TV Program

Current Episode

Living at the Peak

SERIES: Health Series #5 of 6

2007-02-11

PRODUCTION #: 1085

SPEAKERS: Shawn Boonstra, Fred Hardinge,

Today on It Is Written I have a subject that I think might surprise you for a Bible show.

Maybe you have noticed all the late night infomercials that promise to whip you into shape with less effort and less time. Today, we are going to talk to a health expert about realistic ways of getting into shape, staying in shape and how that can actually improve your relationship with God.

In the Book of Psalms there is an amazing little passage that actually talks about the craftsmanship of the human body. Listen to this, Psalm 139:14 says:

"I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well."

Now, for many of us, we look at other people and say, "That person is fearfully and wonderfully made." But when we look in the mirror, we see something completely different. There are bulges where we don't want them and things just aren't the same as they were when we were 18.

According to recent studies, obesity in North America isn't just on the rise, it's becoming an alarming pandemic. Around 65 percent of people are overweight, and 31 percent of people can be classified as obese, and that number was only 24 percent just 10 years ago. Today, three times as many children are obese as back in 1980. And the problem is that most kids who start out life heavy will most likely stay heavy for the rest of their lives. Now that presents a real problem, because we were originally made as a masterful work of art.

According to the book of Genesis, when God stepped back from his creation at the end of the week, he looked it over and said, "It is very good." And it says that we were created in the very image of God.

Today, I want to share some positive principles with you that will not only make you look better, they will make you feel better, too. I believe that if you follow the Bible's counsel for better living, you'll quickly find yourself living at the very peak of life, possibly for the rest of your life.

And to help me in our discussion today is Dr. Fred Hardinge, a specialist in the field of nutrition and health.

INTERVIEW

SHAWN: Dr. Hardinge, just great to have you on the program again today.

FRED: Oh, I'm delighted to be here.

SHAWN: You know, Dr. Hardinge, everywhere I look, from late night infomercials to advertisements in the magazines, people are offering me a million ways to get into shape. But the question I have before we even get into the subject of health and exercise, why should a Christian even care? I mean, is this a spiritual issue at all? Why should we even discuss this on It Is Written?

FRED: That's a very good question, because I believe that it really is a spiritual issue, that it has a great deal to do with our relationship with God.

SHAWN: Now, how is that? I mean, as I'm working out does that mean I could work out to some Christian music and that's how I deepen my relationship or is there more to it than that?

FRED: Well, that might be, but I think there is probably more to it than that.

SHAWN: All right.

FRED: We, as human beings, are created by God, as you said in the introduction. And we are created in His image and we are His temples. And as Christians, we relate to God through our thoughts. However, the mind is just as much a part of our bodies as is every other tissue.

SHAWN: Right, it's tied into the rest of the system.

FRED: It is. And if the rest of the system is not healthy, there is no way that the function of the brain can be healthy either.

SHAWN: So, basically, the better shape we are in, the better we are able to communicate with God, because as we know in the Bible the spirit of God speaks to our hearts, but what it really means is our minds.

FRED: Our minds.

SHAWN: Yes, and as I've been thinking about it, I think it even gets broader than that. We don't own these bodies. First Corinthians, chapter six says that Christ paid a big price for us, we don't own it. And so, just like we would take good care of a borrowed car, we should be taking good care of a borrowed body.

FRED: Absolutely. We are the stewards, not only of our money (and that's what we often think of stewardship as) but we are also the stewards of who we are.

SHAWN: Right. I have often wondered, too, if God want us to take care of our bodies, we have a lot of work to do. He has asked us to do some things and we need some good tools.

FRED: Absolutely.

SHAWN: Now listen, I think that much of the problem, at least as I have been hearing it, has something to do with the sedentary lifestyles that we have moved into. We have moved away from the industrial society, to a large degree, into an information society, a technological society. So, we spend a lot of time sitting on our chairs. And so what percentage of deaths in America can be attributed to this level of inactivity? How big is this problem?

