Having worked in a a nursing home for 5-6 years of the almost thirteen I have been an O.T., I have seen the effects of what a poor diet & sedentary lifestyle can do. I remember visiting a favorite patient I had discharged just a few months prior; she was in the middle of her favorite afternoon snack of movie butter microwave popcorn and Coca-Cola. She was polite and offered me some, but I politely declined. Of course, she strongly insisted and I had to laugh and say playfully, "No thank, you. I'm a bit of a health nut and I'm watching my girlish figure!" to which her eyes got really big and responded to me with, "Well, I ate all the food I wanted and nothing bad ever happened to me!"
Did I tell you I had to treat her for O.T. due to a stroke that left the left side of her body completely paralyzed for a few months? This was about twelve years ago and I don't know if they had quite as many talk shows and information about healthy living as they do now so she did not make the connection at all to her lifestyle habits and her stroke.
Anyway, the point of this story is I just wanted to emphasize the importance of doing *something* healthy for yourself. I remember being a kid thinking, "So what, if I die early, at least I lived happily!" But that's not a guarantee either. I've seen people who weren't so lucky as my patient and never recovered from a stroke and had to be independent on others for their self-care for the rest of their life. Another one of my favorite patients (lol, I guess most of them are my favorite!) lived to be 103, I believe, but she spent about 13-15 years of that where all she could do for herself was use her hands well enough to feed herself with a fork and spoon and put a little powder on her face. I recall her frustration over the fact that she had to lay in her own filth for hours at a time because the nursing department was so short-staffed they couldn't get to care for her right away. (Now that last line has a rant from me likely not appropriate for this blog so I won't go into it here...)
And let's not forget the family members that depend on us and hope we live as long and prosperous life as possible so we are around for them. If you don't love yourself enough to do it, surely you love those around you enough to do it for them? I think it was on one of these talk shows that the health speaker asked the audience, "You love your family enough to die for them, but do you love them enough to LIVE for them?"
But let's face it; once you make up your mind and want it for yourself, that is when the GREATEST change can take place. We just have to help you find your motivation and what plan will work best for you.
So what is or topic for the next blog post? It is meant for those of you that want to start doing something. Tune again next time...
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