top value/ultimate concern along with happiness, truth, and other top values.  

==> ALSO SEE,  from Ch-9,  You Can Choose To Maximize Your Health

OTHER INTERNET LINKS 
Some of the Internet links  provide good general health information and some provide help for specific diseases.

Health-Related Links (Other than mental health)

GENERAL HEALTH REFERENCES

****Life Extension Foundation. Loaded with practical information about what you can do to control your own health using diet, exercise, and other means.  You can find a specific disease and learn about what you can do (as well as learn about common medical treatments).
http://www.lef.org/

  John Hopkins site: high marks by reviewers

http://www.mayoclinic.org Mayo Clinic's site: high marks by reviewers

http://www.webmd.com/   WebMD

www.kaiserpermanente.org Kaiser-Permanente's Health advice

www.SearchMed.com

www.drkoop.com   Former HRD Director Everett Koop M.D.'s site.  Drug checker checks for drug interactions. Over 100 support groups listed.

**** Health and Healing and director of Wellness Institute. This site is packed with good information about nutrition and health.
http://drwhitaker.com/ 

www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/PubMed  PubMed=NLM's search service to access the 9 million citations in MEDLINE and Pre-MEDLINE (with links to participating on-line journals), and other related databases. 

www.nlm.nih.gov   U.S. National Library of Medicine, 8600 Rockville Pike, Bethesda, MD 20894 

www.nih.gov National Institutes of Health

www.transweb.org    Site to find organs for transplants

World Health Organization 

ALTERNATIVE  HEALTH (also see Life Extension Foundation and other sites above)

www.altmedicine.com  High rating by Access Magazine 

www.prevention.com  Ditto

www.healthy.net  Healthworld  online.

DrWhitaker.com    Publisher of the newsletter, Health and Healing

Medications-Drug Information

COMPREHENSIVE, PRINTABLE DRUG INFORMATION
Medscape Drug Info provides clinical information on drug indications, adverse effects, interactions, and other cautionary guidance, as well as handouts for your patients. Click DrugInfo from the top of any page, or search by drug name. http://mp.medscape.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/helg0EPNfq0D2k0FD3Y0AO

Self-Help and other resources on this website (and site map)