Lessons for Life: YOUR BODY
November 5th, 2009
Lesson Purpose:
Your body is a precious gift that should be adequately supplied, cleaned and kept free from harmful substances. By maintaining the inviolability of the body, hold it like a holy temple for your soul.
The lesson
"And the Lord God took the man [of] the dust of the earth and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul." Bible, Genesis 2:7
"If anyone destroys God's temple, him shall God destroy, for the templeGod is holy, which temple ye are. "Bible, 1 Corinthians 3:17
"If anything is sacred the human body is sacred." Walt Whitman, I Sing the Body Electric.
"For the body is best
Is a bundle of pain,
Longing for peace;
It cries when it wakes up. "Edna St. Vincent Millay, Moriturus
Robert Lewis Stevenson is an example of a person with his body. I know that not everyone has a healthy body and that a compromise on the performance of theirLife goals. Robert Lewis Stevenson died in the last decade of the nineteenth century at the age of forty-four.
One of the greatest writers of all time, he said that there is never a day in his life that he is not ill, and he felt strong enough to get out of bed. But he said if he did not get up, nothing would be achieved on that day. So he got up and wrote the wonderful literature for young and old, to be enjoyed as long as man can pull a chair up to a lamp andread.
We don’t have to go back that far, do we? We have a young mother in our town who is horribly crippled and raising her children on her own. She is a beautiful creature with long black hair that drops down to her waste. I sometimes see her down by the town lake. Crutches in both hands and braces on her legs, she struggles to walk around the lake. I go up to her and ask her is she is okay. Can I take her back to her car? She gives me her beautiful smile and says, “I’m going to try and do it. "
Your picture in the newspaper the other day. Habitat for Humanity is building her a house. She is so happy and what did she say? "I go to work on the house." And they will. Why? Since she has to reach what she wants out of life. (Note: I was working on her house and three others during his stay in Arizona. She lives in it today with their two children, a boy and a girl.)
Most of us have reasonably healthy body. We should be grateful to God for it.If people with terrible ailments press on in their lives despite the suffering, we should strive to use our bodies to help others. And that’s what we do, isn’t it? We go to work. We go shopping for groceries. We pack the kids in the car and take them off to school and sports activities. We are on the run all the time! And that is why we have to stop and think and ask ourselves, “Am I taking care of the body that God gave me? Do I give my body enough rest? Do I give my body enough exercise?
I Do not feed my body the right foods? Do I put dangerous chemicals and drugs in my body?
When I last the doctor gave me a checkup? "
We are what we eat, they say. And that's what we want to do most, is not it? EAT! There are two problems here are quality and quantity in the context. You can eat all the carrots, salad, watermelon and other fruits and vegetables as you want, without adverse effects. Why? There are very few calories, but lots of vitamins and minerals that youneed.
You can not eat the meat, ice cream, cake, hamburgers, hot dogs, cheese and so forth, without too much fat and too many calories.
Moderation is the key, right? Of course it is! When you get to eat lots of fruits and vegetables and much less meat, ice cream, cake, hamburgers, French fries, fried onion rings, etc., have more energy and vitality.
Many people are overweight, which leads to death of the heart, diabetes and other ailments. To lose weight, I write mydaily food intake point for point on a sheet of paper, so that I no longer do. The fact that I automatically say, "Hey, I eat too damn much." When I'd started it, I count the calories and no more, when I reached my limit. I made this unnecessary. Thus, the article noted slows me down.
We need movement. They say that we old people need at least three half-hour exercise periods each week and that Hefting some weights to keep our musclesstrong. I walk around the track at our high school pumping five pound weights.
Younger people get plenty of exercise, at least most of them, but they still need to watch what they eat.
Tired about me talking about Korea? Well, this isn’t one of my war stories. It’s a fact that the doctors working in aid stations and field hospitals in Korea, many who had served in WW II,
found that the arteries of the Korean GI’s were heavily laden with plaque. Much more than what the doctors saw in WW II. The reason was that those that went into W.W.II lived during the “kettle of beans” era of America called the Great Depression.
The diet was not HIGH FAT.
We ate a lot of vegetables. Our mother’s canned fruits and tomatoes. I remember carrying jars of fruit and vegetables down our basement steps until my arms dropped off.
Then came the hamburger era.
When the war brought money into the land of the poor, we went on a richer diet. We loved Ice cream and hamburgers and hot dogs and French fries. When I was in school and later after the Korean War, at the university, a good lunch was a hamburger with fries. I paid for it.
Years in the industry, after I left teaching engineering at Iowa State University, required lots of
Travel and many meals away from home. I traveled to England, Germany, France,
Italy, Belgium, Holland, Norway, Denmark, Sweden, Mexico, Japan, Korea, and on a trip, I flew all over the world,crossing the Great Soviet Union after flying over Finland, and then dropping down into Japan.
We ate and ate and ate!
Wherever we went, we ate like hogs.
After I retired and was editor of an industrial magazine, I flew to Mexico, Ecuador and Columbia. In Columbia, I was escorted by guards with machine guns. But I didn’t eat fatty foods.
The reason was that I had bypass surgery and no longer was allowed to eat artery-blocking goodies. My first surgery was in 1992. In the Spring 2005, replacing one of the transplants was, and I was supplied with the aortic valve of a pig (which seems appropriate).
So, what shall we eat?
