Is it too late to turn your health around? Although we were raised certain ways we can still make a U-turn, or at least navigate a big curve. I was raised with dessert every day, lots of processed foods, little to no access to seafood, and limited fresh vegetables beyond summer. Meals were built around meat and potatoes. As for exercise, anyone who knows me can attest to my utter lack of athletic ability. So, should we settle for life-long habits and figure it’s too late to make changes now?

Actually, there is a LOT of evidence that changes, at all stages of life, still help you. Below are just a few of the most common habits/choices that can be changed in a way that really makes you feel better.

Changes to turn your health around

• Quit smoking –
  • Just 20 minutes after you quit your blood pressure and heart rate decrease.
  • Your risk of a heart attack starts to go down at 24 hours.
  • Taste and smell start to improve at 48 hours.
  • After 1-5 years your risk of heart disease is cut in half.
  • After 10 years your risk of lung cancer is almost as low as a lifelong nonsmoker.

• Weight loss – short and long term
  • Small weight loss can have big advantages.
  • If you lose 5-10% of your body weight, your blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol all improve.
  • Your risk of heart disease goes down.
  • It gets easier to breathe.
  • Sleep apnea can improve helping you sleep better and be less sleepy during the day.
  • Your sex drive
  • Joint pain
• Diet changes –
  • Decreasing your daily calories by 500-1,000 per day will decrease weight 1-2 pounds per week. [Faster weight loss is not as healthy and hard to sustain.]
  • Gradually add more interesting fruits and vegetables to your diet.
    • Sudden, drastic changes are not necessary and are hard to do.
    • More variety in fruits and vegetables will increase the types of vitamins and nutrients you get.
  • Change up your fat
    • Exchange some of your red meat meals for fish (your grocery store meat section will likely have instructions on how to prepare whatever is on sale or available in the meat section).
    • Try nuts for snacks over sugary snacks.
  • Sugar
    • Drink more water or unsweetened beverages in place of sugary soda or fruit juice.
    • Eat smaller portions of your dessert, as a starting point to cut back.
•  Exercise
  • Get moving – it helps with more than just weight control.
  • Decrease joint pain and strain, especially your lower back.
  • Get stronger and be more resilient against small strains and sprains.
  • Be more flexible.
  • Decrease your risk of a fall that could injure you.
  • Stay healthy and independent longer through fitness.
  • Have more energy and stamina.
  • Exercise doesn’t have to mean joining a gym or playing a sport.
    • Get up and move around during commercial breaks on TV.
    • Park farther from the front door.
    • Go for a walk with a friend.
    • Window shop in all of the stores at the mall before making a purchase.

U-turns are allowed in your life. No matter your age and for how long you have been doing things a certain way, make a change. Turn your health around. See how much better you can feel with very small changes starting today.

For more information about healthy choices and making a U-turn, contact us at www.medsmash.com.

BIBLICAL APPLICATION

Are you drowning in your negative self-talk? Are you always striving to do better? Or, are you constantly making excuses and blaming others for your weaknesses?

These are such easy routes to take! They are such easy ruts to fall into.

Will you ever be at peace and feel that all is right in your world? What would that take?

My understanding of the Bible is that the peace and promise you’re seeking is available to you RIGHT NOW.

There is nothing you have done that God doesn’t already know about. You can’t hide. Rather than being terrified by that, realize you are loved. You are loved and accepted and forgivable. Absolutely nothing you have done could make God turn away from you.

1 John 4:18 ESV

There is no fear in love, but perfect love casts out fear. For fear has to do with punishment, and whoever fears has not been perfected in love.

Grace, mercy, and forgiveness are right here waiting for you.

Romans 5:8 ESV

But God shows his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us.

You could absolutely never do anything so terrible that would exclude you from the love and grace of Jesus Christ.

It was this love that led to Jesus’ death – all for your sins and mine. And because of that sacrifice, you are saved.

Let’s look again at 1 John 4:17-18 from The Message:

God is love. When we take up permanent residence in a life of love, we live in God and God lives in us. This way, love has the run of the house, becomes at home and mature in us, so that we’re free of worry on Judgment Day—our standing in the world is identical with Christ’s. There is no room in love for fear. Well-formed love banishes fear. Since fear is crippling, a fearful life—fear of death, fear of judgment—is one not yet fully formed in love.

Not only can you take a U-turn in your daily physical health choices, you can take a U-turn in your spiritual health. Stop hiding. Stop beating yourself up. Embrace this love that is completely yours. You are forgiven as soon as you let go and give your all to God who loves you with no conditions.

Blessings,

Michelle