Lesson Six: Down Shift – Take Time to Relieve Stress

People who’ve made it to 100 seem to exude a sense of sublime serenity. Part of it is that their bodies naturally slow down as they have aged, but they’re also wise enough to know that many of life’s most precious moments pass us by if we’re lurching blindly toward some goal.

One of the Blue Zone populations, the Adventists, find that the Sabbath can be a powerful stress reliever. The Sabbath creates a “sanctuary in time” during which they focus on God, their families, and nature. They don’t work; families do things together which help them feel closer to God. It’s a time to put the rest of the week in perspective and to lessen the din and confusion of everyday life.

Today, technology can steal our ability to de-stress and relax. Texts, cell phones, computer alarms can be a non-stop barrage in our lives, if we let them.

Use these tips to find a quiet space to slow down in your Blue Zone.

Reduce the Noise. Most electronic entertainment just feeds mind chatter and works counter to the notion of slowing down. Minimizing time spent with television, radio and the Internet can help reduce the amount of aural clutter in your life. When you get in your car, turn off the radio and use the drive time to pray about those things on your heart and mind. Turn off the walkman, take out the earbuds and learn to process your thoughts and feelings. As a Professional Counselor, I see far too many people who don’t know how to be quiet within them selves, to feel, to process, to problem-solve.

Be early. Plan to arrive 15 minutes early to every appointment. You will be delightfully surprised at what this one change would do for your life.

Meditate. Create a space in your home that is sacred for meditation, worship and prayer.. Establish a regular mediation schedule. Start with just 10 minutes a day Personally, I’ve been somewhat forced into this by the required fact that I lay down every day to relieve the pressure on my backside. For over 29-years I’ve done this, and I’ve gone from resentment to realization of this quiet time’s transformative power in my daily life.

What will you do to Down Shift?

Lesson Five: Meaningful Purpose

It is not surprising that researchers found that a life filled with meaning and purpose adds to longevity. Most of us start to ask the existential questions in our early teens, if not sooner. Why am I here? What is my purpose in the world? My reason for existing?

Those living well into their 90’s and 100’s lived lives that mattered and felt they had something yet to contribute. Dan Buettner in The Blue Zones summed up the same three keys for meaningful purpose as I in Pain, Power & Promise. I took my cues from the classic work, Man’s Search for Meaning by Dr. Viktor Frankl.

Imprisoned at Auschwitz, Dr. Frankl wondered why some of his fellow prisoners were not only able to survive the horrifying conditions but even to grow in the process. He surmised that the most basic motivation in life is the will to meaning. According to Frankl, the search for meaning in one’s life is discovered in three different ways: 1) by creating a work or doing a deed; 2) by experiencing something beautiful (a flower, sunset) or encountering someone; and 3) the attitude we take toward unavoidable suffering.

As a sit-down person, I ponder what is easier, suffering for three years in prison or a 29-year plus sentence to life as a wheelchair user. But really, how can we compare suffering? What I have found is that I too have meaningful work, live with an exquisitely beautiful someone, and choose an attitude of worship everyday (that is my goal). I have learned that when facing a fate that cannot be changed one can still transform personal tragedy into a triumph, and a horrible predicament into a human achievement.

What are you doing today to triumph?

Lesson Four: Grapes of Life

Introduce a glass of red wine into your daily routine. Red wine contains artery-scrubbing polyphenols that may help fight arteriosclerosis. Secrets of the Blue Zones suggest that moderation and consistency are key. Epidemiological studies seem to show that people who have a daily drink per day of beer, wine or spirits may accrue some health benefits.

Here’s some suggestions to go by: choose a high quality red dark wine; treat yourself to a “Happy Hour” where you sit down to a glass of wine, nuts and friends; take it easy because overdoing negates the benefits; add Vineyard Blend, the next best thing to berries and grapes in a convenient capsule or chewable form. Investigators at the University of Maryland School of Medicine studied the effects of the three Juice Plus+® blends (I wrote about the Orchard and Garden Blend in last week’s blog) taken together on the constriction of blood vessels that occurs after a high-fat meal. They found that subjects that consume Juice Plus+® were better able to maintain the elasticity of arteries, even after a high-fat meal. Journal of the American College of Cardiology 2003: 41 (10): 1744-1749.

To live a longer and stronger life we really can toast to the old adage, Eat, Drink and be Merry! 

Addendum to Lesson Three: The Plant Slant

After my last three blog posts, Secrets for Living Longer From Centenarians, I am compelled to supercharge Lesson Three: Plant Slant and talk a little bit more about why I am so passionate about fruits and veggies.

In the field of molecular biology it is common knowledge that the billions of cells that make up our bodies undergo daily free-radical damage. In fact every cell every day takes about 10,000 hits. It is this free-radical damage, also known as oxidative stress, that causes sickness, inflammation, colds, flu’s, degenerative disease, and ultimately death. We have to neutralize those free-radicals on a daily basis by adding an abundance of antioxidants. Antioxidants are found in their highest form in fruits and vegetables. This has been substantiated by 4500+ documented studies. The news isn’t that fruits and vegetables are good for you; it’s that they’re so good for you they could save your life. (Time Magazine 2004)

In the last two decades, scientific research has uncovered what Mother Nature already knew. The OPTIMUM way of getting nutrition into your body is through whole foods NOT isolated or fragmented sources such as multivitamins. One apple has 10,000 phytonutrients—you must eat the whole apple. All of the properties in whole foods work together synergistically. You must eat a variety of fruits and vegetables every day; they each have different health components. Multivitamins are not helping, and in some cases they are doing more harm than good.

