Tightrope: Business owners should make fitness a habit

— -- During lunch with my friend Marta, she told me about an article she read stating that the life span in America might actually shrink if we continue our unhealthy ways.

I told her that everywhere I look, I see health and wellness advertisements. Bookstores offer shelves upon shelves of new, health-related books and magazines, and we have dozens of fitness studios and gyms opening almost daily.

I address thousands of entrepreneurs yearly about the importance of keeping a healthy balance in life, and so far my audiences seem to agree. There will always be folks who take their good health for granted, but successful people know that without good health, success is temporary. I went on to tell Marta that from what I could see, more people are being health conscious than ever before.

She replied that awareness doesn't necessarily result in action.

"Look at us. Here we are having lunch in a health food store café, eating a healthy salad with low calorie, low sodium dressing. And if you look around us, everyone here seems to be eating the same way."

"We tend to see what we want to see," Marta responded. "Maybe you should take a closer look."

She went on to say that, according to the article, more than 20 million people are suffering from type 2 diabetes and the numbers are rising daily. More people are sick than ever before, she said.

I thought about the conversation long afterward. I decided to host a luncheon for a dozen entrepreneurs I know fairly well to discuss how they practice health and wellness. I felt such a gathering would also give me additional tips to offer readers.

My guests were between the ages of 44 and 66, and they had been in business from seven to 30 years. All seemed to be in pretty good shape.

I started by asking if they were aware of the many media messages about living a healthy lifestyle. They all agreed that they were, and that they considered health an important subject.

But I was surprised to hear all except one say they were on medication for diabetes, hypertension or high cholesterol and several were struggling to lose weight. Any of these conditions is a breeding ground for disability.

All except one believed stress was the major cause of his or her condition. The person who didn't cite stress for his hypertension blamed it on his genes.

When I asked why they didn't take a more active role in reducing stress and applying healthy habits to eliminate or prevent sickness, they all said living a healthy lifestyle takes a lot of time and attention.

One man said his first concern is earning a living for his family. He said he didn't have an hour to waste at the gym, nor did he have time to figure out what trans fats were about.

If we are going to be healthier than previous generations, we must recognize that we should make changes in our lifestyles.

If making major health and fitness improvements disrupts your schedule, make smaller, more manageable changes.

I recently started visiting the website realage.com. Take a few minutes to take the test to determine your "real age." At the end of the test you will get a report of easy changes to make in your life to promote better health.

In the meantime, if you have easy methods or tips to improve health and fitness to keep your life balance in check, feel free to share them with us. There is no asset more valuable than your health.

Gladys Edmunds' Entrepreneurial Tightrope column appears Wednesdays. As a single, teen-age mom, Gladys made money doing laundry, cooking dinners for taxi drivers and selling fire extinguishers and Bibles door-to-door. Today, Edmunds, founder of Edmunds Travel Consultants in Pittsburgh, is a private coach/consultant in business development and author of There's No Business Like Your Own Business, published by Viking. See an index of Edmunds' columns. Her website is www.gladysedmunds.com. You can e-mail her at gladys@gladysedmunds.com.