Why?

Why write this blog? Why create a website? I have decided to begin this project to expand the number of people I can communicate with. I understand, that when it comes to exercise, many people do not want to come to a physical gym to learn about exercise or even just dabble in it. I hope that by building this website I can share my ideas about healthy habits no matter your level of experience or interest in venturing out to seek health in conventional ways.

For those of you who have met and spoken with me, you probably know that I care deeply about getting more people interested in health. Unfortunately, this isn’t always easy. We have a lot going against us. Sometimes it feels like we need to buck the system or fight against gravity to be healthy. We exist in a world where is it often easier and cheaper to be unhealthy. You could argue that there are more daily influences that lead us toward unhealthy lives than healthy lives.

As you’ll learn on this website, healthy living is multi-factorial. When we hear the world “healthy” we often first think of exercise. While exercise is important, it is not the only piece of being healthy. Then we often shift to the next most common factor; nutrition. What about stress management, sleep, autonomic nervous system regulation, digestion, pain management? The list goes on and on. All are important to live healthy lives.

It is my hope that this website and blog can help you get started living a little more healthily. Maybe you’ll start exercising a little more. Maybe you’ll begin eating more vegetables. Or maybe you’ll take notice of your less than ideal behaviors affecting your sleep and stress. If this website helps you make one change for the better, I am happy.

BUT,

If this website helps you make one change AND you share or teach that to a child, grandchild, neighbor kid, even a stranger, I am ECSTATIC!

I don’t want to discount adults, but my primary interest in health and wellness is to change the perception of what a healthy life is, so that our children, the next generation can live healthier.

It is no secret that children today are receiving a disservice in this area of their lives. Physical Education has been being hit with budget cuts for years (if not decades). What we are taught and sold as proper nutrition is blurry at best. Cell phones, video games, social media, etc . . . have the science of demanding our attention down to a T.

The lack of proper education and physicality in the US has led us, including the children, to some of the highest levels of obesity in the world. With obesity comes dozens of other comorbidities including diabetes and heart disease.

We all notice it. Those of us who work in health, wellness, fitness, probably notice it more.

I love the career I have working in this field, but I have also worked in other fields. One being education. I have been lucky enough to travel the world by teaching English.

The funny thing about ESL and children is that their limited vocabulary and poor self-censorship leads them to be brutally honest. A lesson I enjoy teaching is on characteristics. “Bill is tall. Sarah is thin. Americans are fat.”

The last one ALWAYS comes out. After Billie Ellish music and Lebron James’ stats, what children outside of the US know about America is that, “Americans are fat.”

I hope we can change this perception. For those of us living in the US, we have so much power to influence the world. I, like John F. Kennedy as stated in his essay ‘The Soft American’, believe that we will not continue to excel as strong leaders if we continue down this road.
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So, with everything you learn on this website, try to share it with someone younger than yourself. Let them see you being healthy. Make it visible. Children pick up on things that you, their role models, do.