Week 0 - Foundations for Health Program

Foundations for Health - Week 0

Introduction - By the end of the program, our goals will be to:

1.Cover the 'foundation for health', those things that the body MUST have in order to function properly. Missing any of these component will eventually lead to disease or dysfunction.

2.Provide an understanding of the information in Dr. Fuhrman's book, “Eat to Live”. Along with this, begin introducing more nutrient dense foods in the diet.

3.Discuss the importance of physical activity and begin to incorporate exercise into the daily routine.

4.MOST IMPORANTLY, to convey the importance of a healthy lifestyle and make it a priority in peoples' lives.

Is it normal to be overweight and in poor health?

It's not "normal", but it unfortunately it is very common.

Here is a video from the CDC showing the obesity trend over the past 20 years.

Here's our diabetes trends over the past 10 years.

If you thought that was bad, here's the past 50 years.

As you can see, as a nation we are not doing so well. Maybe we should spend more money on health care???

That doesn't seem to be the problem. But we must be doing much better than other countries since we're spending way more than them, right?

PLUS, We are ranked 50th in life expectancy in the world.

So, what's the problem?

Part of it is our diet is made up of too many processed foods.

A diet of natural and minimally processed foods benefits your health. We need more fruits and vegetables, and almost all scientific studies ever done says this is true.

However, according to this report...

“State Indicator Report on Fruits and Vegetables, 2009

The report shows that no state is meeting national goals for the amount of fruits and vegetables Americans should be eating. According to Healthy People 2010, a framework for the nation's health priorities, the goal is for at least 75% of Americans to be eating at least 2 fruits daily and for 50% to be eating at least 3 vegetables daily. However, only 33% and 27% of adults are meeting these goals , respectively, and even lower proportions of adolescents in grades 9–12 are meeting them (32% and 13%, respectively).”

Hardly anyone is meeting these goals, and these goals are still way below the minimum of 6-8 servings of fruits and vegetables recommended by most experts.

Also, almost every study ever done has shown that physical activity is a vital component of a health lifestyle. Yet, we're not doing too well in this category either.

Sounds grim, but the nice thing is, none of these statitics prevent YOU from doing something about it. Statistics are just that, statistics. It doesn't affect your ability to make positive changes. If you eat live like the average American, you will be sick like the average American.

No matter what condition you're in now, you can make a change.

These people have made changes. Imagine yourself in their shoes. In order for this program to work, you must WANT to do better for yourself.

OPTIONAL VIDEO:

Thanks again for joining our program. We know you'll truly benefit from the information.

Read the introduction of the "Foundations for Health" booklet and the corresponding section of the jounral. Also read the introduction and the first chapter of "Eat to Live' by Dr. Fuhrman.

Our goal will be to eat a piece of fruit and/or a handful of nuts each day until our next meeting. Be sure to review your journal every single night and make your daily recording.

Next week will talk all about nutrient density and the material from our required readings.