Day 2 of 31-Day Series
What should you focus on to get healthy? I suppose that depends on your definition of health. But it you’re looking for general health and well-being, you can find some good answers. And what I’m listing here is evidence-based, supported by the latest scientific studies of well-being and longevity.
I’ve done a lot of reading over the past few years. Books on wellness and well-being, studies on longevity, investigations into diets and supplements. Some of it makes my head swim. I can’t imagine trying to determine a personal plan to get healthy by reviewing the loads of information available.
When I was in high school, I stumbled upon a weight-training program used by the Nebraska Cornhuskers’ football team. It was stuffed inside an old, manila file folder smudged with dirty fingers. No doubt a football coach had printed it off at some point and filed it away. I was probably the only person in the school who had beheld the document in the last few years, let alone actually used it.
But following that program, I went from a scrawny freshman of 105 pounds to a respectable athlete of 140 pounds in nine months. That made playing football much less painful. The next year I continued the same training. I packed on another 35 pounds of muscle, garnering the title, “Poster Boy of the Weight Room,” from my coach. That means a lot to a young man. I had tasted the fruit of discipline and consistency.
Suffice it to say, without that particular program (and many people who coached me along the way), I wouldn’t enjoy the health I have today. Why am I telling this story? I want you to see how consistently following a program changed my life. It’s not a dramatic account. It doesn’t need to be. It is extremely valuable to me.
These five focuses can have the same impact for you. But it takes discipline and consistency. That means some things in your life will have to change. We all know the definition of insanity: Doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results. Don’t do that. Insanity is not a great path to health.
Given the length of my preamble, I’m only listing the five pillars we will cover in this series. You’ll hear more evidence of their importance and a fuller picture of what I mean as we continue. They make up what I call the PRIMEpathway™:
- Physical activity
- Rest
- Intake
- Mind-body connection
- Essential elements
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