You’ve heard of a Health Savings Account (HSA), but have you heard of how to build a Health Account?
This is the foundational idea for everything I do: helping others learn how to have a vibrant, joy-filled, abundant life through building health.
Have you ever dreamed of a bank account that would allow limitless travel, shopping, and adventures? How would it feel to buy for others without regard to your bank account?
That is an example of a bank account I want to teach you about. And not just any bank account but a Health Bank Account.
Having the health to be on mission, to travel, to be involved with your family.
Many of us desire to live abundantly and generously without worrying whether or not we have the money to cover the expense. Only a small percentage of people ever achieve this goal. With hard work, diligence, and small sacrifices along the way, this goal can be achieved.
Not only in your bank account, but also in your health account! Let's look at all the tools we have to build a healthy bank account.
What Is A Health Savings Account?
A Health Savings Account allows people to transfer money from a paycheck to a special account that’s used for reimbursement of medical expenses before the income is taxed.
There’s a “pay ahead” mentality that results in more money in a bank account over time since the money isn’t taxed. This investment is a blessing when a health crisis occurs.
What about a health savings account that paid ahead and helped you avoid a health crisis?
When we invest money in our bank account, it grows.
When we invest in good health daily, it improves.
We can enjoy a more vibrant, energy-filled, joyful life. That’s the health savings account I want to teach you today.
It thrills me to show you how to have a health account that overflows with abundant deposits and watch your health account balance grow and grow and grow.
We all have experienced or know someone who’s experienced the costs of unhealthy living.
Has there ever been a time when you wanted to do something but your health prevented it?
- Going on a mission trip
- Having plenty of energy to do activities with your kids and family
- Waking up alert and in anticipation for the day ahead
- Not wearing out halfway through the day
- Taking that long hike or bike ride
- Fitting in every seat comfortably, whether on a plane or a roller coaster
- Experiencing freedom from consistent aches, pains, and inflammation
Let’s say, “No more!” And as I teach in the Inner Circle Coaching group to say: That’s not me anymore!
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How to Invest in Your Health & Build a Thriving Health Account
I learned about depositing into my health account years ago. It has paid dividends ever since.
Maybe you’ve heard my story before - either in blog form or video - but perhaps not.
My husband and I faced a health crisis and were tired of being sick and tired.
We decided to stop overdrawing our health account and instead start making great deposits every day.
Not only did I lose 60 pounds, but I gained energy, zest for life, and more opportunities to fulfill God’s mission for me than I could imagine.
Building a Health Account - The Basics
Today we’re going to use economics 101 to help us understand health.
Do you know someone who lives paycheck to paycheck?
What happens when the car breaks down or a hot water heater springs a leak or an unexpected medical emergency occurs? These bills can be $600 or $6,000 or even higher.
How long will it take them to recover from this set back?
- 2 months
- 4 months
- 6 months
- 12 months
- Several years
Crises like these can set a person or family back for a long time. Unfortunately, scenes like these take place everyday in many people’s finances.
However, it’s happening even more frequently in regards to health.
Our bank accounts reflect how well we manage money. Energy, health, and vitality reflect how well we’re managing our health account.
Medical experts say that in the coming decades the most important determinants of health and longevity will be the personal everyday choices made by each individual.
How Healthy is Your Bank Account?
Every day, we make choices:
- How we’re going to live
- What we’re going to spend money on
- How we’re spending our time
All of these choices are going to determine how long we live and how well we live.
We make these choices, not our doctors, spouse, kids, or employer. Choices that can diminish or build our health account.
So, if we want to get paid, we must choose to go to work. There are not many of us who can pay our bills without choosing to go to work.
The same is true of our health: We make choices each day that will bring money into our health bank account or make withdrawals.
Let’s look at these choices.
Food
When we choose foods designed by God for our enjoyment, this builds health.
Dr. Rex Russell introduced me to these 3 principles years ago. The stand as reliable standards that make rich deposits into our health account. These 3 principles are:
1. Eat the foods given to us by God
2. Eat the foods in the way closest designed by God
3. Don’t let any food become an addiction.
Exercise
Moving our bodies is very important for everyday health.
