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Well, it's summer.
At least that's what the calendar says! Don't know about you,
but my furnace has been on for the last two days. Have you been
caught up in yard work and enjoying the great outdoors? Me too.
But I've also slipped some work in here and there. :-).
Read up! Word
Cures
I've been
tantalizing you for months with excerpts from my first book,
Word Cures: How to Keep Stupid Excuses from Sabotaging Your Health.
My premise is that most of us (even me) talk ourselves out of having
the best life we could with a bunch of reasons that seem to make so
much sense at the time... but in the end, just don't hold up.
I hope you've
been getting more and more motivated to put your life and health on
the fast track to greatness! In a few minutes, I'll let you know
how to order your very own copy of the book, which I'm pleased to say
is now available. But first, let's look at why getting our act
together is so important.
About Chronic and
Degenerative Disease
Heart disease,
cancer, strokes, diabetes... We all know people who are troubled
with these health problems. But sometimes we lose track of how
they come about. Bad genes? Bad luck? Sometimes we pretend
we just don't know. Fortunately, the Journal of the American
Medical Association does know. In March of this year,
JAMA published a study called "Actual Causes of Death in the
United States, 2000" (Vol
291, No 10, March 10 2004).
Want to know what
their conclusion was? Though the conditions we just mentioned
account for nearly 1.5 million deaths per year in the US
(National Center for Health
Statistics http://www.cdc.gov),
the diseases themselves do not actually cause death. The actual
causes of death (top 3) were tobacco use, poor diet and physical
inactivity, and alcohol consumption. Lifestyle choices, largely
preventable, that ultimately lead to those diseases.
Everyone knows it's
not a great idea to smoke. We all know that eating a balanced
diet high in fruits and vegetables, low in animal products and highly
processed foods, is best. We all know we should get some
exercise. Right?
Yet you'd never know
it by our actions. In 2000, 47% of Americans were current or
former smokers, providing risk not only for themselves, but for those
around them. In 1999 and 2000, 55% of Americans had a body mass
index (weight-to-height ratio) greater than the 23-25% considered
healthy (JAMA
article).
We basically know
the things we should be doing — but we simply don't do them!
It goes on from here
It's not just
chronic and degenerative disease. Consider these other facts:
- The US
government says that back pain and headaches accounted for nearly 22
million doctor visits in the US during the year 2000.
(Advance data No 328, June 5,
2002.)
- During a
typical physician office visit, drugs for the relief of pain are
discussed second in frequency only to heart medicine.
(Advance data No 328, June 5,
2002.)
- Yet according
to the American Chronic Pain association, 71% of patients surveyed
said that they weren't immediately proactive about doing anything
about their pain problem because they believed it would go away or
was not serious. (Americans
Living with Pain Survey, Roper Public affairs & Media, April
2004)
It's not just
health either.
- We don't
appear to be doing too well in the relationship department. In
2002, the US population averaged nearly half as many divorces as
marriages. (National Vital
Statistics Reports, Vol 15, No 10)
Assuming that some marriages end from natural causes (like death of
a spouse), that figure sounds high.
- And our
finances are a mess. The calendar year ending September 18,
2003 boasted a record 1.66 million bankruptcies — the largest number
ever for a consecutive 12-month period.
(http://www.uscourts.gov/Press_Releases/pr02252004.pdf)
- We all know
consumer debt leads to financial distress — yet between the year-end
of 1999 and May 2004, Americans' consumer debt increased by more
than 33%. (http://www.federalreserve.gov/Releases/g19/Current)
We could look at
other issues as well. Who among us doesn't know at least one
brilliantly creative person stuck in a dead-end job and making no
effort to upgrade? They complain that they're stressed,
overworked, underutilized, and underappreciated. Yet the power
to change that rests with them, and they take no action to create more
suitable livelihood. One day soon we'll talk about how that
issue alone has a HUGE and often unrecognized impact on
health.
It's not what we know that counts, it's what
we do.
Most of us
basically know when we're on the right track in life and when we
aren't. Granted, we may need to consult with an expert or two
and bone up on the specifics. But we know when we're in the
ballpark.
- If I were to
ask you to list 5 things you know you should do, yet you don't...
- If I were to
ask you to list 5 things you know you shouldn't do, yet you do...
You'd come up
with a list, wouldn't you? It's not about what you know.
It's about what you do.
I know. You
have your reasons... But as you can see, those reasons don't get
most of us where we really want to go. They keep us stuck in a
life that doesn't do justice to our potential.
Have you had
enough? Are you ready to take action? Here's something you
can DO right now to get your life back on track.
Debunk those old
reasons — once and for all!
I'm pleased to say
that Word Cures is now available for sale on my website.
As you know, I've identified 21 of the most popular reasons people
don't do what they could to optimize health — and debunked them.
One read and you'll never use those old excuses again! (Ok,
there are some exercises you can do if you really want to...)
So right now
while you're thinking about it, click over to the
Distance Learning Store
and order your very own copy. While you're there, get one for
your sister, your boss, your daughter in Texas, your mother-in-law...
They make great gifts!
Special bonus
Want to know how new
this is? I just installed the shopping cart program on my
website today. So though it's been tested, the first few of you
who place orders from this newsletter are using a system that's new
for me. In advance appreciation for your patience, I'm offering
a special bonus for the first 11 orders that come in through
the newsletter link — a free copy of my booklet Zapping the
Zappers: How to Pull the Plug on Toxic Patterns and Energize Your
Life. What more could a person ask for?
See you next month!
Boy do I have
something special planned for next month! Hint: it's an
"audience participation" game we can all play together. Woo-hoo! |
