Now that the holiday season is officially here, I asked my friend Todd Burrier to do another guest blog. For those with health issues like diabetes which require them to exercise regularly and closely watch what they eat, this time of year can present problems.
The weather is getting colder, so it becomes harder to get consistent exercise. We go to lots of social events where tables are loaded down with all the things that we aren’t supposed to eat. Even so, we can survive and even thrive during this special season when we recall the miracle of Christ’s birth.
I hope you enjoy Todd’s post, and I want to thank him for gently reminding us not to neglect our health in the upcoming weeks of celebration and good cheer:)
Paul has asked me to guest blog today about the role of life balance in defeating diabetes. Again I am honored to be here and have a chance to share with you and I hope to bring some value to your life.
Type-2 diabetes represents 90% of all diabetic cases and 20% of the current population in general is classified as “pre-diabetic (they will have type-2 diabetes within 10 years).” These are staggering numbers on the surface, but even more staggering when you consider this question: Does anyone make it their personal mission to get diabetes? Of course not, yet both of these statistics, which represents tens of millions of people are almost completely self-inflicted. It is absolutely established that type-2 diabetes is from lifestyle choices (genetics can play a small role in predisposition, but can be managed through lifestyle also).
The true culprit is neglect. I call neglect “a procrastination of attention.” Wherever you procrastinate in life in something of importance, you eventually pay a steep price. Neglect your work and you will lose your job. Neglect your spouse and you will damage your marriage. Neglect your health and you will get disease….and the statistics bear this out…especially diabetes. It is my opinion that people do not neglect things on purpose most of the time, but rather because they don’t truly understand the consequences of their actions or inactions.
I am often asked to teach life balance (I wrote a book on How to balance your life called “Live Full, Live Well) from a productivity standpoint to corporations. I have my attendees take a hard look at where they spend their time versus what are their true priorities. This is an awakening for them because they begin to see how their unknowing neglect has led to their poor health and relationship struggles, and hurt their productivity. When it comes to diabetes, it is not if we will develop it, but when, if we are not making proper lifestyle choices.
Once someone has developed the disease, they are told they must do things like exercise, eat healthy, take medications, take supplements, monitor their blood sugar etc. They no longer have a choice if they want to live longer. The irony of this is that if they did these things much earlier in their life (sans the medications), they wouldn’t have diabetes in the first place! Not only would they not have diabetes, but they would be way healthier, have a much better quality of life, not have to take drugs that will lead to more health problems and hence more drugs, and not be at higher risk for heart disease and cancer.
But nobody tells anyone this in a strong way. So it is not seen as a priority. If you knew that you had to plan to spend time in each of your priorities each day, and you knew what to do, then you could do it and have the fruits of an amazing energized life with great relationships and career success. Most people put their work in front of their relationships and their health. BACKWARDS!!!!!
If you take anything from this here it is: If you neglect your health, ultimately you will be no good in your relationships or your career. I don’t care how much money you make, you will gladly give it all back to get your health back when the time comes. It is unnecessary for this to happen. Balance your life and you can avoid diabetes or reverse it, AND you can thrive everywhere else. If you don’t know how, then get my book or someone else’s and learn how. This is too important to neglect.
To learn more about Todd, visit his website.
