My Positive Health
More than 50% of Dutch adults are overweight. Do you think that being overweight is a matter of “every pound goes through the mouth”? so “your own fault, thick bump”? With these types of provocative questions General Practitioner Jacqui van Kemenade (from the Netherlands) knows how to get her audience thinking. Her general practice is based on the philosophy of My Positive Health, because with this you increase your resistance and hopefully grow old healthily. According to the philosophy of My Positive Health there are five pillars of a healthy lifestyle: environment, sleep, relaxation, exercise and food and drink. You can only achieve sustainable health with a healthy lifestyle. The good news is that you can exert a lot of influence on this yourself. But all good things come slowly, including a good lifestyle.
A few great topics from Jacqui van Kemenade’s presentation include “Prevention of a lifestyle-related disease is healing before you get sick” and “Prevention is cure”. There Netflix series called “Live to 100 Secrets of the Blue Zones” about unique communities where people live extraordinarily long and colourful lives. It matters not how long we live, but how. Sitting is the new smoking. Rest rust! April is the Move More Month. Muscles, use it or lose it.
The three scientists Malhotra, Noakes and Phinney once said: “It’s time to bust the myth of physical activity and obesity. You cannot outrun a bad diet.” And Shakespeare wrote: “Our bodies are our gardens, our wills are our gardeners.” Eat real and fresh food but not too much. Especially plants. Some people say “It is a long time between drinks”. But long ago Garibaldi taught us “Bacchus has drowned more men than Neptune.” We all know “Temperate in all things”. Instead of using medicine in the future, fast today (Plutarch 46-120 AD). An underexposed aspect of health is a good night’s sleep. Shakespeare knew about this 400 years ago, “O sleep, O gentle sleep. Nature’s soft nurse”.
A saying that applies in many cases is “Think big, act small.” If you apply it to your own health you will usually find something you can improve on. The spider web of My Positive Health is a useful tool for adults and also for children (from 8 to 16 years old) and for young people (from 16 to 25 years old).
My Positive Health is a very practical approach to making a difference. As a hospital teacher, you can sometimes help a student with medical or mental health needs by using My Positive Health. Also everyone can use it for themselves and thus remain sustainably employable at work. Finally something taken from life. Once heard during a visit when presented with a large bowl of very tempting unhealthy cookies “No thank you, that cookie has been in my mouth for minutes, in my stomach for hours and on my hips for years.”
Jan Haverkate
(President of HOPE)
Email address: president@hospitalteachers.eu
