Exercise – The Burner and Builder

Exercise burns calories and builds muscle and bones. It is a necessity for good health at any stage in life, especially for senior citizens. Many health problems faced by older people might have been avoided if exercise had been part of a daily routine. Any movement burns calories. I could write a weight loss book in one sentence: “If you burn more calories than you take in, you will lose weight,” end of book. I coauthored  Lose the Weight, and Keep the Faith, with Nick Gaglione, a fitness trainer.  “Cut and burn” was the crux of our message. If you cut calories and burn calories through purposeful exercising you will lose weight. To lose a pound a week, you must burn 3500 calories more than you consume.

Three Links between Spirituality and Healthy Living

Our spiritual health directly influences our physical well-being. To take advantage of these influences, we need to challenge our minds, build connections with others, and stretch our bodies. These influences are particularly important as we age. Mind and body are interdependent, so these influences should not come as a surprise.

Spiritual Health and Fitness

We give a lot of attention to physical health with constant headlines scaring us about cancer-causing agents and obesity among other ills. The “U.S. healthcare industry is massive” with
spending over $4 trillion in 2021 (that’s over 19 percent of all the goods and services produced in
the U.S.) and forecast to be over $6 trillion by 2028. 1 Emotional health is also on a lot minds due
to the alarming jump in irrational, violent, and criminal behavior since the Covid-19 pandemic
with over 90 percent of Americans say we were in a “mental health crisis”. 2 Yet, how many
people do you hear expressing concern over spiritual health?

How to Balance Mind, Body, and Soul for a Healthier You

Living a balanced life can be challenging. How do we balance the demands of work, family, church, and extracurricular activities? Trying to maintain balance is vital for our mental and physical health, but it’s kind of like riding a bicycle. It’s easy to lose control.