I've had a few wake up calls when it comes to my health over my life....
A big one was a few years ago when the doctor told me I was type 2 diabetic. What a shock! It wasn't that the news was unexpected, in fact I knew for about a year something was wrong. But hearing it from the doctor made me sit back and get serious about my health.
I changed my lifestyle completely. Hiked almost every day for miles, cut down on the garbage diet and had my blood sugar levels way down in only a few short months. I was super excited about changing things up, and seeing the results almost overnight kept me fired up...
For a few years lol
And over the past year and a half, I've let things go once again. My diabetes is under control, mostly because of the pills I'm on. But also I don't eat 'total' garbage lol But the hiking has basically stopped. And no excuse, things need to improve.
The first step for me was getting a family doctor and going for a routine check up this week. He showed me some numbers about the risks I'm taking on, and then he stated this...
13.6% chance of a heart attack or stroke in the next 10 years if I keep living how I'm living.
There's some formula that the smart people on the planet put together that takes numbers from all your health reports, and spits out the 'chance' that you can have a heart attack. Now obviously, this is just an example and should never be taken as gospel. And the doctor stated to me the obvious....Nothing is guaranteed. You could have a life changing health scare in 5 minutes from now.
But best case scenario is what he presented to me next...
He said, we can lower it to about 5% chance, and that's the lowest it'll ever get simply because of my age. He said I'm in moderate risk right not, but with 2 simple lifestyle changes, I can take the 13.6 and lower it to 5%
I like the sounds of that :)
So the changes are, you guessed it....Things everyone has control over.
First was diet. He recommended a mediterranean diet, with a heavy emphasis on the veggies. Which works for me, because diet is something I know I can control. Plus my faith is big on the health message, which means, I', trusting in science as well as my Creator to know what's best for my body.
The second was physical activity. Which again is pretty obvious. The best I ever felt in my adult life was when I started hiking every day. So for me, its simple...Get my big behind out on the trails again.
This was a wake up call. And I needed it. I got lazy and complacent when it came to my health, and at my age I cannot take it for granted. Pro active is always a better game pland that's what will happen in Jongo's life once again.
Here's to a leaner, healthy Jongo!
Posted Using INLEO
