Category Archives: Exercise

Looking for a Quick Fix

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Observations of Human Nature

There is a process of discipline required for spiritual warfare and spiritual transformation as described in Ephesians 6:10-20, 2 Corinthians 10:3-6, 2 Corinthians 3:18 and many other scriptures.

Our human nature is impatient with a slow process. We crave instant easy solutions. What if a touch of power from an anointed man will fix all my problems! A little prick will keep my child healthy. A prayer, a touch, and everything can be changed in a moment!

We don’t want to acknowledge our own weakness and contribution to our current circumstance. We don’t want to spend time developing spiritual muscles through prayer, reading and memorizing God’s word. We don’t want to take total responsibility for our health and our lifestyle choices.

We want an easy route. We want a relatively pain-free option. Instant healing.

Discipleship takes time. Maturity takes time. Resorting health is not instant. A daily connection with our holy God through His word – which is accessed and illuminated only through faith in our Lord Jesus Christ will lead us to truth, abundant life, and blessing on our family.

The original disciples spent three years in the daily presence of Jesus, yet they still lacked understanding. How can we expect a faster route? Jesus told the man he had instantly healed – stop sinning. Our problem is our sin. Our tendency to go our own way, respond to our natural urges, seek quick easy answers, and put ourselves first, rather than reflect on the character of God and seek His refinement of our heart.

Our human nature makes us vulnerable to those who offer easy answers. We succumb to a sales pitch for vaccines, statin drugs, knee replacements, psych drugs, etc. These seem to offer a simple solution and are easier than discipline, exercise, healthy food, and positive life-style choices. Natural birth, breastfeeding, and responsive parenting rather than day care or a nanny, seem too difficult. Cultivating listening to the Spirit of God seems like an unattainable goal.

We crave power. We want to see power and victory in our life. The power we need is the power over sin. Jesus promised the Holy Spirit would give us power to be witnesses to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. This power must first be exercised on our own hearts.

Leaders must be careful not to bend to the desires of the people. People want a touch and a quick solution. Leaders feel pressured to provide it.

Colossians 2:23 makes it clear that true maturity does not come through following a lot of rules. “Such regulations indeed have an appearance of wisdom, with their self-imposed worship, their false humility and their harsh treatment of the body, but they lack any value in restraining sensual indulgence.” The root of our dilemma is sensual indulgence. How do we overcome that? The very next two verses are key, Colossians 3:1-2 “Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is, seated at the right hand of God. Set you minds on things above, not on early things. For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God.”

Our challenge as leaders (and as parents) is to guide those we are responsible for into an understanding of how to overcome and restrain from sensual indulgence; fleshly indulgence, satisfying the flesh. We have to grow to maturity ourselves, and lead others to maturity by modeling the behavior.

“Therefore with minds that are alert and fully sober set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed. As obedient children, do not conform to the evil desires you had when you lived in ignorance. But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do. As it is written, ‘Be holy for I am holy.’” 2 Peter 1:13-16.

“We put no stumbling block (obstacle) in anyone’s way so that our ministry will not be discredited. Rather, as servants of God we commend ourselves in every way…in purity, knowledge, patience, kindness; in the Holy Spirit and in sincere love; in truthful speech and in the power of God; with weapons of righteousness in the right hand and in the left;” 2 Corinthians 6:3-7.

The entire chapter of 2 Corinthians 6 is extremely instructive. God grants righteousness. This is described in Ephesians 6. The breastplate of righteousness is one of the weapons we require for spiritual warfare. Righteousness is produced over time as we allow the Holy Spirit to guide and control our thoughts and actions.

We need to encourage those we lead that they are God’s temple. God wants to do His work in them. God is able to nourish and protect His temple. They need to honor and protect the temple God has provided for them, not to poison it and expect a good outcome.

Looking for an easy quick solution usually backfires.

Becky Hastings collects information on health and tries her best to discover and share truth. By God’s grace, through Jesus Christ, I was saved, blessed with a husband of over 40 years, and five precious babies all grown up. I now get to delight as ten grandchildren grow! Together we can help each other discover a healthy path in this crazy upside down world.

Do Meds Cure Depression and Anxiety?

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“There is no valid evidence for the chemical imbalance theory of any mental illness.” Dr Kelly Brogan

WARNING. If you are currently taking any psychiatric medication withdrawal can be tricky and should be tapered gradually with careful clinical supervision and a support network. Peter Breggin addresses this topic extensively.[1] 

Joanna Moncrieff recently published an umbrella review of tens of thousands of subjects that failed to demonstrate that serotonin has anything to do with mood.[2]

On top of that industry, plays a dirty game…They can hide and manipulate data to gain approval for drugs.

Check out this:

Almost every single one of the positive studies are published. Only a fraction of the negative studies are published. The majority of negative studies are hidden, others are skewed as positive.

This is one of the many ways that we are led to believe – especially through direct to consumer advertising of prescription meds (DTC advertising is only permitted in 2 countries in the world) – that these medications actually work. Guess which country has the highest consumption of prescription drugs?

In 2006 a very important review was published called “Do Antidepressants Cure or Create Abnormal Brain States?” The findings? “No evidence shows that antidepressants or any other drugs produce long-term elevation of mood or other effects that are particularly useful in treating depression.” [3]

AKA: There is no valid evidence for the chemical imbalance theory of any so-called mental illness.

Can you release anxiety and reclaim your health without the meds?

