Saturday, August 29, 2015

Happy Birthday GAMC!

We recently attended a public event celebrating the 110th year of Glendale Adventist Medical Center. Considering the Adventist community in Loma Linda, CA is a "Blue Zone," which is a land area researchers have identified as having the highest concentrations of centenarians in the world, we thought it would be good to listen to the advice GAMC physicians were giving the public.

The topic we listened to was about family health.  The title was something like "Back to School, Back to Basics."  Dr. Emil Avanes's message impacted me enough to get me thinking about it this entire week since his presentation.

Get a pocket-guide summarizing the talk here.  Instructions for folding your book here:
http://www.pw.org/content/diy_how_to_make_a_pocketsize_book_0

Here's the contents of the pocket-guide:

Quick Tips
1. Walk (7 days/week)
2. Sleep (8 hours/night)
3. Drink (8 glasses/day)
4. Ask for Help
5. Trust your Helpers

Exercise
7 days per week
Ask yourself, how many days per week do you sleep?  Get active!
Even if you have an active job, exercise outside of work.
Create health by starting with 5 minutes per day.
Find a friend to help you get a foot in the door of fitness!

Nutrition
What you put in your body creates all your cells.
Drinking water is a healthy habit, like putting gas in your car.
Drink at least 5-6 Cups of water per day, 8 Cups is better.
Your body will use the water for organs first (brain, liver, kidneys).
If you drink enough water, it will relieve muscle tension & chest pain naturally.

Sugar
Sweets are the ultimate evil.
Sugar is 9 times more addictive than cocaine.
If you have a sugar habit, forgive yourself, it’s not your fault.
When you eat sugar, your body craves more sugar.
Substitute sugary foods with vegetables and protein.

Sleep
Nighttime is when your body releases hormones.
Wind down, shut down, replenish, get deep sleep, and your body will wake up recharged.
Using electronics at night can affect you past the time you put them down.
Try reading a boring magazine instead, review your day, plan the following day.
If you can’t sleep, don’t lay in bed worrying for more than 15 minutes.
Get up, walk around, wash the dishes, but don’t engage in vigorous exercise.  Try again.

Help
Don’t guilt trip yourself.
Humans are altruistic, helping someone else is easier than helping yourself.

Thanks Dr. Avanes!