Tag: healthy lifestyle

Health – Giving Tidbits

Have you smiled or laughed today? Humor does a body good. The Bible proves that God is the one and only true mastermind. If you have any doubts, start by reading the 1st chapter of Genesis. Have you stretched today? There are many benefits to stretching on a regular basis.

Tidbit 1   Humor Time

“Inside me there’s a thin person struggling to get out, but I can usually sedate him with four or five cupcakes.”– Bob Thaves

A Backyard Neighbor Funeral

Mr. Green peered over his fence and noticed that the neighbor’s little boy was in his backyard filling in a hole. Curious about what the youngster was up to, Mr. Green asked, “What are you doing, Jimmy?”

Tearfully, little Jimmy replied, “My goldfish died, and I’ve just buried him.”

“That’s an awfully large hole for a goldfish, isn’t it?” Mr. Green said.

Patting down the last bit of earth, little Jimmy replied, “That’s because he’s in your cat!”

Asking Her Age

A young mother had been too busy to visit her elderly neighbor who was ill.  She said to her small son, “Johnny, run over and see how ‘old Mrs. Smith’ is.”  Within a few minutes, the boy was back.  “She says it’s none of your business how old she is.”

Tidbit 2   Mastermind Is He

A mastermind can be described as a brilliant thinker with original ideas (a chess mastermind or a criminal mastermind).  Inventors, intellectuals, and famous geniuses can also be called masterminds. 

The Bible proves that God is the one and only true mastermind.  If you have any doubts, start by reading the 1st chapter of Genesis.  God created the heavens and the earth from the very beginning.  He just keeps on showing off His outstanding self throughout the Bible.  Look what God has done, mastermind is He!

Click on the video to view the oral presentation of this blog and listen to my song Mastermind Is He. (© ℗ 2006 Annette M. Harris. All rights reserved.)


Tidbit 3   Stretching

Have you stretched today?  Do you stretch on a regular basis?  Some people don’t realize the health benefits of stretching.  Stretching is completely adjustable.  No previous experience required.  It just gets better the more you do it.

Here are some benefits of stretching before you get out of bed in the morning.

1.  Stretching in the morning can help improve the range of motion in the joints, as well as stiffness that often accompanies being inactive or overweight.  Decreased flexibility in the joints may increase your likelihood of developing arthritis or having poor balance, which could lead to injury.

2.   It can dramatically improve blood circulation.  A quick stretch when you wake can energize you to get out of bed.  Proper circulation helps you move and function throughout the day. 

 3.  It can help relieve stress and tension and help you to face the day more positively. 

Before you take on the daily pressures and demands of job and family, allow yourself a few minutes to stretch and breathe.  Before you do those stretches or even put one foot on the floor – acknowledge the Lord.  Give Him a wave offering, a “Thank you Jesus”, blow Him a kiss, give Him a scripture verse, tell Him good morning – acknowledge Him.  Then proceed with your stretches.

You can lie on your back, on your bed and just stretch your whole body & wiggle your fingers and toes.  Some other movements include: Knees-to-Chest Stretch, Spinal Twist, Seated Forward Bend, or you can just be creative.


Stretching before going to bed gives you a chance to transition to quiet and let go of any negative thinking.  Listen to some scripture verses, or soothing music.

  1. Breathe slowly and deeply, stretch lightly and be relaxed. 
  2. Stretch in a smooth movement, without bouncing, only as far as it feels good to you.  Bouncing as you stretch can injure your muscle and actually contribute to muscle tightness.  Don’t worry about how far you can stretch. 
  3. Hold each stretch position steadily for about 30 seconds to give your muscles time to lengthen.

With your body relaxed, you should be able to fall asleep quicker and sleep more soundly.  Your goal with a bedtime stretch is relaxation, to reduce muscle tension that has built up from the day’s activities.  So take a few minutes tonight and stretch before telling God good night.   

Stretching anytime anywhere is a great way to take a break from your busy day to recharge and strengthen your body and your mind.  It does not need to be time consuming.  If you take a few minutes out of your day to stretch and try to do so at least 2-3 days a week you can achieve the most benefits.  If you stretch on an irregular schedule, your body will not be able to maintain a consistent range of motion.  In other words, if you don’t use it, you lose it.

What are you waiting on?  Get started today!

Thanks for stopping by. I hope enjoyed these Health-Giving Tidbits.  This presentation is intended for informational purposes only.

If you know Jesus Christ as your Savior, now is the time to get to know Him even better. 

If you don’t know Him, accepting Him as your Savior will be one of the wisest decisions you will ever make. Have a blessed day!

