by theonehipguy@gmail.com | Aug 4, 2014 | Uncategorized
It has been awhile since I last wrote and a lot has happened since then.
In my journey with a hip replacement the one thing that has become crystal clear is my mortality. I believe all of us at sometime or another think about it regardless of who we are and what we have going on.
This past month our family lost a treasure in my nephew Chris. He was a vibrant full of life young man. He lived life like it should be…by being generous of himself, of his time, of his friendship, of his love to others. He made a room brighter by just being there. He would lift someone up when they needed it and he would bring someone back down to earth when they got to full of themselves. He had a huge impact on the people he crossed paths with and that includes me.
Whatever your belief I am absolutely convinced that life is not a random set of musical notes that go around and around, rather these notes are there purposeful with intention and that there are no coincindences. This was the case with my nephew Chris. We bumped into each other last summer and had not interacted much with each other for quite sometime. This past year because of that chance connection he and I got to know each other again…maybe perhaps for the first time. I got to know the man and he got to know the old man! It was certainly a gift that was given to both of us.
We have no control over the time we have on this planet. We do have control on how we approach our day, how we interact with the ones we love and even strangers. To live your life telling those that most impact you in your life how you feel about them is a gift we should always open and share.
I am grateful for my family…my wife Susanne and my sons Nicholas, Zachary and Evan. I am grateful for my siblings and the true friends in my life.
Take a moment today to tell the ones you love that you do love them…be grateful for the person that cuts you of on the road today…there is some kind of sense in all of those crazy notes of life. We may not understand them yet it shapes us and prepares us for what is yet to come.
Make this week an extraordinary week!
John One Hip Guy
by theonehipguy@gmail.com | Jun 25, 2014 | Uncategorized
We do this over 7 million times a year or approximately 20, 000 times a day. We don’t even notice for the most part, yet for most of us we do it incorrectly and it has a huge impact on our health.
Breathing…we take our first breath at birth. It is one of those absolutes in our life. Without the ability to breathe we cease to exist. Yet there are many people today who do not know how to breath. Just learning to breathe properly will improve your health and longevity.
Consider this:
- Science has proven that cancer is anaerobic – it does not survive in high levels of oxygen.
- Shortness of breath and heart disease are directly linked – the heart goes into spasm when it is deprived of oxygen.
- Studies have shown that there is a high correlation between high blood pressure and poor breathing.
- Most emotional issues, including breathing related anxiety and depression, result from the nervous system being out of balance. Breathing drives the nervous system.
- Optimal Breathing helps to promote weight loss. Oxygen burns fat and calories.
- Breathing well is the key to sleeping well and waking up feeling rested.
- Breathing provides 99% of your energy. Without energy, nothing works.
- Breath is life. Virtually every health condition and human activity is improved with Optimal Breathing.
Most adults do not use the bottom third of their lungs in the normal course of day to day life. There is nothing but stale air sitting at the bottom of those lungs. Stop what you are doing and do this easy exercise. Take in a long, slow breath that moves your diaphragm (your tummy is moving in and then out). Breathe in….deeply…see that your tummy has expanded to take in all that air…hold it for a count of 5 and then release it…all of it and see that your tummy has contracted. Do this exercise 3 times. That’s it! What you just have done is brought in new fresh oxygen into your entire lung cavity and removed the stale air stuck in the bottom of your lungs. You have also slowed yourself down and downregulated the production of fat storage stress hormones. Do this once a day, everyday for life and it will improve your health by helping you to de-stress and clear out the stale old air in your body.
One of the biggest and well known health issues related to breath in North America is Asthma. Statistically it is reported that almost 10% of the population in North America is impacted by this disease.
Wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Asthma states that asthma is an inflammatory disease. There are many triggers that cause these instances of inflammation from pet dander to bonfire smoke and so on. The inflammation impedes the air passage and can have serious repercussions on the impacted individual.
While the evidence suggest there is no cure for Asthma and those affected must always take their medication, there are ways of lessening the occurrences and the severity.
Nutrition. What you put in your body has a direct impact on the inflammatory responses that are happening.
It is suggested that Mediterranean diet is one of most optimal diets for those who suffer from asthma. Eating a diet rich in omega-3 fatty acids with extra virgin olive oil along with organic fruits and vegetables is a great way to start the process of reducing the inflammation within your air passages.