The "Nutrition Action Health Letter, published by the nonprofit Center for Science in the Public Interest, says 1875 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20009, that the following good things to eat oranges, whole wheat bread, cantaloupe, broccoli , sweet potatoes, watermelons, beans, salmon or other fatty fish, All-Bran or100% bran cereals, spinach, and kale.
Salmon and other fatty fishes reduce the chance of a sudden-death heart attack. All-bran and 100% bran reduce the risk of cancer and heart disease.
When you shop for groceries, read the labels. Quaker 100% Natural Oats & Honey Granola sure sounds healthy to me. Not so says the Center. Too much sugar and fat. Look for a low-fat variety from Mister Quaker if you want granola. Many plastic-bag items like chips are loaded with fat and salt. Breakfast sandwiches are packed with fat. Pizza is loaded with fat. Buy a low-fat brand or eat in moderation. Donuts and such are loaded with sugar and fat. Look for fat-free varieties. Noodles and such by themselves are not high in fat, but when you fry them they are. Canned soups can be loaded with salt. Read the labels.
Breakfast eating out: Well, Denny’s Slim Slam is much better for you than the Grand Slam.
What about meat? My wife lives without it, and she doesn’t feed me much. Some meat, or equivalent, is essential to good health, but buy lean and eat in moderation. Use it as a supplement more than the main part of the meal. I make spaghetti with meat instead of chicken than burgers. You can eat turkey burgers instead of hamburgers.
What about pork? When I was a kid, I used to work on a pig farm belonging to our church. Stink! Wow! The pigs were as big as cars. As I drove through Iowa in 1956, the pigs were still enormous. When I return to teach inIowa State University in 1966, had shrunk the pigs. She still got less than I left in 1974. All this was done by breeding and nutrition. The pigs were slim. Lean pork can be a lot less fat than some cuts of beef. Read labels at the supermarket.
Every day, eating cereal, fruit, vegetables, little or no meat or fish once or twice a week.
My wife does not cook the trout I catch fish and not much omega-3 fatty acid. I take the pills. Take aMulti-Vitamin and consider extra vitamin C, especially during the cold season.
Physical tests
Middle-aged men should have an annual physical. Men are subject to prostate problems. The problem is the extension with the possibility of different cancers. (My friend died a few weeks ago after losing an eight-year battle with prostate cancer. A sad.)
Women are subject to the breast and ovarian cancer and need screening before middle age.
Any person, one familyhistory of heart disease, diabetes, cancer, or other ailment, should notify their doctor of this fact.
Remember to Exercise
Walking is good. When you are young, you can be as vigorous in exercise as you want. (There
may be exceptions.) When you are old, walking is the best exercise, or perhaps swimming. My wife swims three times a week. On her 70th birthday, she swam 70 laps at the Olympic pool.
Golf is good if you walk the course pushing your bag by hand cart or carrying it. Driving around the course in a motorized vehicle is not quite so healthy, but you can still do a lot if you are a bad golfer and spend much time in the rough. England is good for golf. They usually have non-motorized vehicles, and the rough is very rough. I love playing golf in England with the brassy weather and the foxes scampering out of the bushes and the children run to steal your balls on the line, and all so much fun.
Keep your body clean and lean, if possible.If not, keep it clean and grease. But obesity is a major health risk for heart attack and cancer.
Make sure you get enough sleep and resttoo, and take some time for rest to relieve the rush of out times.
For The Little Children
Mr. Brown put on the porch watching the passing cars.
Freddy said: "I have never seen Mr. Brown in the chair."
Peter replied: "That's because, Mr. Brown will never be out of the chair. He brings it into themorning and sits there until after dark.”
“Yes,” Freddy said, “He’s in that chair even in the winter and late at night. The only difference is that he goes inside the house when it’s too cold outside.”
Peter nodded his head. “Yes, all he needs is that chair and that radio blasting away.”
One day, two of Mr. Brown’s older sons came to the front of the house with an
ax. Freddy said, “What are they up to now? I’ve never seen the Brown boys work. They just Horse all day. "
Peter said: "I think they will cut that tree."
Freddy said: "What makes you think they could use an ax. They will probably cut off my foot."
The Brown boys started swinging the ax in the tree. They lined the tree here and there, but they could not seem to get the hang of it.
"I can not believe it!" Said Peter.
"You can not believe what?" Asked, Freddy.
"Mr Brown is getting out of this rockingChair! "
"I'm coming," Said Peter.
"Give me the ax," said Mr. Brown. "You guys do not know how to wield an ax." He took the ax and began swinging like Paul Bunyan. He knew how to use an ax, and the chips flew.
Freddy said, "Look how red his face gets."
"More blue like," said Peter.
Then poor Mr. Brown fell to the ground. The Brown boys named their mother and she came out of the house. Send one of the boys on the useNeighbor’s telephone to call an ambulance. But it was too late. Poor Mr. Brown was dead by the time the ambulance arrived. He had a massive heart attack. Mrs. Brown was crying.
Peter and Freddy felt sad. They told the Brown boys they were sorry.
Later, Freddy told his father what happened. His father said, “It’s too bad. He wasn’t in good enough health to cut down a tree. You have to keep fit to do that kind of work. You have to know your own limitations.”
Freddy said, "I'll try to remember that the Father may be. When I am old, I often go on foot, like the grandfather. I will try to always healthy and strong."
His father smiled at him and said, "You think well, my son."
Yes, this is a true story. The names have been changed.
Copyright © 2001-2005 by Taylor Jones, John T. Jones, Ph.D.
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