In my work with youth groups I saw a need to introduce them to outdoor adventures that promote exercise and build character. I live in an area with beautiful slot canyons and decided to take up canyoneering, which often requires hiking through rough and unpredictable terrain and rappelling down high cliffs. The youth loved it! At first I invited experienced guides (safety first!) to help us on our excursions, but then I received the necessary training and have for several years been leading groups on spectacular adventures.
About three years ago I invited an acquaintance, Dr. Ed Fila, to join me on a canyoneering trip and was happy to have him join us. On the morning of our hike he showed me a brownish-green drink that he has every day for breakfast. He called it “Dr. Fila’s Ultimate Green Smoothie.” He had created it through much research and he explained the health benefits of the smoothie and offered me a taste. I tried it and it tasted very healthy (that wasn’t a good thing). However, considering the health benefits I thought I could probably force myself to drink it on a daily basis. We had a great outing that day and I enjoyed getting to know Dr. Fila.
I didn’t commit myself to the smoothies and felt I was in fine health already anyway. A few weeks later I happened to come across a web site that gives you your body mass index (BMI) based on height and weight. I knew I had put on a few extra pounds over the last few years, but nothing to worry about. That is until the BMI it gave me placed me in the “overweight” category. What?! That was a real eye opener for me. I knew that being overweight frequently leads to chronic illnesses, as well as stroke and heart attack. I determined to make lifestyle changes that will lead me to better health. Here are the changes I made:
- Drink a daily green smoothie (Dr. Fila’s recipe) (Note that I found this extremely time consuming and expensive. I’ll explain the solution for that in a separate post.)
- Exercise daily
- Drink more water (I began carrying a water bottle with me)
- Take a daily probiotic
- Eat less…especially sweets and junk food. No sodas.
- Sleep a minimum of 7 hours a night
Doing these things, I began to see a dramatic improvement in my weight and my health. My weight dropped from 167 to a healthy 157 (I bottomed out at 153) and I feel great! At 50 years old I am doing things that many 30 year old people cannot do. I have been on the above program for about two years and in that time the only illness I’ve experienced is a head cold that lasted about 48 hours. I am convinced that if people make similar changes in their lives that they will, like me, be healthier, happier and more productive. The key is commitment and consistency.