Taking a high quality nutritional supplement may be a prudent option as it is difficult to get the high level of antioxidants needed to quench the free radicals that are causing the inflammation in the first place.
Grape seed extract is a natural anti inflammatory that attacks the free radicals and minimizes inflammation throughout the body.
Regardless of any health condition the ability to breathe…deeply…will have a profound impact on your health. After my hip replacement surgery I found that these exercises helped me with handling the pain and I believe improved my recovery time.
The take home message today is to eat a diet high in antioxidants and essential fats to help reduce inflammation within the body. This may help to lesson the symptoms associated with asthma and any other inflammatory diseases. Take a high quality supplement to help increase the likelihood of getting the amount of antioxidants needed…………..and……..breathe!!!!
John OneHipGuy
by theonehipguy@gmail.com | Jun 18, 2014 | Uncategorized
Weight Loss.
Those 2 words alone can send shivers down someones back. It is a topic of discussion for just about everyone. In fact it will be the topic of conversation during a coffee break, a lunchtime meetup, or over dinner with friends. Turn the TV on and we will see prime time shows dedicated to Extreme Weight Loss, or being the Biggest Loser. Weight loss is on everyone’s mind yet there is clear evidence that most people don`t have a clue how to lose it!
First I would like to point out if you are only interested in weight loss then that is the problem! Weight loss is the result of creating good lifestyle habits! Having good lifestyle habits will enable you to lose weight and keep it off.
There are 4 key points one needs to consider when developing new lifestyle habits.
1. Why am I doing this?
One must take into account the real reason for starting a weight loss program or rather a new lifestyle habit. When someone knows WHY they do what they do then it is much easier to stay committed.
2. Can I commit to these new habits lifelong?
This seems like an obvious question yet as I watched a weight loss program on TV this week I couldn’t help but wonder just how long these people could maintain their new lifestyle. I know that when I make a decision to change just one thing in my life it takes tremendous commitment. Anyone who takes on multiple habit changes is asking for a lot. For example I saw one person attempt to commit to completely CHANGING their diet , adding MASSIVE exercise, quit smoking, working less hours, getting more sleep and on and on. This is a recipe for failure!
3. Keeping it simple
Change is tough. To break free from old lifestyle habits is difficult yet to have the results for lifelong health, it is so worth it. Keep it simple by eliminating sugar from your diet first. Why sugar? Read this attached article http://www.nydailynews.com/life-style/health/white-poison-danger-sugar-beat-article-1.1605232 Change your choice of drink from whatever it was to water. Find a trainer for the gym so that you have a coach and someone that makes you accountable. This simple steps are just the beginning yet will have a profound effect on you.
4. What are the roadblocks?
What are the roadblocks to success? Identify them and deal with them. Is it a family member? Talk with them and let them know just how committed you are to your new lifestyle habits and ask them to support you. Eliminate food in your household you know that is bad for you. If the temptation is there then you WILL succumb to it. I know this from first hand experience. Do you have an physical limitations that might prevent you from working out effectively? After my hip replacement there was a period 0f time where I was limited in my mobility and strength. I have met many people who have not recovered from their hip replacement and have been unable to work out. This certainly can be a hurdle in developing new healthy lifestyle habits yet developing them will be a first step in improving the recovery process.
It is always great to see people who have lost lots of weight. It is the result of a process that that person has undertaken. To me what is more important is seeing those people living a healthier life, an on purpose life that involves making healthy lifestyle choices. Having those good habits will be the catalyst for anyone to keep the weight off lifelong!
John OneHipGuy
by theonehipguy@gmail.com | Jun 11, 2014 | Uncategorized
It seems in this fast paced world there is a never ending need to create a legacy…I hear it all the time.
More and more people want to leave their mark on the planet. In the words of Steve Jobs “a ding” in the universe.
Yet what is a legacy? The definition in Wikipedia says: Legacies are, more or less, what we remember about a person or a country. What an individual or a country does today might, in the future, be regarded as being important enough to be thought of as a memorable legacy from the 21st Century.
In the 2 years since my hip replacement I have been more keenly aware of my mortality and those I love and just how fragile and temporary we really are. I have really thought long on the word legacy and what it means.
For some people leaving a legacy might mean writing a book, becoming famous, inventing something that wasn’t there before, creating a nutrition company like USANA, exploring unknown, and so on.
To me the definition of a legacy is far deeper. Whose lives did I touch? How many times have I helped someone in need? Did I lift someone up or put them down? Did I teach my children to love? Love life, love each other, forgive others?
