In this episode of the Coach’s Corner, I cover several topics. We start out with a bit of a rant on COVID vaccinations and our chronic health crisis, and then I talk about my vegan journey and some of the lessons I learned from that period in my life. I then give an update on how things are going with my client Broc – he’s recently experienced some setbacks and is now moving past those and recommitting to getting in the best shape of his life. I follow that up with a book review – this week I review a book titled Starting Strength : Basic Barbell Training by Mark Rippetoe, and then finish up with my key take-aways from some of my recent podcast interviews. Below are the time stamps for each segment in case you want to jump ahead to one of these topics.
2:03 – COVID Vaccinations & Our Health Crisis
13:19 – My Vegan Journey & Lessons Learned
22:22 – Boc Update 2:18
25:37 – Book Review 29:28
27:22 – Podcast Recap 32:33
In this episode we discussed the following resources:
Midlife Mastery Instagram – @midlifemasterypodcast
Click HERE for transcript.
Lots of great information in this podcast on COVID. 2/3 of my adult kids are non/vac as are my hubby and I. Some have gotten the virus and recovered relatively quickly. That leaves one of our kids and his family who have recently told us he won’t come around the family until we are vaccinated. Sadly that means we won’t see our son or his 2 sons for his birthday, Christmas, etc. I’m in a Jiu gym at least two to three times a week. No social distancing there, and yet I’ve remained virus free. Okay, I’ll stop complaining. I’ve made my choice snd he made his.
Yeah, I’m in a similar boat. My parents – who are definitely at risk – are vaccinated and I’m not sure how that’s going to play out when it comes to family visits this holiday season. These are such crazy times!!!
I almost didn’t listen to this episode because I didn’t want to hear another rant one way or the other about Covid but I’m glad I did. What you had to say was spot on and I applaud you for that.
Dave – thanks, my goal with this rant was mainly to help shine a light on the fact that we should be focused on trying to be healthier humans overall, and that we need to shine more light (e.g. education) on health and wellness.
While I applaud you for not taking a hard stance for or against the vaccine in your comments, (I am vaccinated and I’m not a liberal or a Democrat to set that record straight), I take issue with you comparing the scenario of requiring people to be masked or vaccinated to enter certain places, to that of not making a similar type requirement of people who are eating crappy and not exercising. Clearly, the latter is not physically contagious. Many establishments have not allowed smoking indoors for years now, and when a choice someone else makes for their health can also affect mine, then my freedom has been infringed and boundaries have to be drawn. Restaurants have mostly gone from having smoking sections to not allowing smoking at all and requiring diners to go outside to do that. As someone who can’t tolerate cigarette smoke, I appreciate it. However, if someone in that same restaurant chooses to eat a meal with 3,000 mg of sodium, 96 grams of fat and wash it down with a Pepsi, it has no bearing on my health or wellbeing, although their eventual poor health may have a bearing on everyone’s insurance premiums eventually!!!
My husband, a healthy man with no comorbidities and a very healthy lifestyle, contracted COVID in October 2020. While at first it seemed mild, on day 6 it took a dramatic turn and he ended up in the hospital for 5 days on oxygen with COVID pneumonia. He was fortunate enough to receive the blood platelets with antibodies from others who had COVID as well as Remdisivr and other treatments. I am so thankful he recovered and isn’t experiencing any lingering effects. I’m sure his overall good health played a large part in why he was able to recover so well, however it didn’t keep him from getting seriously ill. I also live a healthy lifestyle and I thankfully did not ever get it due to several precautions we took once he got sick, within our home. He was also diligent about wearing a mask at work and thankfully none of his employees got it from him because HIS mask protected THEM (as he did not require his staff of 10 to wear masks and half of them did not). However, our experience shows that healthy people CAN contract this disease and become dangerously ill. It is for this reason that our adult children, their spouses, my elderly mother and my husband and I got the vaccine as soon as we were able. All of us have been fully vaccinated since late March and we don’t regret it, nor do we worry about the vaccine’s safety as we have done our due diligence in researching it ourselves. I am thankful I was protected from Polio and Smallpox as a child and am thankful my children have been protected from those plus Measles, Mumps, and Rubella and other diseases with the vaccines they took as children. Of course, be smart and research anything regarding your health and your children’s; but I don’t let fear guide my opinions but rather I rely on verified science, conversations with my licensed health care providers, and my own intelligence and common sense to make decisions for my health. Thank you for the opportunity to leave a comment.
Ann – first of all I’m sorry to hear that your husband had a severe bout of COVID, but am happy to hear that he has recovered. Secondly, thanks so much for taking the time to comment… you bring up several very good points. Of course it is ridiculous to compare COVID to lifestyle diseases, as one is horrifically communicable and the other is not. And I personally know someone who I would consider to be very fit and healthy who ended up in the hospital for several days with COVID. But thankfully (at this point at least) that seems to be the exception rather than the rule. The point I was trying to make (probably poorly) is that this seems to be the PERFECT time for us to collectively have some serious conversations about lifestyle choices and how they affect our health and immune systems. While exercising regularly, eating well, and managing stress won’t necessarily protect you from COVID, it absolutely will reduce your overall risk of mortality, enhance your quality of life, and give you a better chance at recovering from illnesses and injuries. Thanks again for your thoughtful comments, and stay safe and stay strong! 🙂