Healthy choices. Good choices.
Debbie Hartke and I have known each other more than 10 years, having met when we first served on an ACTS retreat team at our parish. I have to say she is always been a vibrant and energetic fixture in our community. When I started reaching out to people to spread the word about my new publishing business, of course she was on the list. I knew that Debbie would have some great advice for me and understood how to run a successful business of her own. She has been a Wellness Coach for Juice Plus+ for many years and happily shares her healthy lifestyle.
It just so happened that on the very day I emailed Debbie she was hosting a panel on wellness that very evening. She suggested that I come out and join the group and I am so glad I did. It strikes me often that God’s timing is well beyond my understanding and always perfect. Sitting in the room and listening to the assembled experts on health and nutrition, I knew that I was meant to be hearing this message and sharing it.
I learned way way too much that night to share in one blog posting. But I will highlight some of the important nuggets that I took away that night. I especially feel that it is apt to do so here because of my Catholic faith and the teaching that our body is a temple and a gift from God. Many Catholic orders have a profound devotion to taking care of our planet and promoting healthy and sustainable practices. Everything I heard that night would make the most devout Franciscan or Jesuit or Carmelite very proud of the business owners who so eagerly share the gospel of good health.
Important thoughts from the presentation:
Supermarket fruits and vegetables are radiated and sprayed with chemicals, even the ones that are grown organically if they come from overseas...plus they are picked before they are ripe and begin losing their nutritional value as soon as they come off the vine. In many cases they are on the shelf for weeks before we take them home. No wonder they don’t last long before spoiling.
We are supposed to be eating 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday. Oops.
We are supposed to be drinking the amount of water everyday that corresponds to half our body weight in ounces. Oops.
An apple has 10,000 phytonutrients and we’ve only isolated and named 400 of them. That pretty much sums up our collective nutritional knowledge as a society. We have a lot to learn.
Happiness comes from your gut. We all have about 4000 ft.² of intestines and they are a hot mess. Antibiotic use, stress, and all kinds of bad eating destroy the good bacteria and allow the bad to flourish. Paying attention to encouraging good bacteria can finally be the key in getting a handle on things like weight and mood that many of us struggle with.
Many women struggle with bladder leakage and pelvic floor pain after having children and the right physical therapy can really help.
When you think about exercise, weight bearing is just as important as cardio. Muscle mass keeps our resting calorie burn chugging along. We lose it as we age unless we do something about it. 20 minutes twice a week of light weights is all we really need.
I will stop there. My notes are extensive because I learned a lot and was reminded of many painful truths I had stopped thinking about. It’s not always easy to eat healthier. Fitting in exercise has to be intentional or it won’t happen. Americans are slowly killing ourselves instead of making a few choices that can mean the world for quality and quantity of life. Time to begin again. With intention!
If you are interested in learning more about Juice Plus+, visit Debbie’s website: www.fruitsandveges.juiceplus.com
I learned way way too much that night to share in one blog posting. But I will highlight some of the important nuggets that I took away that night. I especially feel that it is apt to do so here because of my Catholic faith and the teaching that our body is a temple and a gift from God. Many Catholic orders have a profound devotion to taking care of our planet and promoting healthy and sustainable practices. Everything I heard that night would make the most devout Franciscan or Jesuit or Carmelite very proud of the business owners who so eagerly share the gospel of good health.
Important thoughts from the presentation:
Supermarket fruits and vegetables are radiated and sprayed with chemicals, even the ones that are grown organically if they come from overseas...plus they are picked before they are ripe and begin losing their nutritional value as soon as they come off the vine. In many cases they are on the shelf for weeks before we take them home. No wonder they don’t last long before spoiling.
We are supposed to be eating 7-9 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday. Oops.
We are supposed to be drinking the amount of water everyday that corresponds to half our body weight in ounces. Oops.
An apple has 10,000 phytonutrients and we’ve only isolated and named 400 of them. That pretty much sums up our collective nutritional knowledge as a society. We have a lot to learn.
Happiness comes from your gut. We all have about 4000 ft.² of intestines and they are a hot mess. Antibiotic use, stress, and all kinds of bad eating destroy the good bacteria and allow the bad to flourish. Paying attention to encouraging good bacteria can finally be the key in getting a handle on things like weight and mood that many of us struggle with.
Many women struggle with bladder leakage and pelvic floor pain after having children and the right physical therapy can really help.
When you think about exercise, weight bearing is just as important as cardio. Muscle mass keeps our resting calorie burn chugging along. We lose it as we age unless we do something about it. 20 minutes twice a week of light weights is all we really need.
I will stop there. My notes are extensive because I learned a lot and was reminded of many painful truths I had stopped thinking about. It’s not always easy to eat healthier. Fitting in exercise has to be intentional or it won’t happen. Americans are slowly killing ourselves instead of making a few choices that can mean the world for quality and quantity of life. Time to begin again. With intention!
If you are interested in learning more about Juice Plus+, visit Debbie’s website: www.fruitsandveges.juiceplus.com
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