Are you creating a legacy everytime you smile at a stranger? Let someone in during rush hour? Tell someone that you love them? I believe these are the building blocks of creating the real legacy.
We have all heard of the butterfly effect. Wikipedia the definiton says: In chaos theory, the butterfly effect is the sensitive dependency on initial conditions in which a small change at one place in a deterministic nonlinear system can result in large differences in a later state. The name of the effect, coined by Edward Lorenz, is derived from the theoretical example of a hurricane’s formation being contingent on whether or not a distant butterfly had flapped its wings several weeks earlier.
What we do today WILL create a legacy of sorts. A kind word, a hug, encouragement will be the fuel to create a butterfly effect and in essence a legacy.
Start each day with the mindset that you will make someone’s life a little better today. It will be the first flap of the butterfly wings that can shape that person’s hour, day, week, year. It is also shaping your hour, day, week, year! This legacy will not be written about, there will be no movie, it won’t be on the 6 o’clock news. It will be completely forgotten in our concious thought yet I believe always remembered in our subconcious.
Legacy is when we are genuinely grounded in making a meaningful, lasting and energizing contribution to humanity by serving a cause greater than your own.
Go out and make someone smile today…create a legacy, your legacy!
John OneHipGuy
by theonehipguy@gmail.com | Jun 4, 2014 | Uncategorized
Summer is fast approaching and with that comes longer days. We seem to get more accomplished from working in the garden to playing golf. Maybe it’s a trip to a patio to enjoy time with some friends while having a sip of our favorite beverage.
The longer days often mean that we go to bed later. Remember to get that important part of your health in during the summer months as much as the winter.
One element that most people are not aware is that lack of sleep can cause weight gain.
Researchers speculate that people who have chronic sleep deprivation might have weight gain, either by increasing how much they eat or decreasing the energy that they burn.
Lack of sleep can cause the following:
Increase hunger: Sleep deprivation may alter hormones that control hunger especially for food rich in fat and carbohydrates.
Giving people more time to eat: People who sleep less each night may eat more simply because they are awake longer.
Decreasing physical activity: People who do not get enough sleep are more tired during the day, and as a result may curb their physical activity.
Lowering body temperature: In laboratory experiments, people who are sleep deprived tend to see a drop in their body temperatures. This drop may lead to decrease energy expenditure.
The recommended amount of sleep for an adult is seven to eight hours per night. Older adults need the same amount of sleep as younger adults. Older adults tend to sleep lighter and for shorter periods so there may be a need for napping.
In the book called Healthy Home by Dr. Myron Wentz, he discusses the need to get the electronic distractions out of the bedroom. Electromagnetic fields are created by our gadgets and we have to contend with them all the time. Get them out of our bedrooms so we can have a more restful sleep. This includes removing the TV from the bedroom. How about your cell phone? Is it on the night stand? By your pillow? Or how about under your pillow? Get your cell phone out of the bedroom too! What color light emits from your alarm clock? Studies have shown that the color red is best for not interrupting your rem pattern should you wake in the middle of the night. Make your bedroom a EMF free zone!
One more thought…make sure that your bedroom is dark. The better we are able to keep the light out the better we will sleep. Does the streetlight brighten your room? Use dark out curtains to help promote a more restful sleep.
I hope this has been an “enlightening” read!
John-OneHipGuy
by theonehipguy@gmail.com | Jun 2, 2014 | Uncategorized
Almost everyone I have met can tell me a story around almost every scar on their body. How old they were, where they got it, why it happened and so on. Think about it…look at a scar on your body right now and I bet you can remember almost to the day where, why, and how you got it.
Our childhood is full of these stories. Perhaps the scar on your shin came from the fall off a bike or the scar on your finger came from the Swiss army knife you were using to whittle a stick. These scars…battle scars tell a tale. They are a roadmap of sorts in our journey on this planet. Many of us are proud of our scars and reflect favorably on the days of our youth and fearless pursuit of whatever it was we were aspiring to have, be, or do at that particular moment.
I remember one scar over my right eye that I got playing high school hockey. Fighting for the puck in the offensive zone and went down in the process and as the play started to go the other way got stepped on…lost part of the bone along the eye socket and had a heck of a black eye! Great battle scar that I still tell the tale to whoever will listen. Of course the story is much more exaggerated than it really was but it is a fun story none the less.
