HealthyU

An Online School for Healthy Living

I have an idea to combine this blog with my experience designing and developing online courses. Writing about healthy living without providing a means for others to deeply explore how they can make changes to also lead a healthy life is very limiting. Even though a blog is meant to be a conversation, in reality, it seems more like a soapbox, with an occasional passer-by shouting out either words of support and encouragement, or something much less positive. It is much less interactive than what an ideal teaching and learning site could be. 

So, instead of just a blog, I think adding a few online courses would make the site more educational in value. A four-week course on nutrition could help people really pay more attention than just reading a few articles on the web. They would be much more engaged, they could have expert interaction, and their buy-in could be stronger if they were in an online class with others who are seeking the same information, resources, and experiences. 

The courses would have to be taught by experts. It wouldn’t be an effective learning experience if I taught the courses unless I was teaching an introductory course on how to be a successful online student, how to use the tools/resources within a course, what the expectations are from the faculty and for the student, the purpose of the site, etc. These areas would lend themselves to my expertise. Mostly, though, for a site on healthy living, it would definitely need health and wellness professionals as the subject matter experts, as the advisory board, and as the instructors. They would be driving the curriculum, but more important, helping people make the kinds of changes in their lives that they want to make to lead a healthier, and hopefully, happier life. 

I think that an online school for healthy living is more important and appropriate now than at any time before because the technology now is much better than before and because people want and need to change their unhealthy habits. It’s not for lack of want that they don’t change. It’s more about accessing the information AND doing the things that need to help them make that change. 

With an interactive learning experience that leverages the accessibility of web-based resources, coupled with the power of interaction, communication, and community building on the web, we now have the ability to make those changes in a supportive, non-intrusive manner. People could access this experience right from the comfort of their home or office, in alignment with their current life’s demands like work, home, childcare, eldercare, or other responsibilities. 

It seems like a win-win situation. However, the realities of putting together any new online endeavor, especially an online school, is challenging. Not impossible. Just very challenging. Look to this blog for more information about how I decide to progress further on this idea.

An Unhealthy Presentation

Eating Healthy and Stress Management

Very recently, during my lunch hour, our office hosted a presentation titled “Eating Healthy and Stress Management”. The presentation was supposed to be about how to eat healthier and how to manage stress, two of the biggest influences to leading a healthier life.

What it turned out to be was a way for a chiropractor to get a bunch of potential clients in a room and teach them nothing that they don’t already know. I thought I was going to learn something new and different about how to eat better. Instead, I got someone who didn’t know how to run a slideshow on his own computer, who spent most of the presentation reading the words on the slides, and who decided to cut the healthy eating part short because he decided it was more important to talk about stress management. Most of what I remember about his presentation was that he kept telling the participants, after reading each slide, “but you already know that”.

What a waste of time. If you are going to read a large number of presentation slides, then comment to your participants that they already know the stuff, why would you require them to sit passively in a room listening to you?

The worst part was that he had an assistant, dressed like a nurse, handing out brochures with titles like “Lower Back Pain”, “Stress”, “Sciatica”, “Headaches”, etc. Each brochure had an illustration of someone in real pain, and inside, more marketing language about what a chiropractor can do for you. The brochures were so painful that I got a headache just reading them.

The nursing assistant also wanted us to fill out a health evaluation form to be returned to them at the end of the presentation. It is probably not a good idea to give a perfect stranger your personal health history including an assessment of how you currently feel. It’s a matter of privacy more than anything else.

After about 15 minutes of hearing repeatedly that he’s been a chiropractor for 13 years, I finally had to get up and walk out. The stress management meeting was stressing me out. I decided it was better to head straight for the gym and work out all that stress.

I think the clincher for me was that this health professional was trying to teach how important good nutrition and managing stress was for living, yet it was readily apparent, with his belly hanging out over his belt, that he was at least 40 pounds overweight. It’s pretty difficult to try and convince others about an idea or topic when you, as the teacher, can’t model your own practices. It’s somewhat hypocritical.

I didn’t learn much more about eating healthier, but I did manage to learn more about how to make a better presentation.