Lesson Three: The Plant Slant

Avoid meats and processed foods

Scientists have analyzed six different studies of thousands of vegetarians and found that those that restrict meat are associated with living longer. Those of us over 19 years of age need only 0.8 grams of protein for every 2.2 pounds of our weight, which for most of us would amount to only 1.8-2.8 ounces of protein daily.

The centenarian diets lead with beans. Legumes, beans or tofu are the centerpiece of lunch and dinner. It is an excellent non-animal source of protein. Their meat intake is limited to twice weekly and no bigger than a deck of cards. Strict Adventists avoid meat entirely. They take their cue from Genesis 1:29… Then God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the surface of all the earth, and every tree that has fruit yielding seed; it shall be food for you.” Centenarians eat nuts every day (1 oz. serving). They eat 4-6 vegetable servings daily. Blue zone diets always include at least 2 servings of veggies with every meal.

One credible option to bridge the gap between what we should eat in fruits and veggies but either can’t, don’t, or won’t is to take Juice Plus+®, a whole food supplement. It is 15 concentrated fruits and veggies, along with 2 grains, in a capsule or chewable form, and supported by clinical research worldwide. The Standard American Diet (S.A.D.) no longer consists of fresh raw fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. According to The China Study, poor nutrition is the leading cause of death in the U.S.

We’ve discovered three powerful lessons learned from the world’s most healthy and resilient population. What will you change today to be amongst them?

Hello World! I am finally jumping in to the Blog culture. In the late summer of 2007 my book, Pain, Power and Promise: 19 Ways to a Bolder, Stronger and More Resilient Life! hit the shelves. Since then I have been extremely busy speaking, attending book signings, radio and more. Along with being an Author and Speaker, I am also a Wellness Consultant and am committed to whole food nutrition as a way of life.

As an intro and first blog, let me share a little bit more about me and how I hope my life and professional expertise can benefit you. At 22, in a moment in time, life as I knew it instantly and irreversibly changed. A peer counselor at a Christian youth camp, I inner tubed down the snow and soared over the edge of a giant boulder where I hit the hard-packed snow with a jolt and broke my neck. The paralysis crept up my body like the mercury in a thermometer and the gymnast I once was would never flip again. It was this violent drop into life’s crucible where I learned about resilience and what it takes to bounce back from trauma and adversity.

Living a healthy, active life well into your 90’s-and possibly your 100’s-may be easier than you think. Award- winning author and national geographic researcher, Dan Buettner, traveled the world and met the world’s longest-lived people. He learned nine powerful yet simple lessons that I will distill for you in my blog each week.

Armed with the latest research from longevity experts, Buettner discovered four places in the world where higher percentages of the population live astoundingly long lives: residents are able to retain health and vitality well into their 80’s, 90’s and 100’s. They’ve been dubbed the Blue Zones-Sardinia, Italy; Okinawa, Japan; Loma Linda, California; and the Nicoya Peninsula in Costa Rica.

Health, Vitality and Resilience

The folks in these areas actually manage to live longer and better-and it’s not through pills, surgery, or medications. Their secrets are found in the everyday things they do: the foods they eat, the company they keep, and their very perspectives on life. Here is the first of nine lessons gleaned from the healthiest, most resilient people on earth.

Lesson One: Move Naturally

Longevity all-stars engage in low-intensity physical activity, often as part of a daily work routine-Sardinians hike miles every day as shepherds, Okinawans garden, growing food for their tables, and Adventist’s take nature walks. American’s young and old, must inconvenience themselves in order to move, in order to add more daily activity. Get up to change the T.V. channel, take the stairs instead of the elevator, park further away from the store, walk to your mailbox at the community center and disconnect the garage door opener.

In order to live a stronger, longer and more resilient life, we must find a way to move more naturally. Share with me what you do to incorporate more natural movement into your life.

Health, Wellness and Resilience

Hello World! I am finally jumping in to the Blog culture. In the late summer of 2007 my book, Pain, Power and Promise: 19 Ways to a Bolder, Stronger and More Resilient Life! hit the shelves. Since then I have been extremely busy speaking, attending book signings, doing radio and more. Along with being an Author and Speaker, I am also a Wellness Consultant and am committed to whole food nutrition as a way of life.

As an intro and first blog post, let me share a little bit more about me and how I hope my life and professional expertise can benefit you. At 22, in a moment in time, life as I knew it instantly and irreversibly changed. A peer counselor at a Christian youth camp, I inner tubed down the snow and soared over the edge of a giant boulder where I hit the hard-packed snow with a jolt and broke my neck. The paralysis crept up my body like the mercury in a thermometer and the gymnast I once was would never flip again. It was this violent drop into life’s crucible where I learned about resilience and what it takes to bounce back from trauma and adversity.

Building and Strengthening Resiliencies

Building and strengthening resiliencies is an ongoing lifelong process to which we must commit ourselves. A year later I became a wife and mother. I had all three of my children in stair-step fashion and after five and a half years, I divorced and began solo-parenting with a 5, 3 ½ and 2 yr. old. I went back to school eventually earning my M.A. in Counseling Psychology and am a licensed professional today. I also returned to the world of sport and in 2001 earned the coveted U.S. Open Wheelchair Tennis Singles and Doubles Championship. In 1998 I married Bodacious and we are living the happily ever after. Over two decades I learned, what is known in the field of positive psychology as “resiliencies” and sharing them with others has become my passion.

Resiliency Expert

The World Health Organization predicts by 2020 that depression will be the second greatest cause of premature death and disability worldwide. I will show you how not to be a statistic; how to smack adversity around and force it to the ground and divulge its hidden pearls. You can live a healthy and successful life. I hope you will give me the opportunity to show you how to ratchet up your resilience so you will become your own Resiliency Expert!