How to be Safe From Corona : Connecticut Valley Seventh-day Adventist Church South Windsor CT

Corona has brought terror on us all. How do we occupy our time during quarantine? How do we fight the virus if we get it and there's no cure?

Thankfully we can be better prepared to fight Corona - and any disease - using these NEW START principles.

Ready to learn more? Let's dive in!

Nutrition

Finding motivation to cook and deciding what to cook is hard enough, much less ensuring the contents are healthy. In general, whole grains, vegetables, fruit, legumes, and nuts are the most nutritious foods around. Incorporating these five foods daily will help give you good health. Try to avoid or minimize consumption of foods like table sugar, white bread and white rice, candy cereals, very salty foods like pickles and meat products, and fried foods.

Remember, breakfast should be your largest meal of the day and supper your smallest, so remind yourself not to skip breakfast!

Exercise

Exercise is a great way to destress, control weight, fight osteoporosis, reduce the risk for pregnancy complications, improve posture, and fight cancer. Exercise enables you to have a healthy body by increasing blood circulation, increasing air circulation so breathing is easier and muscles are toned, and allowing the body to get rid of toxic wastes easier. Remember to start slowly, exercise before eating, and give time for warm up and cool down.

Walking for 30-40 minutes before you eat and about three times a week is the best form of exercise. Swimming, cycling, gardening, and yard work are also awesome exercise activities!

Water

Water enables smooth blood flow, clear thinking, helps with weight loss, and keeps your kidneys healthy. If you are thirsty, you are already beginning to get dehydrated. Avoid caffeine and soda as they cause high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and mood swings.

A good rule of thumb for how much water to drink is provided by the following equation:

Your body weight ~ divided in half ~ in ounces

So if I am 150 lbs, and I divided that in half, it's 75. So I need to drink 75 ounces or 4 1/2 standard sized bottles of water every day. If I am sweating a lot, like during the summer or when working outside, I need to drink more water.

Sunshine

A proper amount of sunshine results in a strong immune system, strong bones, and a sense of well-being. those suffering from heart disease, hypertension, and arthritis can find many benefits by spending time in the sun. Sunshine also fights against melanoma, breast cancer, and many other types of cancer through the production of Vitamin D. However, be careful to not burn under the sun as this reverses the effects of proper sunlight.

Every morning, let the bedsheets soak in the sunshine for a bit before making the bed.

Temperance

Balance is necessary in all aspects of our life to truly live a healthy lifestyle. We all have addictions, and these are what we must fight against to have temperance in our life. Alcohol, coffee, caffeine, and drugs are detrimental to our health because they result in addictions.

On a spiritual level, we are all addicted to sin - or thinking, feeling, and doing harmful things to ourselves and others. We must daily commit ourselves (including our thoughts and emotions) to God in order to have victory over sin.

Temperance means abstaining from what is bad and using good things in moderation.

Air

Fresh air is vital to our health and especially to those who are sick.

Air pollution is a cause for colds, headaches, asthma, and other respiratory problems. Many are familiar with the air pollution problems such as car exhaust and factory smoke. However, there are many indoor contributors that you can regulate to control air pollution. Smoking, the use of gas stoves or kerosene space heaters, animal dander, pollen, and some household products and paints/glues containing formaldehyde pollute the air unless there is good air circulation in the house.

In the summer, crack the windows while you're sleeping and the air con is off to get some air circulation. In the winter, pause the heat to open the windows in the middle of the day when it's relatively warm, to get some air circulation.

Rest

The best sleep occurs at a set time every night (at least two hours before midnight), in a totally dark room, on an empty stomach (without caffeine), and having done active exercise earlier in the day. Lack of sleep makes it harder to concentrate, and increases your risk for disease.

Look at the standard hours of sleep needed for each age group, and compare your sleep schedule to it. How can you improve?

Infants need 12-17 hours of sleep.
Young children need 9-14 hours of sleep.
Teenagers need 8-10 hours of sleep.
Adults need 7-9 hours of sleep.
Older adults need 7-8 hours of sleep.

Trust in God

Trusting in God gives us the power we need to implement these principles in our life and to live a life that is pleasing to Him.

Contemplate this passage from God's love letter to you:

"...Do not worry about your life, what you will eat; nor about the body, what you will put on. Life is more than food, and the body is more than clothing. Consider the ravens, for they neither sow nor reap, which have neither storehouse nor barn; and God feeds them. Of how much more value are you than the birds? And which of you by worrying can add one cubit to his stature? If you then are not able to do the least, why [d]are you anxious for the rest? ...But seek first the kingdom of God, and all these things shall be added to you." Luke 12:22-26, 31

Trusting that God is in control, that He knows the beautiful future that is coming, and that He cares for you and will provide for all your needs is the most wonderful feeling and outlook on life! Trusting in God brings peace and happiness to your life and to others' lives.