Dec. 1, 2015: Jim Kirwan spoke to our club about healthy lifestyles. Jim is the founder of Get America Moving, the author of The Exercise Factor and is on a mission to promote healthier lifestyles in America.
Jim related the story of how he came home from a night out with friends in 1975. Getting in around midnight, he saw his father as he passed his parents bedroom but did not say goodnight. His father died of a massive heart attack the next day and Jim was not able to say goodbye. He believes that although his father was not unhealthy, that inactivity ultimately led to his untimely death, 40 years now lost. He refers to this as the inactivity epidemic.
The major take away for his talk he indicated is that your actions, what you do every day, determine your life expectancy and quality of life. Although obesity, diabetes and alzheimer’s are epidemic, he believes this ‘silent killer’ is a root cause of the others. “Sitting is the new smoking”.
People don’t exercise enough, he continued. The CDC approximates that 50% of Americans don’t exercise or exercise enough but that number increases to 80% if you include strength training as well. Two problems he sees with CDC facts are that they use the minimum standards to arrive at their figures, not optimum standards, and only refer to planned exercise. Baseline exercise has been decimated in the last 20-30 years.
We need to get back to a baseline exercise mindset. In the recent Presidential debates there were only 3 references to the health epidemic and not by the leading contenders. There is a large majority of people who do not pay enough attention to their health and a small minority who do. You don’t have to be fit and healthy to start but you have to start to be fit and healthy.
The four key drivers for success are:
- Exercise
- Nutrition
- Knowledge (about exercise, health etc)
- The X factor (shows you how to do it)
The X factore R-E-C-I-P-E for success is:
- Resolve
- Energetic (passion and enthusiasm)
- Cause-Find a great cause
- Involved-immerse yourself
- Project- gives you structure and organization to succeed
- Extraordinary-the outcome will be.
Your new lifestyle mission stages:
- Make your decision
- Know your current situation
- Make your project plan
- Project Implementation
- Project review
Your to do list:
- Move all day
- Start today
- Apply the X factor
- Get your first project
- Take action
— Don Baus, Keyway Committee Chair