Writing A Healthy Blog

Healthy Blogging….Lessons Learned from TechCrunch

Well, tomorrow has come and gone for almost a month since my last posting. I now realize two things: First, it takes a lot of discipline and time to write a blog. It’s not something that you just throw up in a matter of moments. (At least, that’s the approach I want to take because I want to put some thought into my posts.) Second, I need to write shorter posts. Looking back at my initial posts, it appears that I’m writing an essay, and that’s not necessarily a key to success in writing a blog. A blog needs to communicate directly and succinctly. Doing so requires much more skill and practice than what may appear. In other words, good bloggers make it seem easy.

I look back on some of the blogs that I’ve read recently in support of this project. I think the people at TechCrunch, including Michael Arrington and Erick Schonfeld, are very good at writing a successful blogpost.  The writers at TechCrunch write informative articles that inspire readers to interact with them. They cover most of the subject in less than a page. They can be controversial in a logical, well-thought out manner. And in doing so, they invite readers to think critically about what they’ve written.

A healthy lifestyle is one that balances many different factors. A healthy blog is one that balances form, substance, and style. Look to see more of my postings that are shorter, more informative, and hopefully, get you, the reader, to think a little deeper about creating and nurturing a sustainable, healthy life.

Healthy Blogging

Am I Healthy?

Last week, I went to our employee benefits fair to see about what new kinds of services and benefits are available this year. Usually, there aren’t too many new things available. This time, however, over in one corner, there was a poster demonstration by the Nutrition Education Action Team. NEAT is a campus student organization that promotes good nutrition so that the campus community can lead a more healthy lifestyle.

I was a little curious because now that I’m writing this blog, I want to learn as much as I can about those things that promote a healthy life. There’s no doubt that nutrition is important, so I decided to ask a few questions and look at what they have to share.

Up on the poster board, I remember seeing a chart that showed something about a person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) and a scale that at one end represented a healthy person, and on the other end, marked when someone was obese. On the table in front of the board, there were a few handouts. One handout described what foods a person could eat on campus that are healthy and nutritious. Another handout described NEAT and some of the goals the organization hoped to attain, including allowing more vendors on campus that provided healthy alternatives to the current fast food establishments on our campus.

After a few minutes of just staring at the posterboard, I decided to start talking to the young woman who was running the booth. Irene Franklin, a graduate student who is a member of NEAT, talked to me about the importance of good nutrition and what NEAT is doing on campus to help both faculty, students, and staff.

I can’t even remember everything that she told me because I was only interested in learning more about the BMI chart and a little handheld device that she had sitting on the table. I guess she read my mind because she then asked me if I wanted to take a test to measure my body fat.

Ouch! Now, I know I’m a little overweight, but I’m working on it with daily exercise, some nutritious meals, and resting properly. Still, did I really want to know how much body fat I was packing? I mean, I look in that mirror each day, and I know I could lose a few pounds. Why would I want to subject myself to a body fat test, especially in public? What kind of person would subject themselves to such masochistic tendencies?

Well, I guess its’ because I’m committed to this entire idea of living a healthy life. And if that means I have to be a little uncomfortable with the truth, well, then, it’s something I’ve just got to do.

To get started, she asked me what I weighed and how tall I was. I could have lied right there, but everyone knows that I’m under six feet. And heck, I could fudge on the weight, but then again, what would the purpose be. I would just be lying to myself, and then how would I establish any sort of baseline as to what I need to do next?

So, I told her I was 6 feet and weighed 150 lbs. Nah, just kidding. I told her my real weight and height (you’ll have to guess that later). She plugged that information into a handheld device. I mean that literally because soon after, I grabbed both handles with my hands, she turned it on, and voila, in no time at all, I was being measured for I can’t remember what.

And what were my results ---

You'll soon hear more in another posting.

Healthy Living Begins Today

Welcome to Healthy Living

This is a collection of thoughts and ideas for promoting and supporting a more healthy lifestyle. Living a healthy life is something that we all should strive for. Not only will it help us to feel better, but by extension, we can influence others to feel good about themselves, as well.

Healthy Living will explore a variety of approaches for overcoming those obstacles that prevent you from having a rich, fulfilled life. We'll look at both traditional and alternative forms of medicine. We'll explore how we can eat better, exercise more, and cultivate a healthy mind.

And since Healthy Living is a blog by yours truly, I look to participate as fully and completely as I possibly can. For it does no good to share these ideas if I don't practice them myself. So, whenever I can, look for me to try something new, improve my eating habits, try a different exercise routine, or explore my healthy self.

Thanks for taking the time to read my posts. I welcome your feedback. I hope that this is a journey we can all share.

Here's to a healthy you!

Corey