FRED: It's a huge problem. About 12 percent of deaths in the United States can be attributed to the lack of regular exercise.

SHAWN: You are kidding. That's more than 1 in 10 people dying because they didn't exercise.

FRED: That's correct.

SHAWN: That's awful. The cure it would seem to me for inactivity is activity.

FRED: It is to get moving.

SHAWN: Right. So, tell me in a nutshell, I mean we hear it all over the place, but I'd love to hear from somebody who has studied it, who knows it. What are the benefits of getting off my chair and going out the door?

FRED: The benefits are huge, Shawn. And we know more and more about those benefits as each years passes. The Nurses Health Study looked at 72,000 women over a period of 12 years.

SHAWN: Yes, great. Tell us a little bit about that.

FRED: It showed that those who were most active cut their risk of heart disease by 50 percent.

SHAWN: Fifty percent.

FRED: That's cut completely in half.

SHAWN: Right.

FRED: Just by being physically active.

SHAWN: What else does it do? I mean, it cuts heart disease, what else do we know?

FRED: The active women had 67 percent less breast cancer than the inactive women.

SHAWN: So there is actually a link between physical activity and breast cancer.

FRED: And perhaps prostate cancer and a few other cancers in both men and women.

SHAWN: You know, it's interesting, there may be a number of things that contribute to it, but it seems that two or three generations ago we didn't die of breast cancer and prostate cancer like we do now. And maybe it's that we are living longer, but does it have something to do with activity as well? It sure sounds like it.

FRED: Activity is an important ingredient to good health and to preventing the so-called chronic diseases.

SHAWN: What else do we know?

FRED: People who are sedentary are five times more likely to die than those who are active from any cause.

SHAWN: That's utterly unbelievable. You mean from any cause of death whatsoever, my odds are better if I'm exercising?

FRED: You are absolutely right.

SHAWN: Do you mean accidental death?

FRED: Any cause of death. All-cause mortality is what that figure is based on.

SHAWN: That is utterly amazing to me, but I suspect there is even more than that.

FRED: Well, there is. It is very interesting to look at some of the research relative to our health and physical activity. People who have high cholesterol and we all know that high cholesterol increases the risk of heart disease.

SHAWN: Absolutely, yes.

FRED: People who have high cholesterol and are physically fit have a lower risk of heart disease than those who are unfit and have low cholesterol.

SHAWN: So the exercise is actually more important. Well, they are both important, but it's a more important factor than the cholesterol level.

FRED: That's right, and this may be even more astounding. Smokers who are physically fit have a lower risk than nonsmokers who are sedentary.

SHAWN: Now you are telling me that those who exercise and smoke are doing better than those who don't smoke and sit on the couch all day.

FRED: You are absolutely right.

SHAWN: Now, I have to say, we are not condoning cigarette smoking today whatsoever.

FRED: Not one bit.

SHAWN: It's an interesting statistic. It's just that smoking is bad for you, a lack of exercise is actually worse.

FRED: People who have high blood pressure and are physically fit have lower risk than people who don't have high blood pressure but are sedentary.

SHAWN: So again, exercise is a bigger factor.

FRED: It is a much more important factor than most people will attribute it to.

SHAWN: Well, let me turn the coin over a little bit. If these things reduce our chance of disease (reduce our chance of dying younger) than we ought to, the opposite side of the coin seems to me, that diseases would be a natural outcome of our sedentary lifestyle.

FRED: They are, and at the same time, physical activity will tend to combat those diseases, to lower the incidence and risk of them. For instance, obesity, is a huge problem in America today, but then inactivity is a huge one as well. Three out of four Americans get little or no exercise whatsoever.

SHAWN: In your estimation, why? Why are we so inactive? I mean I don't remember my grandfather being inactive. Why? What's happened?

