Health Challenge II Tour
Take the Health Challenge at the dates and locations below.
“The groundwork of all happiness is health.” James
Leigh Hunt
“A healthy body is a guest-chamber for the soul; a sick body
is a prison.” Francis Bacon
The National Health Coalition is a new
grass roots organization based in Oregon. NHC has teamed up with
another Oregon-based Not-for-profit, IFARA, to spread the word about
a new way of addressing long-term life-long wellness beginning at any
age. Fred Schaich and Tyler Marriott from IFARA and NHC will present
an introduction to Health Challenge in this initial event. Each
community will facilitate on-going regular Health challenge weekly or
monthly meetings for the period of at least one year.
What is it?
HEALTH CHALLENGE is a free program for
people living with or wishing to prevent chronic manageable diseases
or conditions.
How does it
work?
It relies on people living with
similar health challenges supporting each other in regular meetings.
Working together, individuals will form a supportive community,
through regularly scheduled support meetings.
What do
these groups do?
Group members plan how and where to
shop for healthy fresh foods; they share recipes for healthful meals;
they create safe and comfortable spaces for exercising; they even
schedule time to exercise together and on a regular basis. In short,
they support one another in living healthier, happier, longer lives.
Do the
groups have guest presenters?
Volunteer healthcare professionals
will be invited to provide educational presentations in regular and
special meetings throughout the year. Additionally, volunteer
trainers and nutritionists and other local health focused
professionals will lead discussion in the support groups, as a means
of stimulating new ideas and fostering good health practices.
* * *
Health Challenge is different from
other wellness initiatives. It is a peer-led support group in which
participants set achievable exercise goals and objectives, and then
support and encourage one another to reach those goals. There is no
over-arching program, no central office, no regional leaders. Health
Challenge both starts and ends with the people it is designed to
help. Outcome measurements are an integral part of this project, both
in measuring individual percentage improvement and how that
improvement was achieved, so that it may be replicated in other
groups in cities and towns across the United States. Focus groups,
quality-of-life surveys, and evaluations will be a part of this
program for at least the first full year, so as to assess the value
of the program and benefit to each participant.
* * *
You will live to be a healthy aging
individual instead of an invalid.
You will have greater enjoyment of
your senior years.
No diets, or crazy hi-intensity
workouts, just slow steady regular health improvement. YOU CAN DO
THIS!
* * *
A bit more about our philosophy (Q and
A)
Do we believe in diet plans
and high intensity work-outs, and if so why not encourage HC groups
to try these programs?
The short answer is that these
programs by and large achieve short-term results. They might work for
some individuals, especially those with an already-high metabolism,
but we're focusing on people living with chronic disease, or who are
being advised by their doctors to take methodical sustainable steps
to either lose weight or reduce certain foods, like fats, sugars and
salt, etc.
But is this yet another fad
that will fade?
No. Health Challenge is a plan to
improve all aspects of living well with a chronic disease, through
sustainable steps with clinical markers and physical measurements
that should keep the individuals on track to long-term, life-long
health improvements. Recent studies involving people living with
chronic disease have shown that a supportive community was a
significant factor in the success of some individuals.
Who are
candidates for Health Challenge?
Most candidates for Health Challenge
have already had a “wake-up call” event and know they need to
make changes. Many have been through a cardio or pulmonary
rehabilitation program and have failed to stick to what they learned
in that rehabilitation. Peer-led projects work better to extend the
work that is started in Rehabilitation, in allowing people to have a
safe space in which to discuss their goals and achievements. People
who have gone through the Chronic Disease Self-management Course
provided by Stanford University are also candidates if they feel a
need to have further, on-going community support. What function does
the support group offer? It offers each individual the opportunity to
be held himself/herself accountable for the goals they set. How do
your participants measure success? Each individual brings their
health goals and objectives to their meetings. These are often goals
they have discussed with their physicians, alongside lab markers that
are to be improved. For example, a physician can tell a participant
that they must eat healthier, or quit smoking, or lose weight, or
perhaps exercise three times each week. Individuals set a plan in
motion to achieve those goals through nutrition and exercise, and
they do this with the group. Their lab marker changes are continually
monitored. What are some of the ways each group can improve their
ability or access to exercise? What are some ways we can eat
healthier?Exercise and health is not about money; it is about our
intentions. Walking every day is free, even if it is to the bus, on a
lunch break, for 45 minutes after work, or in the form of a three
hour weekend hike. We can all do squats during commercials while
watching television. We can all work up to doing fifty curls or
pushups when we wake up every morning. We can all take five minutes
at work and stretch. And finally, we can all eat vegetables - fresh
or canned - and avoid fast-food and alcohol and tobacco while staying
within a budget. YOU CAN DO THIS!
*
* *
Some Food for thought
“The way you
think, the way you behave, the way you eat, can influence your life
by 30 to 50 years.” Deepak
Chopra
“Healing is a
matter of time, but it is sometimes a matter of opportunity.”
Hippocrates
“A healthy
outside starts from the inside.”
Robert Urich
“We can make a
commitment to promote vegetables and fruits and whole grains on every
part of the menu. We can make portion sizes smaller and emphasize
quality over quantity. And we can help create a culture – imagine
this - where our kids ask for healthy options instead of resisting
them.” Michelle Obama
“I made a
commitment to completely cut out drinking and anything that might
hamper me from getting my mind and body together. And the floodgates
of goodness have opened upon me - spiritually and financially.”
Denzel Washington
“Cheerfulness is
the best promoter of health and is as friendly to the mind as to the
body.” Joseph Addison
“Healthy citizens
are the greatest asset any country can have.”
Winston Churchill
“About 80 percent
of the food on shelves of supermarkets today didn't exist 100 years
ago.” Larry McCleary,
MD
“Adult obesity
and overweight statistics have increased by about 50 percent since
the Dietary Goals were announced by the Federal Government in 1977.”
Larry McCleary, MD
“We have by far the most
expensive health system in the world. We spend 50 percent more per
person than the next most costly nation. Amerians spend more on
health care than housing or food.” Kathleen Sebelius
* * *
Inspiration for Health
“To keep the body
in good health is a duty, otherwise we shall not be able to keep our
mind strong and clear.”
Buddha
“Life is not
merely being alive, but being well.”
Marcus Valerius Martialis
“Those who do not
find time for exercise will have to find time for illness.”
Edward Smith-Stanley
“A vigorous
five-mile walk will do more good for an unhappy but otherwise healthy
adult than all the medicine and psychology in the world.”
Paul Dudley White
“The body is like
a piano, and happiness is like music. It is needful to have the
instrument in good order.”
Henry Ward Beecher
“You pray for
good health and a body that will be strong in old age. Good — but
your rich foods block the gods’ answer and tie Jupiter’s hands.”
Persius
“Health and
intellect are the two blessings of life.”
Menander Chronic Disease to Chronic Health
