Visit cholesterol lowering foods or how to lower your cholesterol even Visit lower cholesterol naturally

As soon as I graduated from high school many years ago, I joined the Marines. One weekend, while on liberty, I was hit by a car. Apparently, the normal procedure was traction, and I spent nine weeks enduring pain that got worse with every passing day and night.

I was given two choices: one, to have my spine fused. The other, to be discharged without any compensation from the government. I asked what would happen if I got my spine fused and was told that I would be discharged anyway but get some government compensation. Both discharges would be honorable with the main difference being, if I didn't follow another person's authority, I'd be on my own. A driver running a stop sign and crashing into me in a crosswalk, while I was on liberty, wasn't the government's fault. I chose the “be on my own” option.

While in the hospital, I'd been told I wouldn't be able to do any strenuous exercise or lift anything heavy; indefinitely, if ever. After my discharge, I followed those guidelines and continued to get worse. A high school friend, whom I hadn't seen for three or four years, who'd been an Army medic stopped by one day. We used to hunt, hike and fish together and he was stunned at my poor health. He asked what I was doing, what treatment I was following, and I related to him what I'd been told. He immediately said, “Don't do that!” He knew I'd been involved with martial arts during our last year in high school and asked if I still was. I told him no, because of what the doctors had told me. He recommended that I start an easy exercise and stretching program and maybe martial arts would still be in my future. The possibility of getting back into martial arts, which I eventually did for forty years, and being able to do the other outdoor things I loved without being in constant pain, were my driving forces. The Internet was about thirty-five years from being an everyday reality, so I went to the library and began reading.

I started very easy, because hard was not even a possibility. After a few months of very selective exercise, I was able to begin stepping up the program a little. A girl I'd met while in the service and I planned to get married and my old car needed some work. I was replacing the differential when the car fell on me, pinning my nose to the cement floor between my knees for about 45 minutes. Needless to say, I was back to square one. (The car falling episode gave me a permanent left turn to my pelvis and that's still a weak point but I'm aware of it and, most of the time, take it into consideration). The marriage date was set, and with the encouragement from my progress before the falling car incident, I started my exercise program again.

At that point, things got slowly better until I was doing very well. I went into business for myself and was quite successful. Part of my business revolved around driving race cars professionally. Along with that lifestyle, and the automotive businesses I was in, my exercising and stretching programs took a back seat. I was in my late twenties and into my early thirties before the “too many hours and not enough exercise” began to catch up.

Somewhere in that timeframe, it became apparent that if I was going to be able to do the things I loved, the fly fishing, hiking, camping, getting out of bed without help and tying my own shoes, I was going to have to make some changes in my lifestyle choices. The choices were mine and not necessarily agreeable to my first wife. I was a very successful businessman and championship race car driver and those were the lifestyle choices my ex-wife preferred and we divorced. We're still friends, but we still don't make the same choices where health and wellness are concerned.

Since the late seventies my life has been one that includes healthful foods, exercise, stretching and, thanks to my present wife, Yoga.

My choices aren't necessarily the right ones for everyone. I have a high pain threshold and in the first few years, it was essential. My back was out, or extremely sore, a very large part of the time. My inner voice told me if I covered the pain with pills, I'd never know how to deal with it in a long-term fashion. I knew that I needed to be aware of what worked and what didn't. Being on pain relievers didn't give me that information. I discovered some stretches I could use to put my back into alignment but the soreness would linger for days. The stronger the muscles became, the less time my back hurt and my new incentive became being pain free.

Three times during the 80's and 90's I did some foolish things and suffered the consequences. Twice I had driven long distances and, as soon as I got out of the car and before I loosened up, I split wood for our fireplace. The third time I let my exercise program slip down the ladder of importance, and felt the hot knife of pain in my back. Maybe the saying, “the third time's the charm” has a basis in truth. After the third time of being on hands and knees, in order to get from from the ground floor to the bedroom in the upper story of our A-frame, I made it a rule to stay with my program and always get my back muscles warmed up before doing any heavy labor.

Since that time I've built our house, mostly by hand and almost entirely solo. I've been the manager of a fitness center for one of the world's 100 best spas, hiked, biked and kayaked 4000 miles over a 4 month period and run from the Arizona border, across New Mexico, to the Texas border. This past six weeks was spent completing 600' of cement perimeter wall around our property. I did the hauling by wheel barrow and the pouring over the top of the four foot high forms and my helper did the cement mixer part. My muscles were tired and I was glad when the last few feet were poured but, at 67, I thankful I can still do the work without the back pain.

I attend my wife's yoga classes and stretch after every cement session. We try to walk two to three miles every day but I put my weight bearing exercises on hold until the cement work was done. Three hours of hoisting 50# buckets over the top of four foot high forms, five days a week, was enough for me.

No one health program will work for everyone and I'm not suggesting that anyone go against their health provider's advice. I just know that listening to my inner voice has worked for me and that it has for some of my readers since I began my freelance health articles in 1982.

Above is e random extract from Associated Content, visit Associated Content for its original writer.

Above picture is a random extract from Flickr, writer of this blog do not claim ownership of this picture, visit Flickr for its owner.