FRED: Our society and life have changed. You mentioned earlier that we have moved from an agrarian society to an information age. And what kind of exercise do you or I innately get in our career? It's not very much. We have to sit in front of computers. We have to stand a lot. We have to go to committee meetings and those kinds of things, none of which really involve exercise. Our grandparents and great-grandparents did not have to be intentional about their exercise. They got it.

SHAWN: They got it. They didn't have a thermostat on the wall that they adjusted, they had to cut wood to heat the house.

FRED: Yes, heated them twice.

SHAWN: I never thought of it like that. But absolutely, they got warm cutting the wood and then they got warm when they lit that fire in the house.

FRED: Absolutely.

SHAWN: Everything involved exercise, but now we live in a world where we don't have to.

FRED: Most things don't involve exercise. We push a button and it happens.

SHAWN: Other than obesity, what are some of the challenges we are facing because of our sedentary lifestyle? What are these health risks?

FRED: And we also get very stressed out if we can't park in the parking slot closest to the door we are going to.

SHAWN: That's true and I have to admit I'm guilty of that, too. What are the risks?

FRED: Those who are sedentary have higher risks of hypertension, high blood pressure. But when we exercise it expands those arteries, it relaxes them, and it tends to fight hypertension. As we mentioned, those who are physically fit have a significantly lower risk of heart disease, and it tends to be protective in terms of increasing the high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, the HDL cholesterol, the good cholesterol. We are not quite sure whether it lowers the bad cholesterol or not, but we do know that it does raise the good cholesterol, so it reduces the risk of heart disease.

In diabetes, exercise acts much like insulin and it helps us to accommodate the sugar that comes from the foods that we eat, compared to when we are not sedentary. For those who have pre-diabetes or mild diabetes, the most important things they can do is lose weight. And one of the most effective ways they can do that is through physical activity. And that is a real problem in our society. In fact, diabetes is growing more rapidly than any other disease in the United States today.

SHAWN: And that one type of diabetes, that adult onset, is very closely linked to lifestyle choices.

FRED: Very closely. And moderation of lifestyle in healthy ways will reduce the symptoms and there are many who seem to become asymptomatic, even after being diagnosed.

SHAWN: Now, a number of people in my family have been diagnosed with osteoporosis. How does that link to activity?

FRED: Well, osteoporosis is thinning of the bones. It's the loss of the calcium, the minerals, in the bone that makes the bones strong. Women are particularly at risk for osteoporosis. Many people don't realize that there is an exercise link with osteoporosis. There is a principle of physiology that says if you don't use it, you will lose it. We know that if you don't use a muscle it will be thin and flabby. If you don't put stress on the bones, there is no need for them to be as strong, and the body just kind of demineralizes them.

Now that isn't the whole picture, but exercise plays an important role and it plays an especially critical role in preventing osteoporosis. Because what we are seeing now, is that young women, in particular, young girls, are no longer walking to school. They are being taken to school by their parents, or they are riding the school bus, and that is the time of their lives when they need to be physically active in order to promote the strengthening of their bones. Once they reach 35 years old, those bones are going to get thinner and if they haven't maximized the potential strength in their bones they have a greater risk of osteoporosis.

SHAWN: So that cutoff point is about 35 years old.

FRED: About 35 years old.

SHAWN: That's much younger than I expected it to be.

FRED: Now, once a person has developed osteoporosis, and of course there has to be an adequate amount of calcium and vitamin D in the diet, we can't rule that out. It isn't just exercise. But you can have all the calcium and all the vitamin D you want, if you don't exercise then those bones will not reach their maximum potential density.

SHAWN: This is a real challenge for parents, because the world we live in is not the same as it was. There was a day, when we just got turned loose in town and my brothers and I would go play. We don't do that anymore because it's a scary world. And so I think many parents are parking their kids in front of the TV and the Nintendo set rather than going outside, simply because it seems to be the safest alternative, but this is a big issue.

FRED: It is a big issue and unfortunately PE is being done away with or has been done away with in so many schools, and so there is no physical culture. No physical education is taking place. So we are raising a generation, or several generations, of young people that haven't had very much physical activity and as they become adults, very few of them begin exercising.