“It is a basic principle of pharmacotherapy that all drugs have beneficial and harmful effects.”[4]

“Unfortunately, in the balance between benefits and risks, it is an uncomfortable truth that most drugs do not work in most patients.”[4]

There has never been a human study that successfully links low serotonin levels and depression.

Joanna Moncrieff just came out with a very important review, summarizing a lot of this data, looking at: more analysis, cerebrospinal fluid, blood analysis, genetic markers.[2]

The findings?

There is no valid evidence for the chemical imbalance theory of any so-called mental illness. So if your brain sin’t broken, then what’s the problem?

Get to the root cause, and change your story, in a matter of weeks. Oh, and exercise could be one of the best treatments for depression, anxiety and distress. [5]

Becky Hastings collects information on health and tries her best to discover and share truth. By God’s grace, through Jesus Christ, I was saved, blessed with a husband of over 40 years, and five precious babies all grown up. I now get to delight as ten grandchildren grow! Together we can help each other discover a healthy path in this crazy upside down world.

1. Are all psychiatric drugs too unsafe to take? “Whenever possible, psychiatric drugs should be tapered and withdrawn either as an inpatient or as an outpatient with careful clinical supervision and a support network as described in Psychiatric Drug Withdrawal. Keep in mind that it is not only dangerous to take psychiatric drugs — it can be dangerous to withdraw from them. The safest solution is to avoid starting psychiatric drugs! It is time for a return to psychological, social and educational approaches to emotional suffering and impairment.” https://psych.breggin.com/are-all-psychiatric-drugs-too-unsafe-to-take/

2. The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence.: Moncrieff J, Cooper RE, Stockmann T, Amendola S, Hengartner MP, Horowitz MA. The serotonin theory of depression: a systematic umbrella review of the evidence. Mol Psychiatry. 2022 Jul 20. doi: 10.1038/s41380-022-01661-0. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 35854107. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35854107/

3. Do Antidepressants Cure or Create Abnormal Brain States?

Moncrieff J, Cohen D (2006) Do Antidepressants Cure or Create Abnormal Brain States?. PLOS Medicine 3(7): e240. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pmed.0030240

4. Balancing Benefits and Harms. Godlee F. Balancing benefits and harms BMJ 2013; 346 :f3666 doi:10.1136/bmj.f3666 https://www.bmj.com/content/346/bmj.f3666

5. Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: an overview of systematic reviews. Singh B, Olds T, Curtis R, et al. Effectiveness of physical activity interventions for improving depression, anxiety and distress: an overview of systematic reviews. British Journal of Sports Medicine Published Online First: 16 February 2023. doi: 10.1136/bjsports-2022-106195 https://bjsm.bmj.com/content/early/2023/03/02/bjsports-2022-106195

4 Minute Boost

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Give yourself a gift for Christmas: make a commitment to do something quick, easy, fun and VERY BENEFICIAL for yourself ALL YEAR LONG!

Introducing the 4 minute nitric oxide boost exercise workout: 4 exercises, performed with precision 10 times each in sequence, repeat the sequence 3 times, while breathing through your nose. Over time you can increase the pace and increase the number of reps. I’ve been doing this for several years and now do 20 reps repeated 4 times – but I didn’t start there.

This workout is HIIT (high intensity interval training) and provides many benefits. Make this simple routine a priority in your morning and notice that you have increased energy, greater mental clarity, improved immune protection, and muscle toning. I believe you may even experience more positive food choices, better self-control, and better sleep. HIIT workouts can help stimulate the body’s production of hormones like HGH that can help you lose fat and build lean muscle. You can do this workout anywhere (I’ve done it in airports, while pumping gas, and while waiting outside stores for more avid shoppers!). For increased benefits, repeat multiple times throughout the day. Your body will thank you!

If you are new to exercise you can start with five reps of each exercise and repeat 3 times, gradually increasing. In this short video Dr Zach Bush introduces each exercise demonstrating correct movements.

If you want the background information about WHY this is such an effective workout and WHAT the body does during this time, watch Dr Zach Bush explain in the following 2 miniute video.

The following video describes the same routine with some modifications especially for women of all ages.

I’d love to hear about how you incorporate this exercise in your schedule!

Becky Hastings collects information on health and tries her best to discover and share truth. By God’s grace, through Jesus Christ, I was saved, blessed with a husband of 41 years, and five precious babies all grown up. I now get to delight as nine grandchildren grow! Together we can help each other discover a healthy path in this crazy upside down world. Please subscribe (below) so you don’t miss any future blogs!

30 Day Challenge

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4 workouts that replace 1 hour in the gym. A picture showing decreasing body size visually.

Are you ready to be better?

Will you commit 4 minutes a day for 30 days to a better you?

Do you have 4 minutes 6 days a week?

Will you replace your excuses with action?

This video outlines 5 simple exercises that you can do in 4 minutes. It’s claimed that this 4 minute workout will replace one hour in the gym! The key is to do them! Take it slow. Increase speed and repetitions ONLY as you are able. Determine to finish this 30 Day Challenge and meet the new YOU on the other side!

Some people like to weigh themselves, take ‘before photos’ or take measurements. If you want to do that, go ahead. However, one of the easiest measurements to notice is how your clothes fit and feel. After your first 30 days you will be seeing so much progress you will want to repeat it – and maybe add a few changes to your eating plan.

Remember to drink water every day to help your body ‘wash out’ and flush out the toxins. Let me know how your Waist disappears!

There are many benefits to a daily 4 minute exercise plan. I can’t wait for you to experience them!

Becky Hastings, avid follower of Jesus Christ, wife, mother, grandmother, health seeker, reporter, Biblical Counselor.