Sources
https://www.stewardshipoflife.org/jokes/
P. 197 (1001 Humorous Illustrations for Public Speaking) Michael Hodgin  Zondervan, Grand Rapids, Michigan  1992, 1994
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/mastermind
https://www.vocabulary.com/dictionary/mastermind
http://clipart-library.com/stretching-cliparts.html
https://www.nhs.uk/live-well/exercise/5-minute-wake-up-workout/


A Healthy Lifestyle

There is always, always, always something to be thankful for.

“No duty is more urgent than that of returning thanks.”
James Allen

“There is always something to be thankful for. If you can’t pay your bills, you can be thankful you are not one of your creditors.”

I hope this video blesses you.  This is one of my favorite songs.

Six components of living a healthy lifestyle

There are many reasons to try to live a healthy lifestyle:

To lower the risk of disease.

  1. To relieve stress.

  2. To have increased energy.

  3. To increase the length of your life.

  4. To increase the quality of your life.

  5. To be fit for the Master’s use.

I am not trying to increase the length of my life, but I am trying to increase the quality of my life. I don’t do everything right. Some days are better than others. I love food. I love to eat. The problem is I eat too much. Anyway, I’m working on it.

If I had to pick the most important reason for striving to live a healthy lifestyle, I would choose #6. We all have a destiny to fulfill. We have been given gifts and talents to use for God’s use. I don’t think most of us truly grasp that. If we did, we would be doing more for Him.

Everyone won’t write a book, be a movie star, the president of a large corporation, or a great artist. The greatest accomplishment that any of us can do is to accept Jesus Christ as our personal savior and be found trying to fulfill our destiny. Life passes by so swiftly. We have only a limited number or years. I don’t want to die without at least trying to discover and use my gifts and talents. What you do may not be on a professional level. My videos and my blogs sure aren’t. But at least I can say – I tried.

I want to share with you six components of healthy living.

 Air is a component of health that we totally take for granted. We don’t go to bed and say, “I sure hope that I won’t run out of air while I sleep tonight or I wonder if I’ll have enough air in the morning.” We just assume that we will have air.

It is possible to go weeks without food and days without water, but six minutes without air and you’re a corpse. Air is so important because of oxygen. The blood and trillions of cells that make up the body perform the functions of life. They must be oxygenated regularly or death occurs. We receive our supply of oxygen by extracting it from the air we breathe into our lungs. This is called respiration. In tiny air sacs in the lungs, the blood is purified, supplied with oxygen, and sent on its way to the rest of the body. When we breathe out, we exhale carbon dioxide gas and a lot of other waste materials.

Even though it’s practically impossible to have really pure air in this day and age we can still do what we can to make the best use of the air that we breathe.

Deep breathing         breathing     is a component of health that supplies us with the fuel that keeps us alive. How we breathe affects how we absorb oxygen into our bodies. The oxygen feeds the brain, the nervous system, and every cell of the body.   Normally, we should breath abdominally. There are enormous benefits that accompany breathing the way the body is designed to breathe. Most people breathe totally from the chest.

Abdominal breathing clears your mind and relaxes you. It balances you. It’s the key to relaxation and to the correct oxygenation of your body. Abdominal breathing takes pressure off the heart, and has an amazing effect on the nervous system.  We want the abdomen to expand as we breathe in, and then we want the air to move up and out as we exhale.

Exercise    exercise    is a component of health that greatly assists in the oxygenation of your entire body, especially aerobic exercise, which accelerates the heart’s pumping action. There is an exercise routine for everyone. Bones are alive, and just like every other part of the body, they benefit greatly from exercise.

Life depends on the flow of blood in our bodies. Every drop of blood circulates through the entire body, every minute! A larger heart is a healthier and stronger heart. Any good exercise routine should address basically three areas of fitness: (1) cardiovascular, or aerobic, (2) strength, and (3) flexibility. Aerobic exercise is the form that strengthens the heart.

Water: There is not one function of the body that is not dependent on water. Approximately seventy percent of the body is water. The brain is 80.5% water, the lungs 80%, and the blood 90%. From the minute food enters your mouth, every process necessary to transform it from a food to blood, bone, muscle, and tissue – depends on water.

Water holds nutrients in solution and transports all food necessary for life to the various parts of the body. The body uses water to extract the vitamins, minerals, proteins (amino acids), carbohydrates, fats, and the other basic nutrients of life to the proper place and drops them off in the exact amounts needed at exactly the right time in the body.

Water holds wastes and toxins that it picks up from the cells and carries them to the organs of elimination. Water carries them to the four organs of elimination – bowels, bladder, lungs, and skin for disposal. Water brings in what we need and carries out what we don’t.

Without sufficient water you would have no saliva. You wouldn’t be able to swallow! The organs that perform the functions of life are all more water than anything else. Water is the chief agent in regulating body temperature, like water in the radiator of a car.

As to how much and what kind of water to drink, well the experts have different opinions. One thing is for sure, the less you get from your food, the more you have to drink.

 

Continue reading “A Healthy Lifestyle”