CHAPTER 1
Beyond Health
How Healthy Are You?
Just for a moment, let's forget about being lean, strong, and fit and just talk health.
Do you value your health?
If your answer is a resounding "Yes!" you're not alone. America is on a health kick, and I believe it's killing us.
That's right. I believe our obsession with health is a dangerous, debilitating, disastrous mind-set that may be undermining the very fabric of our nation-as well as your own health. I'm confident, in a few moments you'll agree.
In fact, we're losing a battle that is costing us our health, wealth, and ultimately our strength as a country. The obesity epidemic is spiraling out of control. We're working harder and longer, eating more, and moving less. Kids now stare at screens rather than engage in real-life activities, at least until their parents commandeer the television for their own use.
The numbers are startling. According to the National Center for Health Statistics, about 30 percent of U.S. adults 20 and older are obese and 65 percent are either overweight or obese. One out of five ages 12 to 19 is now considered obese.
Simply being overweight, let alone obese, increases the likelihood of developing numerous health conditions, including diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, breathing problems such as asthma and sleep apnea, some cancers, and osteoarthritis, among others. Yet, the greatest impact is simply on quality of life.
Studies suggest that more than 400,000 people die each year from causes related to poor diet and physical inactivity. That's 17 percent of all deaths. Only tobacco use, according to research by the National Institutes of Health, accounts for more fatalities.
Though the death toll from most preventable causes decreased in the decade between 1990 and 2000, obesity and inactivity deaths went up by 33 percent. By 2010, poor diet and physical inactivity likely will overtake smoking as the leading cause of preventable death.
Recently we crossed a tipping point where, for the first time in recorded history, the youngest generation of children is now expected to live shorter lives than their parents, even though medical technology continues to advance and we know far more about the impact of poor diet and inactivity than ever before.
The ranks of the uninsured grow each year, as does the staggering costs of health coverage for employers. Health care costs have been rising faster than the rest of the U.S. economy for many years, as they continue to consume a larger share of family budgets.
Unless something changes, our already precarious health care system will collapse and millions will face financial ruin and premature death. No one is immune to the impact.
If you're in a group health care program at work, the rates are determined by factoring everyone in your office-including the obese and the smokers. It's not like auto or life insurance, where you catch a break for safe driving or clean living. You're penalized for the sins of your associates.
As of 2007, obesity was costing the United States $130 billion in direct medical costs each year. It's not a stretch to suggest that the figure soon could soar to $1 trillion annually. Businesses, already straining to provide employees health coverage, will be forced to drop coverage or go outside our borders, a choice more companies have already made. Many doctors are leaving the profession, since insurance companies increasingly are covering less of their services. What's most unsettling is that the greatest impact will most likely happen to us in ways we can't even begin to imagine.
Most of us know something is not quite right, and many can quote a stat or two about the crisis, but it's little more than cocktail conversation. It's not quite personal, even when we are part of the problem. Studies have shown that 64 percent of obese people don't think they are obese-"it's the other guy or gal. Not me."
Like the parable of the frog that stayed in the pot of water until it was boiling, it's getting hotter and hotter but we don't seem to mind. It hasn't yet occurred to us that it might be time to jump.
Why worry, so long as you've got your health, right?
The Paradox of Health
What is health, really? Think about how you might explain health to a three-year-old. Perhaps you would reach for some buzzwords like "fit," "well," or "sound." Eventually you'll come to the clarity that we all do and just say it like it is, health is the "opposite of sick."
For most all of us health is subconsciously, if not consciously, defined as the "absence of disease." Technically, this is an accurate definition. Heck, even the esteemed Webster's dictionary defines health as "freedom from disease."
For most people, health is less a goal than it is a nice idea, a concept. Saving 10 percent of your income, losing 10 pounds-those are goals. Instead we talk about health, eat a few veggies, slip in and out of a diet, and try to avoid the doctor. We may "get serious"-this lasts a few weeks, perhaps months. Alas, there's work, the kids, so much to do-we get drawn back into life. No harm, though, you're healthy and will get around to it later.
So few truly value this elusive thing called health.
Given the way most people view health, barring any sudden, tragic diagnosis, you're "healthy." You could be 80 pounds over your "desirable" weight, snacking on Ding-Dongs while lounging at home watching television, and self-assessment would be: Cancer? Not me. Tumors or broken bones? Negative. All systems check in as free from disease: "Healthy!"
As in this example, the remarkable goal-seeking radar we humans have is letting you down because you seem to be working perfectly. You see, it's masterfully designed to move you to your goal, not beyond it. Once your subconscious checks off a goal (in this case "free from disease") as attained, your drive slips into neutral and nothing more happens. The status quo settles in.
We've been so oversaturated by "healthy" media messages that we've stopped thinking critically about the actual meaning of health. It's become something we check off our "to do list" more than a state of being. This lack of clarity has us walking a tightrope between "healthy" and "not healthy." As long as people feel healthy, they take little action to be more than that. Their goal realized, they're in a comfort zone, oblivious to the dangers of their sedentary, reactive lifestyle.
The tragic reality is that most people never make real or lasting change until it's absolutely necessary-until they're ill or faced with a serious health scare, and even then they don't always change. Cigarette smokers are sometimes unwilling to kick the habit even after a lung cancer diagnosis. Remarkably, some smokers assume they're healthy until told otherwise. Why not? All systems were reporting back "healthy."
Here's the real message you should be receiving when it comes to your health: "Houston, we have a problem."
You see, for most people health is less the presence of something great than the absence of being ill. It's settling for "good enough."
This is why our fascination with health is dangerous. How can it be that millions of people in this country think about, worry about, and appraise their health-and yet we find ourselves in a spiral of decline facing an enormous crisis of health? Isn't our obsession with health supposed to reverse these trends?
