Health potential. If we are to reach our peak potential by becoming all we are capable of, managing our health is key. In mid-life, I have become acutely aware that having a better, longer life is only achieved if we have more health and happiness, and less sickness and despair. Recently, while working through a lifestyle and wellness webinar, I began to think chronic illness robs us of the ability to reach the peak of our potential.
The webinar said chronic illness is caused by bad lifestyle choices, bad living environments, and bad health care advice. All of these must be replaced by healthy lifestyle habits including nutrition, movement, stress management, and sleep. I know this from experience.
A wise man should consider that health is the greatest of human blessings,
and learn how by his own thought to derive benefit from his illnesses. —Hippocrates
In 2015, I was living a life full of stress. While I was exercising and eating a low carb, higher protein diet and managing my weight; the rest of my health was falling apart. I was unhappy with the new Chairman of the Board where I was President of a company. Besides my full-time job, I was a part-time adjunct professor of business lecturing one night per week for four hours, plus the prep for lectures, grading, and student meetings. I was also serving as an ordained Episcopal priest in a church where I led services on weekends along with a team of deacons and wonderful committed members. My mental health was full of stress. Then, it all crashed.
Two weeks after my daughter’s wedding, I landed in the hospital with stress-induced cardiomyopathy. I nearly died. Takotsubo cardiomyopathy is a temporary heart condition that develops in response to an intense emotional or physical experience. It’s also known as stress cardiomyopathy or broken heart syndrome. In this condition, the heart’s main pumping chamber changes shape, affecting the heart’s ability to pump blood effectively. That what led me to decide I needed to get well. I am lucky I recovered and am heart healthy today. Doctors are always amazed reading my history, and ask me how I lived with an ejection fraction of 15. That is for another day.
Health Potential: Eat Well, Move Well, Think Well, Live Well
The good news is, I decided while laying in the bed at Rochester General Hospital, talking to a nurse, to take action. She identified herself as a Christian, and said she had noticed people praying with me. I told her my own spiritual story. Then, she said, “I don’t know what is going on in your life. However, even though your angiogram shows clear arteries, and your blood work is all good, your heart is weak and failing. Something is killing you. If you don’t address it, within 90 days you might be dead, or need a heart transplant.” I knew exactly what was wrong. I had avoided dealing with root issues that led to a health crisis for almost a decade. After leaving the hospital with a defibrillator life vest, I started the journey of addressing all the areas of my life where stress was literally killing me.
Over two years, I began seeing a therapist to address the root causes. I took a trip to Australia to visit a friend and spend time by the ocean to relax, think, and recover. As I took action to recover my physical, mental, and spiritual health, my heart started to recover. I also fell in love with my friend, and we married the following year. In coming posts, I will share more about recovering health. Climbing from the valley of dearth toward the summit of health started by dealing with grief and loss, stress, anxiety, adrenaline issues, and dysfunctional relationships. I eventually moved to Sydney, Australia, and rebooted my own version of, “It’s A Wonderful Life.” For the past three years I have been focused on researching and practicing longevity, wellness, evidence based nutrition, and a balance of traditional western medicine with my GP, and functional medicine.
Health Potential: The Role of Wellness
Here in Sydney, Dr. Keith Farrugia, a chiropractor and wellness practitioner, is an amazing addition to my personal health, longevity, and wellness project. Today, I feel 100% like my former healthy self before my health headed down the slippery slope of destruction. Wellness is a choice, and even this week, I have made more good lifestyle, nutritional, and spinal health choices, adding to several other psychosocial and spiritual choices made during the past months.
I have been transitioning to eating a whole food plant-based diet, and using a limited number of supplements to improve my health including:
-Innate Choice Vitamin D3 5000 IU,
-Innate Choice EPA/DHA Omega 3 Oil 2 tsp
-Jarrow Formulas Co-Q10 100 mg,
-Lactobacillus planatarum 299v probiotic,
-Thorne ReveraCel 300 mg nicotinamide riboside (NR-NAD+ precursor for energy and mitochondria), and 150 mg Resveratrol
-Blackmores Vitamin B stress formula,
-Jarrow Formulas Vitamin K2 complex.
My bloods are all good, and I especially watch fasting glucose. I take some raw honey before bed to keep from glucose crashing and adrenaline spiking during sleep. I have struggled to balance work, a long commute, and family life with my health objectives. I am a fellow traveller on this road to health with you. I do great some days and weeks, while at other times, I fall flat on my face. The key is being resilient, getting back to it, and not giving up.
To close out this post, I again turn to Hippocrates as we work on our health and wellness potential:
“If you are in a bad mood, go for a walk. If you are still in a bad mood, go for another walk.”
Now, let’s go and live our lives knowing that we are made with a purpose to reach the peak of our potential!
Kevin
