"If you don't take time to be healthy, you'll have to take time to be sick."

~ Anon

"If I'd known I was going to live this long, I'd haven taken better care of myself. "

~ Eubie Blake, age 100

Health Resources

A Small Dose of Health Advice

Use your mind and exercise your Imagination. When it comes to improving your health, it’s not all running shoes and weights. You can burn calories, strengthen your heart, and stretch right into your everyday routines. Think of it as a game that always makes you the winner.

Here are some examples:

1. Skip the ‘vator. Skip the escalator and elevators—especially the ones that take you one floor up. Stride the stairs. It’s over quickly and you’ve used heart and leg muscles instead of riding mindlessly.
   
   
2. Take the high road…and the long one. Assuming it’s safe and in broad daylight, park your car at the far end of the parking lot and enjoy the walk in.
   
   
3. Walk in your neighborhood with a friend. You’d be surprised how it clears your mind and calms your spirit. And did I mention that it burns approximately 100 calories per mile?
   
   
4. Take a break from lunch. If you can, spend five to ten minutes walking, you can stir your blood and clear the cobwebs before you return to work.
   
   
5. Vacuum and sweep vigorously. You may abhor a vacuum, but your heart muscles love the exercise. Same goes for mowing the lawn, pulling weeds, and raking.
   
   
6. Take family time outside. Stroll the block after dinner. Greet neighbors. Turn off the TV and take in the evening.
   
   
7. Divorce fatty foods, and never look back. You’ll live just as long…no, longer…by skipping fries, hamburgers, and foods you know were dipped in oil before they got to you.
   
   
8. Quit smoking. Of course it’s easier said than done, but it can be done. And it’s worth the fight. Your family and spouse want you around—do it for them.
   
   
9. Push back on stress. Sometimes it’s an act of the will to walk away from work, not give in to anxiety, or remember to laugh. But it’s always your choice. Cultivate the simple exercises of prayer, meditation, walks, and silence that, paradoxically, help you get more done instead of less.
   
   
10. Learn to laugh. Look, if it’s going to be funny later, it’s funny now. Your kids screwed up, you forgot an important date, the airlines lost your luggage, a friend stood you up…if no one’s sick, the situation is not worth letting anger own you. Laugh.
    
    
11. Eat for your heart. If you’re getting older, you know…you KNOW, you are what you eat. Be smart for your heart…and for your kids, parents, spouse, family, friends, business, and community. If you don’t know what’s best for your heart, call us for nutritional counseling. We’ll help you get started and stay motivated.
    
    
12. Cultivate self-discipline. You can be a slave to your impulses, or put habits to work for you. It’s only difficult on the front end—it doesn’t remain hard—and the payoff is your very life.
    
    
13. Assess your family health history. Learn to evaluate your health in light of your gene pool. Genes aren’t everything, but they’re a starting point, and it’s to your advantage to be aware.
    
    
14. Drink water. Are you tired of hearing that? Then start drinking it more and we won’t have to remind you. When in doubt, reach past the diet cola for nature’s own elixir. Once your taste buds revive, you’ll accept no substitutes.
    
    
15. Get some sleep. Beauty sleep is no joke, and neither is the sleep you need to stay mentally sharp. If looking, feeling, and thinking better don’t motivate you—then enjoy Jay and Conan, and do your best to concentrate the next afternoon.