Whats my point?
This week I came across some people who like me had hip replacement surgery or were about to go in for surgery. There were quite a few people who seemed distraught at the thought of having a scar. Prior to having my surgery I have to admit I was a little concerned about having a scar yet afterwards I saw this as a battle scar and that I won the battle. The war may not be completely over yet at this moment in time I know that I have won. Unfortunately I no longer will be able to wear my speedo on the beach without attracting attention…okay okay wearing a speedo always attracts attention!
The real issue about having a scar is not the physical one but the emotional one. We can see the physical scars yet for many their emotional scars are so much bigger. Some feel that they are going to be looked at differently. I don’t see it that way. I believe those who have had surgery are the ones that look at others differently…looking to see if someone notices or says something hurtful. Protecting ourselves from insensitive comments by not telling people around us. That’s a load of crap! It is time to park the ego and accept that everyone has something going on their life and I mean everyone!
Know this…it is not your fault!
Anyone who reads this blog can attest to the physical and emotional scars in their life. You are who you are today as a result of getting those battle scars. They tell a story, your story, share this story, they are your roadmap and have made you who you are today.
Love who you are and all the scars that go with it!
John One Hip Guy
by theonehipguy@gmail.com | May 28, 2014 | Uncategorized
Almost everyone I have met can tell me a story around almost every scar on their body. How old they were, where they got it, why it happened and so on. Think about it…look at a scar on your body right now and I bet you can remember almost to the day where, why, and how you got it.
Our childhood is full of these stories. Perhaps the scar on your shin came from the fall off a bike or the scar on your finger came from the Swiss army knife you were using to whittle a stick. These scars…battle scars tell a tale. They are a roadmap of sorts in our journey on this planet. Many of us are proud of our scars and reflect favorably on the days of our youth and fearless pursuit of whatever it was we were aspiring to have, be, or do at that particular moment.
I remember one scar over my right eye that I got playing high school hockey. Fighting for the puck in the offensive zone and went down in the process and as the play started to go the other way got stepped on…lost part of the bone along the eye socket and had a heck of a black eye! Great battle scar that I still tell the tale to whoever will listen. Of course the story is much more exaggerated than it really was but it is a fun story none the less.
Whats my point?
This week I came across some people who like me had hip replacement surgery or were about to go in for surgery. There were quite a few people who seemed distraught at the thought of having a scar. Prior to having my surgery I have to admit I was a little concerned about having a scar yet afterwards I saw this as a battle scar and that I won the battle. The war may not be completely over yet at this moment in time I know that I have won. Unfortunately I no longer will be able to wear my speedo on the beach without attracting attention…okay okay wearing a speedo always attracts attention!
The real issue about having a scar is not the physical one but the emotional one. We can see the physical scars yet for many their emotional scars are so much bigger. Some feel that they are going to be looked at differently. I don’t see it that way. I believe those who have had surgery are the ones that look at others differently…looking to see if someone notices or says something hurtful. Protecting ourselves from insensitive comments by not telling people around us. That’s a load of crap! It is time to park the ego and accept that everyone has something going on their life and I mean everyone!
Know this…it is not your fault!
Anyone who reads this blog can attest to the physical and emotional scars in their life. You are who you are today as a result of getting those battle scars. They tell a story, your story, share this story, they are your roadmap and have made you who you are today.
Love who you are and all the scars that go with it!
John One Hip Guy
by theonehipguy@gmail.com | May 21, 2014 | Uncategorized
I am always amazed at how little attention we pay to our bodies.
It seems our bodies talk to us in subtle ways yet most of us are not listening.
Case in point…I met a 40 something lady in the gym awhile back and noticed how hard she went on the elliptical. She was on the elliptical for over 90 minutes and she varied her speeds from easy to the highest intensity. When she got off I commented on how hard she had worked out. I was surprised by her answer.
It turns out that her right hip was giving her a lot of pain and that it was getting progressively worse. Say what?
I was completely caught of guard by her answer simply because I would not have expected anyone dealing with joint pain to overdo the joint! It seemed crazy to me yet when I reflected on this more it started to make sense. No one likes to be faced with the possibility that our health may not be the way it was when we were younger so we still go hard to prove that we can. Admitting that there is a pending problem is difficult to do because it may mean doing things differently in the future.
I told my new friend that she should ice her sore hip and perhaps take it easier on the elliptical to reduce the pain. I recommended that she stretch, get some massage therapy or physiotherapy and to take care of her hip. Most of all to listen to her body!
