Emphasizing preventative health
Zooey Byram wants you to eat healthy. Byram is the “health commander,” author of “Stop! Take Command Of Your Health” and she means business.
After receiving a bachelor’s degree, Byram started her own private nutrition consultation business in 1984. She felt that people were “confused” about what vitamins to take, what to eat and what not to eat. She decided to create a custom design multivitamin herself and started a health newsletter to help people get a better understanding of food.
Her book, “Stop! Take Command of Your Health,” which she completed this year, is easy-to-read information divided into three parts. The first section is dedicated to “Taking better care of yourself” followed by “How do you chose a multivitamin” and ending with chapters on “What foods are healthy and which ones only sound healthy.”
In a world of fast-food and television advertising geared to the appetite, Byram feels that people need to get into “preventative health.” Eating right at the beginning of your life is important to a healthy future. The book presents information in simple to understand terms. She talked about suggestions to your family. Instead of using the words “you need to get out and exercise,” she prefers to say “let’s do some activities.” “Make healthy living fun” she added. The book idea came after she handed out questionnaires at her gym, then compiled the answers to the questions people were asking and issues that they had in their lives.
Growing up in California, Byram’s family friend, actor and comedian Danny Kaye, gave her some inspiration. She remembers sitting at the dinner table with Kaye laughing, and how he relayed information as a story. Sitting at the dinner table today and exchanging information about each family member is one of the most important things missing in our family life, she feels.
And the health of children is a big concern of Byram. “We don’t take the time as a family to sit down at the dinner table and make meals fun,” she said. With both parents working, it can sometimes be hard to take the time to pay close attention to a healthy lifestyle.
“Children need to know that they can eat healthy,” she said. It all begins with parents setting an example and making it enjoyable.
Byram has a message about the future life expectancy and health of children. “This is the first generation that might not outlive their parents,” she said.
In “Stop! Take Command Of Your Health,” she writes that, “Walking is the easiest, safest and cheapest form of exercise.” Walking, she concludes, not only helps our emotional well-being but is helpful in reducing symptoms of depression.
Depression, she writes, is linked to food. Lifestyle habits such as skipping meals, poor appetite and a desire for sweets, can add to this condition. Extremely low carbohydrate diets, as good as they might be, can also cause feelings of depression. Byram writes that it is brain chemicals that promote well-being. Food with protein, complex carbohydrates, vegetables and fruits are more likely to supply a moderate, but lasting effect on brain chemistry, mood and energy level.
The book addresses not only food and exercise, but also how good health means simplifying your life.
“We don’t delegate responsibility as a family anymore,” she has said. “It’s about making our children responsible” so that the entire family can spend more quality time together. And don’t forget to “praise” your children and “thank them” when they do help out.