The simple solution to what you just mentioned in terms of the children and needing to watch over and protect them, is that they go for a walk with their kids. It gets them both out, the young and the older.

SHAWN: That's something my wife and I have done when I'm not traveling. After dinner, we go for a walk as a family, and we'll go down to the playground and the kids can work themselves out on the monkey bars. And the rest of us, we've worked ourselves out just going to the park, right? Yeah, that's a great suggestion.

Let's talk about exercise itself. What are the different exercises? I mean, we hear a lot about it today. It's a big industry, the health industry, or the exercise industry, aerobic versus strength training. What are the qualities of exercise? What's important?

FRED: We need both kinds. But most of us have readily available to us some simple exercises that will go the distance in terms of helping us from a health standpoint.

The first is to remember that it is important when we exercise to do a little warm up and a little cool down.

SHAWN: I've heard that all my life. Why am I doing it?

FRED: We need to prepare the muscles and the joints, in particular, to be ready for the physical activity that is coming. The joints are lubricated with a special fluid within those joints. Especially in the morning, which is the ideal time for our vigorous exercise because it helps promote our ability to go to sleep at night. In the morning the joints tend to be a little drier, if you will, and they need a little more lubrication, and by doing some gentle movements in warm up, you stimulate the production of the fluids that lubricate the joints and there will be less joint problems. You will be less stiff and sore if you do a little stretching and cool down afterwards.

SHAWN: Like for those who live in those really cold climates, you let your car idle for a while before you drive away?

FRED: That's very similar, yes. A good analogy.

SHAWN: Now we have warmed up a little bit, what are the important things to remember?

FRED: Well, we need to remember that we want to exercise the large muscle groups of the body. So, sitting twiddling our thumbs is not really a satisfactory form of exercise. We need to get out of the chair and start moving. We have to move all of ourselves. And the simplest, safest, cheapest, most readily available form of exercise for most people is walking.

SHAWN: No fifty dollars a month, no health club to join, just a pair of sneakers. So, walking, everybody can do it, unless we suffer from a disability. We can all get up and get out.

FRED: We can. And we don't have to learn a new skill, we don't have to pay fees. It's really the cheapest and the best form of exercise. Now for those who want to jog and run, if they do it appropriately, that's fine, if their joints can handle it. But walking, as far as the health benefit, will accomplish everything that we want it to accomplish.

SHAWN: Well, how much walking does that mean? I mean, I get out of bed in the morning, I walk down the stairs for breakfast and I walk back up to brush my teeth. Is that good enough?

FRED: That's a good start.

SHAWN: Okay. Tell me how much I should be walking.

FRED: Right now, in this country, we are split between two major groups that make recommendations on exercise. One says 30 minutes or more a day. And the Institute of Medicine says 60 minutes or more a day.

SHAWN: Come on, who has 60 minutes anymore in a schedule?

FRED: The Institute of Medicine's recommendation is probably closer in terms of overall health. But 30 minutes is the minimum, and it is very beneficial in reducing risk of disease and in promoting health.

SHAWN: So, does that mean I need to block 30 minutes after breakfast?

FRED: The good news is that you don't.

SHAWN: Really?

FRED: Today, we know that if you take 15 minutes here and 15 minutes there, you will accomplish what you want in terms of health. It may not train you to run a marathon or to be competitive in some sport, but it will give you the health benefit.

SHAWN: Is 30 minutes a maintenance level or is this going to contribute to weight loss? What am I getting in my 30 minutes?

FRED: You will burn about 200 calories in that about of exercise for 30 minutes and that is approximately two miles at four miles an hour, which is a good walk, a good clip. And it will give you some cardiovascular training. But more than that it will give you the benefits that you want overall as far as health is concerned.

SHAWN: What about strength training?

FRED: Strength training is also very important. We now recognize that muscular strength, abdominal strength, grip strength, as measurements, are very effective in predicting our ability to be functional 25 years into the future.

