Health Intervention
Becoming and staying physically, emotionally and spiritually healthy.
The Obesity Problem
The President’s Perspective
The Obesity Problem
The Picture of Health Foundation, Inc. is dedicated to, and determined to Fight Against Childhood Obesity. The alarming consensus is that childhood obesity threatens the health of our young people and their future potential.
Statistics
By the latest statistics there is a growing epidemic of childhood obesity in our Nation. Approximately 23 million children and adolescents in the United States—nearly one in three young people—are either obese or overweight, putting them at higher risk for serious, even life-threatening health problems. Georgia’s children have a higher prevalence of obesity than the national sample. Childhood obesity has quickly become a leading preventable cause of death and illness in children… Read more ►
Exercise Health
The health benefits of exercise are well documented. Listed below are some of the reported benefits from exercise.
- Lowers blood pressure
- Improves conditions associated with depression and anxiety, and improves sleep
- Improves lipid profile
- Increases muscle tone and lean body mass
- Reduces body fat
- Reduces osteoporosis and bone fractures
- Reduces heart disease
- Improves conditions associated with chronic lung disease
- Reduces blood clotting
- Improves chronic leg cramps / claudication
- Reduces blood glucose
- Enhances immune system and reduces risk of infections
- Reduces fatigue
Nutrition
The importance of nutritional supplementation cannot be denied in this day and age. The foods we eat these days do not contain the same amount of nutrients that they did 20, 30 or even 40 years ago. Vitamins, minerals, essential fatty acids and amino acids are needed to supply the body with the fuel it needs to function properly. Many experts and the founders of The Picture of health Foundation believes that supplementing with vitamins, mineral and herbs will assist the body in staying younger longer and keeping you more vital as you age. The body requires a certain amount of nutrients to perform at optimal levels. Vitamin C is needed for collagen function; vitamin D is needed for strong bones and teeth. Antioxidants such as lycopene found in tomatoes and Coenzyme Q10 strengthen the heart by working on the mitochondria which produces energy in the cells…
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Stress Management
Managing stress and becoming stress-freeThe Role of Faith
The Role of Faith
We have often heard it said that patients who have a trusting faith in God recover from serious accidents at a faster rate than patients who have no faith. And patients who live out their faith, generally lead less stressful lives. Could there really be some truth in this?
Love and forgiveness are two foundational tenets of faith in God:
Love. We are called to love one another, even to love our enemies. If we truly apply this principle to our lives, it changes how we perceive others and interact with them. Instead of prematurely judging others and looking for their faults, we see them as God sees them—not perfect human beings, but capable of overcoming their weaknesses and achieving their God-given potential. When we love others, we do not succumb to anger as easily as those who find it difficult to love.
So what is anger? The Webster’s dictionary says that it is an intense emotional state of displeasure with someone or something.
Odds are that at some time in our lives we will experience the emotion of anger. We will then have the choice to either seethe over it or deal with the cause and release these emotions. When we choose to let our angry feelings mushroom, we soon develop a divided mind. And when we have a divided mind we begin to redirect wholesome and productive thoughts into unhealthy and destructive behaviors. Our stress level builds, our health suffers, and we soon develop chronic physical and emotional pain that can cause serious health issues and diseases.
So how do we deal with anger? By forgiving others.
Forgiveness. God tells us to forgive…not once, but seventy times seven. In other words, there should never be a situation where we refuse to forgive. The benefits are great. Many report the release of tension and physical pain in the body and the return of joy, purpose, focus in life, and peace. The best part yet is that forgiveness does not cost us anything; just to intentionally apply our faith. Put it into practice. It’s good preventive medicine!
How can I improve my physical health?
If you want to improve your physical health don’t neglect your faith. Love others, practice forgiveness, and yes, there are other principles of faith to live by. Here are some:
o Think positive thoughts. We are told, “…whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is of good repute, if there is any excellence, and if anything worthy of praise, dwell on these things.” (Philippians 4:8).
o Find your purpose in life. Each of us has a unique set of DNA. We are fearfully and wonderfully made. When we seek God’s will for our life and set out to accomplish it with excellence, we find greater fulfillment in life and are more content than those who have no goals.
o Give to others. When we give to others and do acts of kindness, the biggest benefits accrue to us. There is no greater joy than to make a difference in the life of someone else.
o Laugh. Yes. Laughter is the best medicine and a sure way to stave off anger.
o Stay active. We are created to work. The moment we become slothful, we cease to achieve, and our mind and our bodies will not attain what we were created to accomplish. So stay active with work and exercise.
o Eat healthy. Overeating can ravage the body just like other self-inflected lifestyle practices. And eating foods that are not nutritional exacerbates the problem.
The Benefits of Organization
The Challenge
Do you find yourself preoccupied with “to do things” on your mind? Do you wonder if your “to do list” is complete? Are you at ease with what’s on your mind? Do you have clarity with what needs to be done, how, and when? Or, do you have a fear that your list is incomplete, and that you are not sure what the next steps are?
This troubled thought pattern is the underpinning of growing stress that can lead to escalating tensions that not only plague us in the workplace, but stay with us as we change environments. Unless we get a handle on managing this stress we can be certain that the effects will soon spill over into our relationships and will be the root cause of some preventable health problems like hypertension, and in some cases, depression, caused by low self-esteem from leading unproductive and unfulfilling lives.
David Allen, a national bestseller author, has written extensively about the Art of Stress-Free Productivity. In his book, “Getting Things Done,” he talks about why things are on our mind. Most often it’s because we want something to be different than it currently is, and yet:
• we haven’t clarified exactly what the intended outcome is;
• we haven’t decided what the very next physical action step is; and/or
• we haven’t put reminders of the outcome and the action required in a system that we trust.
Dealing with “Stuff”
What is “stuff”? David Allen defines it as: anything you have allowed into your psychological or physical world that doesn’t belong where it is, but for which you haven’t yet determined the desired outcome and the next action step. In other words your brain will always be in a state of clutter until you are able to think horizontally and vertically.
Horizontal thinking is the ability to assess the myriad of commitments, projects and actions that demand your attention and to clearly define them into separate identifiable tasks. You need a good system that allows you to track each task, supply required information about them on demand, and allows you to shift your focus from one thing to the next quickly and easily.
Vertical thinking is doing deep on any one of these identifiable tasks. It is “project planning” in a broad sense. It is focusing in on a single course of action, fleshing out the ideas, details, priorities and sequences of events that may be required to handle a task, at least in the near term.
There is usually an inverse proportion between how much something is on your mind and how much it’s getting done.
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