Every year I write about the New Year resolutions I have
adopted. It’s a good tradition to
encourage people to work on improving their life in just one or two ways. This
year my resolution is to become a better person in every way I can. I know what
my faults are and I am trying to correct them.
For motivation I have resolved to read a daily devotional
from the bible and to eliminate swearing and bad language from my vocabulary –
especially on the golf course! Most important, I am working to improve the
relationship I have with my family, starting with my wife and children, who I
love.
I quit smoking as a result of a New Year’s resolution 10
years ago, so I know that making a resolution can change my behavior and my
life for the better.
In prior years, I resolved to do things like become
healthier through aerobic exercise. I have still not made aerobic exercise a habit,
although I am walking about a mile every day in my daily routine. I am resolved to double the distance by walking
the dog twice a day instead of just once. I am tracking my progress with the iPhone
Health app.
I am also trying to reduce my weight, which had inched up to
184 pounds. I want to get back down to
170. I’ve already lost 9 pounds by
eating right, reducing my intake of alcohol and sugary drinks, and walking a
bit every day. Right now my body mass index is 24.6, just barely under the benchmark
to being overweight. Getting down to 170
should not be hard if I follow the Japanese saying to “eat 80 percent of full”,
endeavor to eat a balanced diet three times a day, and do some light exercise,
like walking.
I spent the Christmas and the New Year holidays in Japan
with my wife and her family. The last time I was in Tokyo was August of 2004. On this year’s trip Yoko and went on a
nostalgia tour all our old haunts to see how things had changed. That day I
walked nearly 17,000 paces.
The first thing I noticed was how clean the city is. There
is no garbage in the streets or cigarette butts on the ground. No one is
smoking and to the extent there is anyone smoking in public, it is behind a
designated smoking area. That is a vast
improvement from the days I lived in Tokyo, when people smoked everywhere and
anywhere. Even my brother-in-law, who
was a devoted nicotine addict, has finally quit. Cigarette smoking is no longer socially
acceptable in Japan.
I averaged about 8000 paces a day walking around Tokyo,
versus about 3000 paces a day on average since I’ve returned. My 3000 daily paces at home includes 1700
paces walking the dog. If I didn’t walk the dog, I’d only be walking 1200 paces
a day!
I don’t think I saw an overweight person in Japan the whole
time I was there. People look healthy and it appears that they are consciously
cutting back on unhealthy habits. It got
me to wondering why we can’t get our act together here.
We have become one of the most obese societies in the world,
despite the movement to improve nutrition and exercise. Unhealthy lifestyles is
leaving to high healthcare costs. Dr. Thomas Weiss, CEO of Naples Community
Hospital says “we (the hospital) needs to get out of the repair business and
into the maintenance business.”
The reasons we are obese are obvious: overeating (portions
too large); too much sweets and processed foods vs. fresh fruits and
vegetables, high stress in our daily life, lack of exercise in our daily routine,
and our increasingly sedentary lifestyle thanks to technology (i.e. too much
screen time). The jobs we have today are
not as physically taxing as they once were.
For the past few years I have been a member of CHIP
(Charlotte Health Improvement Partnership) whose mission is to improve the
overall health of Charlotte County. Recently I suggested that CHIP consider
undertaking the “Blue Zone Project”, which is based on the findings of Dan
Buettner who travelled the world for National Geographic to see why people in
certain locations around the world tend to live longer and happier lives.
Buettner was looking for the commonalities that made Blue
Zones healthier places to live. After identifying 5 of the world’s Blue Zones,
Dan and National Geographic took teams of scientists to each location to
identify lifestyle characteristics that might explain longevity. They came up with nine factors that appear to
be the common elements for producing longer, happier lives.
It is natural to want to improve your life to be both
healthier and happier. The beginning of
a new year is a great time to resolve to do better. If you are looking for a
new year’s resolution to improve your life visit www.bluezone.com and learn about the Power 9. It is time to get
involved and get healthy!
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