Recession-proof your health, invest in yourself

by Elad Levinson

I do not say this to be cute or timely or to borrow a popular phrase. I mean this as a serious statement about why it is crucial to take care of your health and lose weight.
The American health care system is woefully unprepared to take care of you; if you have a complicated medical problem. I have clients that have been passed along from one specialist to another with each body part being treated, as if it was a separate entity. An analogy would be if you took your car to a carburetor specialist, then an axle specialist then a valve guy and a piston person. It is crazy- this idea that we can be parsed and sliced and diced. How can anyone make sense of what we really need or what is really wrong from this type of care?

Your health is going to become even more of liability or an asset because our worsening economic situation will take much more time than we can imagine to rectify. How are you going to be prepared with the right state of mind, body and emotional health to take care of yourself financially if you are struggling with being overweight?

Employers do not look favorably on overweight people, they don’t have to discriminate actively but they will find a way to keep you out of the pool of people that their health care coverage spans by not hiring you. On even the bleaker side, try getting independent health insurance if you are overweight.
It is self-defense to get real and get healthy. Look boldly at your self- can you say that you are doing what you can to get or stay healthy? Are you taking this as if it your life depended on it or are you putting off the inevitable task of becoming honest with yourself?
I am not critical of you- I am one of you- you are me. I am an over eater who has learned to eat in moderation. In the past, I have over consumed everything that I ever loved. If it was good, I wanted more and more and more.

But I am offering you an urgent message- If your life style is not one that makes you healthier, it is the one that may ruin you fiscally as well as physically.
The path out of the situation is one that embraces two sides of what seems like opposing poles- hunger and obesity. If we live wisely in taking responsibility for our health than we can begin to concern ourselves with the redistribution of our wealth and health- let’s spread the health and wealth by donating the money we might use to over eat to charities like Whole Planet Foundation or Second Harvest Food Bank and make an impact in the life of not just our selves but those who are hungry.

Becoming healthy is a matter of mind, body and spirit- cultivating generosity is an emotionally satisfying act that generates positive self- esteem and makes us more able to take good care of ourselves while we take care of others.

Throw out that Celebrity Magazine

by Maryann Marks

I’m at the gym again. It seems that everyone has their nose glued in the latest celebrity article about how to lose 20 pounds. “I was 132 lbs, so fat I couldn’t stand myself. I’m normal now, weighting 110 now. I lost 22 pounds.” This was a real article; I’m not making it up. Let’s assume the woman is 5’6” and her “normal weight” should be 130-135. What does this article say to the woman who is 150 lb? She might she think is very obese in comparison as a result of reading this article.

I’ll give Oprah the star award for her latest confession about gaining 40 pounds. She reports that she was 200 pounds and her best weight is 160. Now that’s a women I can admire. It has been said by researchers that the average person who is on the cover of the glamour magazine is either a super model or super athlete. I look around the gym and see many desperate people trying to mimic something pretty unattainable. Our obsession with being 15% body fat or emulating the magazine covers begs for failure.

I’m am interested in finding a realistic goal and size for me. I realized that when I was younger, I bought into the same type of unrealistic aim. I wanted to get to 135, I’d be happy. Sadly, I was never happy and never 135. I now know that I could have never made that goal without becoming anorexic.

The point is to find what is really a weight you could attain and sustain. Perhaps the woman who weighs 150 lbs is healthy according to her body type. If you stop looking at superstars to tell you what is weight is acceptable, you may just find out what is right for you.