SHAWN: Amazing. Twenty-five years.

FRED: Now, many people think they have to get a whole set of weights and gym set and so forth.

SHAWN: I don't know where I would put it and I don't know how to afford it, so what do I do?

FRED: Well, there are some simple things you can do. Just some simple weights and some simple routines that you can do in your home. My wife and I do them. We have weights that start at one pound and that go up to five pounds. So we are not talking about huge weights, but it gives us strength training. Twice a week, that's all you need to do, and you will benefit from that significantly.

SHAWN: Listen, Dr. Hardinge, if 30 minutes a day is good, then 120 minutes a day will be great and four hours of hard aerobic exercise is even better, right?

FRED: I think you are wrong on that.

SHAWN: Okay.

FRED: It might okay for some people, especially if they are professional athletes. But for the rest of us, we can overdo our exercise.

SHAWN: Really?

FRED: And like everything else, we can overeat good food, we can overdo good exercise. Something that people should remember is that if they are over 40 to 50 years old and they have been very sedentary and they are considering an exercise program, they should have it cleared with their doctor.

SHAWN: Give us a few points to help us become active for a lifetime. I want to take the best care of this machine that God gave me that I possibly can. We've only got a moment, but what are the steps we should take?

FRED: We need to choose a variety of activities that will keep us physically active.

SHAWN: Okay.

FRED: We shouldn't overdo it and become discouraged, as many people sometimes do. We need to set realistic goals and just keep working at it. We need to do activities with our spouse, with our children and with friends. That's very helpful for many people to sustain their exercise program. And for many, it is important to keep a written record (some kind of a log). It's personal accountability.

SHAWN: So we are being systematic about it.

FRED: And then think about physical activity as fun.

SHAWN: Yeah. All right. I think that's probably a big problem right there. We think of it as labor, and it really is a lot of fun.

FRED: It should be and we should keep it that way.

SHAWN: I'll tell you what, as soon as this program's over today, I'm going for a walk. You've inspired me today, Doctor.

It is no big secret that we should be exercising more. At the top of the show I talked about the verse in the book of Psalms that says we are fearfully and wonderfully made. You know, many people who have expensive foreign sports cars spend buckets of money keeping them up because they are expensive.

But the human body is far more expensive, because no matter how much money you have, you only get one model. There are no trade-ins, at least in this lifetime. And so a loving God has worked it out so that you can maximize the time you have. Even before sin, we were designed to work. Adam and Eve, the Bible says, were placed in the Garden to dress it and keep it. And that seems to imply that they didn't have a couch and a TV set to occupy their time.

So why not put your computer to sleep in a minute and get out for a little exercise? Not only is it a great way to improve your health, I think you will find that the voice of God gets a little clearer when you're out in creation, too. That is really what God is after. He wants you living at the peak, because He designed you for a good life. And when you are living at the peak it is that much easier to build a relationship with God. Can you think of any good reason today not to partner with God for a more abundant life?

Dr. Hardinge, what a delight to have you come on the program and share with us. It wasn't nearly enough time to go through everything that I would liked to have asked you, but just thank you for being with us.

The one favor I would like to ask you is that for those out there who are contemplating having a more active life, there is nothing like God's help to get us on the right path. Would you be willing to pray for those people?

FRED: I'd be happy to do that.

SHAWN: Great, let's pray.

PRAYER:
Our gracious Father in heaven, we are so thankful for the wonderful way that you have created each one of us, and indeed we are complex and beautiful machines that need maintenance. And you have made that maintenance very simple, and one of those things is exercise. I pray, Lord, that you would be with each listener who desires to become more active. Give them the strength, give them the willingness to make it a priority in their lives, and to get moving so they can become more like you, is our prayer in Jesus' name, amen.

SHAWN: Amen.

Scriptures Used in “Living at the Peak”

"I will praise you, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; marvelous are your works, and that my soul knows very well."
—Psalm 139:14