Do we listen to our bodies when we are tired? Hungry? Thirsty? When we overeat?
Maybe it is time we all took the time to pay attention.
Pay attention today or pay with pain tomorrow. It sounds harsh but the reality is we all need to stop going a million miles an hour and listen. Someone is talking to you…
John-One Hip Guy
by theonehipguy@gmail.com | May 14, 2014 | Uncategorized
I constantly see people talking about being on a diet, just coming off a diet, thinking about going on a diet. I think it is time to talk about why people have so many issues around weight and in particular weight loss.
First if someone is serious about losing weight they must consider a variety of factors. To effectively lose weight and keep it off requires dedication and then moderation. Too many times dieting involves doing without and then when the diet is over there is a sense of relief and old habits come back.
First understand the glycemic index and what foods are good for you and what goods might not be so good. The glycemic index is actually quite easy to follow once you understand it. The image below shows the good, bad, and ugly when it come to the glycemic index.
Once you know you need to eat low glycemic foods then find a chart like the one provided to give you some guidance on what foods you should or shouldn’t eat.
It is actually quite easy to follow the food recommendations in the glycemic index. It is obvious that there are certain foods you should always avoid, however there are surprises in there too. Almost all root vegetables are classified as simple sugars or simple carbohydrates. They convert very quickly to sugar in the body and therefore will spike your blood sugar. If you want to lose weight then keep potatoes out of your diet all the time! Sorry that means french fries too!
The goal when you eat is to remain in the healthy green zone and not go into the yo-yo zone because your blood sugar going up and down is unhealthy and will cause cravings and unhealthy food choices. See the chart below to see what happens when you fall out of the green zone.
Once someone understands the glycemic index then the next step is to understand the glycemic load. The glycemic load (GL) of food is a number that estimates how much the food will raise a person’s blood glucose level after eating it. One unit of glycemic load approximates the effect of consuming one gram of glucose.
You can go to http://www.health.harvard.edu/newsweek/Glycemic_index_and_glycemic_load_for_100_foods.htm to see what the load is for many of the foods you eat.
There are many failed attempts at dieting simply because the person who is on the diet does not understand the triggers that cause cravings and the overwheling desire to eat anything in sight. First and most important step in my view is understanding how our blood sugar goes up and down based on the foods we eat. Once this is understood then it becomes much simpler to maintain a healthy diet and lose weight without starving.
Have a great week!
John–One Hip Guy
by theonehipguy@gmail.com | May 7, 2014 | Uncategorized
There is nothing like driving for 33 hours over 3 days to get someone thinking. I remember a time before my hip replacement that the thought of a trip like that would have been tough to consider let alone do!
My how times have changed!
All of us have experienced the “road trip”.
In my early adult years my road trips consisted of other young adults…(mostly other guys) who could hardly wait to hit the road. Maybe it was a trip to beach or a curling bonspiel, a golf tournament, or maybe it was a long haul trip to the coast. Whatever the event was there was always surprises along the way. There was always the party animal and the party pooper. There was the “driver” and there was the “navigator”. If there were a few along for the road trip there was always the guy who got stuck in the back seat.
So what am I getting at? Well those road trips are a lot like our life.
Everyday we wake up and are faced with a new road, new surprises. It often seems it should be routine…afterall we are only going to the beach with a bunch of buddies (metaphorically speaking) …or should it? The beauty of this life is that there are no guarantees yet if we approach each day with the never ending pursuit of WHY we do what we do the outcomes, the accomplishments, will harmoniously flow in line of our world view of success.
There will be times where you will be the driver, the one in charge who takes up the role of leading. How will you take on this role? Will you lead as a mentor or a tormentor? There will be other times in life where being the navigator is the most crucial asset you can bring to the table. How will you communicate your ideas? Will you engage thoughtful conversation or will you over power those around you and dominate the conversation? There will also be times where you might have to take a back seat. Perhaps it is in an area where you have less ability, knowledge. Will you be able to observe, replicate so that you can someday navigate and then drive? The metaphor is simple. We all play different roles at different times in our lives. Recognizing the situations and how you react to them is a question of how connected you are to your WHY. When we stay connected to our WHY, our purpose, no matter what role or situation we are in we will always excel!
The moral of this story?
Lose your WHY lose you way.
John-One Hip-Guy
