365 Health Strategies:
Lawn Mowers, Ford Pintos, and Health
June 26
Greetings!
 

        Two days ago, I helped my son repair our lawn mower and realized that I was simultaneously showing him how to be healthy.

"Just think about building a fire.  Think of everything it takes to build a fire in this engine (gas, air, a spark) and let's do everything we can to make the fire bigger," I said.

I'm still nowhere close to being a master mechanic, but I know some of the basics.  As a 17-year-old who loved his first car, I had done most of my own auto repair (which was frequently required of my 1972 Pinto) and even rebuilt the engine.

I was trying to explain to my son a way of thinking about our lawn mower (which would crank and would cut grass but the motor sputtered) so that he could repair it next time.  As I spoke, I realized that I was also talking about how to make a person healthier.

"If just one thing is off, the whole engine slow or die.  So, you need to get it all right at the same time," I said. 

"Make sure the air flows by taking off the air filter and cleaning it," I said while cleaning the filter with gasoline.

"Make sure you have the proper fuel and that there is no trash in the tank to slow the flow of gasoline.

Make sure electricity is flowing to the spark plug and that the plug is clean and the gap is set for optimum spark.

Make sure the throttle's adjusted to properly control the fuel's feeding to the engine:  too much and you flood the engine and kill it; too little fuel and the engine runs half speed.

Make sure the mechanics are adjusted and oiled.  The blade should be set to the proper height; try to cut too much grass in one pass with the blade too low and the engine sputters.  Set the blade too high and the engine runs fine but you're not really doing a good job on the lawn."

All of this about simply making a lawn mower run powerfully-and for each topic-say making the spark plugs work better-there could be much more said.  Yet with the body (which is much more complicated than a lawn mower) after asking how to lose weight or become healthier, many simply hear, "eat less and exercise more."  If it seems complicated and time consuming to obtain and maintain excellent health, it's because it is. 

For example, with weight loss, many will think, "Since it is simple (eat less, exercise more) yet I can't lose weight, I must have very little will power."  Alternatively, else, the person feels dissatisfied that maybe there's more-but must search for the answer. 

There is more.  Learn something every day.  Become your own expert body mechanic.  Study your body and care for it in as much detail as I cared for my 1972 Pinto when I worked as a teenager for minimum wage and knew that if that car slowed or died I couldn't just go buy another one.

Walk 3 miles_______

Eat 5 Fruits or Vegetables_____

Revelations 4-6_____

Chastity:  Rarely use venery but for health or offspring; never to weakness or dullness or to the injury of your own or another's peace of mind or reputation

The 1,3,5 Plan

The 13 Virtues as per Benjamin Franklin

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Sincerely,

Charles Runels, MD
LifeStream Medical, Inc.