Certainly there are good intentions to report on and some pockets of people who are getting stronger and healthier, but for the most part nothing is changing-at least not for the better.
I care about your health and the well-being of our country and world, but the harsh reality is that health is not enough. I want more for you, for your family, and I know you can have it. It's all here for your taking. That is precisely why I'm asking you to join me on this journey beyond health-beyond the "good enough" survival mentality-to a life of abundant energy, vitality, and strength.
Strength Is Presence
Where health is no more than the absence of disease, strength is the presence of abundant energy-a capacity to be a force in your world. It includes health and at the same time so much more; it's being healthy and flowing with energy, power, and confidence.
To live with strength is to choose abundance-it's more than avoiding illness or simply getting by, it's a higher state of energy and life for those who have set their sights beyond health. Call it "optimal health" or "strength," its hallmark is a desire to improve; there is no settling for the status quo.
Without strength, there's never enough energy to go around or enough hours in your day. You can't get it all done. People in this position consider the process of strengthening their bodies a luxury. There's just not enough time.
Strength is that something extra; the mental, physical, emotional reserve-the fuel that makes for an extraordinary life. Where "health" is like living paycheck to paycheck, strength is money in the bank-a reserve. Strength is true wealth.
Together, we stand at a turning point in our existence, a time when we must find the strength to change: to change the way we think, the way we eat, the way we relate to our bodies, the entire way we embrace our planet and world. As formidable as these changes are, all change begins with the strength and the courage to master your own life challenges.
You may choose to live your life at full strength for yourself in order to do more, be more, and have more of everything. You may do it for your family, who will benefit greatly from the care and maintenance of the vehicle you call you. Or you may choose to do it for your country, which ultimately bears the burden of the weak and frail.
Your body, the only one you will ever have, is the foundation for your life. And it's either an anchor limiting your freedom and potential, or a source of radiant energy, vitality, and joy, elevating your life and the lives of those around you. It's your choice. Will your body be a source of strength, from which you will impact the world, or an obstacle, preventing you from your dreams and desires?
As my friend, NFL Hall of Fame quarterback John Elway, is fond of saying, "If you're going to set a goal, aim high!"
My advice to you is to aim high; aim for strength.
CHAPTER 2
The Shape of Your Life
Whether you're tall, short, thin, curvy, or stout-whatever shape you see in the mirror-the shape of your life will likely look much the same as every other life. It rises up, arcs over and through your peak, and descends.
If you were to graph the strength, energy and vitality of your life, it would look like the cross section of a speed bump. You're born weak and helpless, spend the first two decades of life growing stronger, enjoying vibrant energy. There's a leveling off as you reach a comfortable cruising altitude. Then the inevitable: In spite of your attempts to defy it, the descent begins. You spend the rest of your life walking the "tightrope of health," quietly hoping and praying that you don't slip back to weak and helpless.
Where are you along this normal curve of life? Here's a simple way to gauge it. Think back to your last birthday. Was it an exciting celebration, or has it become a dreaded annual event, similar to tax day?
If you've "celebrated" a fortieth birthday like I have, you know it can be a startling experience. It's not so much the stigma attached to 40, or the good-natured grief you receive on your birthday, but the realization that your physical prime is no longer in your future. In an instant you've gone from seeing your best on the horizon, to watching it shrink in the rearview mirror.
At this point your body has been quietly stockpiling fat and divesting lean muscle, strength, and energy for more than a decade. The redistribution of fat, especially in the common problem areas-the midsection and thighs-is increasingly apparent. If you've ignored your nutrition and exercise up until this point, the neglect is visible for all to see.
Yet somehow in the midst of these disturbing life changes, most manage to ignore them. This is easy to do if you've yet to reach your fourth decade milestone-for even thirty-nine and a half is "thirty- something." You're still young and healthy. No reason for you to worry yet, right?
The day this rationalization fails, and you are no longer able to ignore your declining physical condition, is a difficult day indeed. For the unprepared, midlife can bring trepidation and discomfort. Some seek temporary relief in the likes of a new Corvette, Botox, or cosmetic surgery. Yet, try as you may, you will eventually reach the point where you simply can't buff it out any longer.
Now, let me make something clear: This is not a book about being forty-something, but rather a book by a forty-something from the pinnacle of life, who's going strong and has another forty (at least) strong years ahead. With more than two decades' experience in strength and fitness, I see both the ascent and the descent on the curve of life with stunning clarity. From this perspective, I'm confident I can help you shape your best life, whether you're 25, 75 or anywhere in between.
The Descent Begins
Physical decline actually begins long before you see its many signs. Starting in your midtwenties you're losing about a pound of lean, life-enhancing muscle per year. This loss of muscle usually goes unnoticed for many years, as the weight is replaced with more than a pound of fat, which takes up five times more space on your body. Hence, the reason you can weigh the same and still find your clothes won't fit. As a result, your shape gradually morphs, softens, and widens as your energy, strength, and vitality fade.
By the time the average, modestly active person debates going to their twentieth high school reunion, they can expect to have packed on 20 or 30 pounds of fat, even though the scale is showing a not-so- bad 10 to 15 pounds (remember you're losing muscle). If you're not eating well, these startling numbers could be a best-case scenario.
You guessed it; things do get worse. In the absence of a significant change in lifestyle the decline continues to gain speed. By your midfifties you can expect the above numbers to double. This could mean a staggering 60 pounds of fat gained and over 30 pounds of muscle lost for a man and an equally disturbing 35 and 15 for a woman. As difficult as this should be for you to grasp, if you're not there yet, consider that in the case of a woman, it represents less than one pound of fat gained per year since high school graduation.
Continues...
Excerpted from Strength for Life by Shawn Phillips Copyright © 2008 by Shawn Phillips. Excerpted by permission.
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