Many experts suggest getting a minimum of 20 minutes of exercise a day.
This can be a brisk walk, an hourly getting up and walking around the house or office for 5 minutes, hitting the gym, or playing a sport. Even waltzing your spouse around the living room or ballroom floor counts!
The point is to get muscles moving and the heart pumping.
There are all sorts of apps and devices to help with reminders and keeping track of exercise and celebrating milestones (like 210 active minutes a week). Use all the electronics available for your advantage!
An exercise buddy is a good idea too. We all do better with accountability.
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Attitude
Our attitude makes a great impact on all of these areas.
- Are we thankful for everything God has given us?
- Do we enjoy life to the fullest?
- Do we infuse fun into life?
- Can we go through difficult and trying circumstances without resentment?
- Do we let go of hurts and offenses?
Our minds, bodies, and spirits are inextricably linked. Our thoughts affect our health and our health impacts our thoughts.
It can be the worst cycle or the best blessing.
We have two options.
Option #1: When we focus on what’s wrong with the world and our lives we tend to live in regret and discontentment. Our bodies feel sluggish and achy and we don’t have the energy to fix good foods or workout.
As we eat processed, fake foods and don't exercise, we are deprived of good hormones and chemicals. This leads to feeling even worse.
OR
Option #2: We fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, and approach life from His perspective. Then we feel better, which leads to making better health choices.
As we make better eating and exercise choices, we have the hormones and chemical balance that promote positive thinking, energy, and vibrancy.
I prefer option 2. What about you?
Medicine
Do you choose a drug for many symptoms that could be alleviated by changing the foods we eat, or drinking more water, or losing weight?
We often foster poor health habits and search for a quick fix. Have pain - take a pill. Have an upset stomach - take another pill. This leads to masking symptoms instead of getting to the root of the problem.
By changing our diet and lifestyle habits, we can frequently reduce or even eliminate the need for prescription and over-the-counter medications and help build a thriving health account.
Do I hear an AMEN?
God created everything we need, much of which can be found in natural, healthy foods. I have countless blogs that talk about the plethora of nutrients found in a variety of foods and how good science continues to support the richness God included in His creation.
There are unique situations when medicine is necessary. However, if you can reduce or eliminate the need for medications that have harmful side effects, don’t those sound like great dividends to a healthy health account?
Water
Our body needs water. While it can pull water from foods and other beverages, there’s nothing quite like the dividend payout of straight, pure water.
All water isn’t created equally. Water from different sources often have harmful chemicals and put them in our bodies, especially if we’re drinking an adequate amount (half your body weight in ounces - per day!).
There are a variety of ways to get pure water and countless benefits of making this deposit daily.
Consumer Products
Have you noticed the skin patches to help people stop smoking, eating, for heart disease, and for birth control?
Over 60% of what is put on your skin travels to your bloodstream. The medical market has capitalized on this, but it goes way beyond purposefully putting on some kind of patch.
This means every product in and near you matters.
It has been proven home cleaning products create a toxic environment for our health. Especially in children and pets.
Many tout certain cleaning products and disinfectants as the greatest way to be healthy. Just eliminate all the germs!
Even this year, 2021, is the final stage of removing all triclosan from popular products due to the harm caused in children and expectant mothers. Yet, it took over 5 years of lobbying to make this happen, even after it had been proven over 15 years prior.
All harmful ingredients have not been eliminated. These products strip us of our defense - our immunity. To learn more about this read about this in the Treasures of Health Nutrition Manual (a resource overflowing with riches that will help you build a healthy bank account).
Instead, let’s boost our immune system through all the ways listed above and continue to invest in our health with safe products.
As people have learned the difference between harmful cleaning and helpful cleaning, consumers have cried out for better products. Today, there are a wide variety of natural and organic household products available.
Make the switch today and reap the rewards of increased health from the inside out - including alleviation of skin problems, allergies, and reducing asthma issues.
Hefty Dividends of an Excellent Health Account
If we do this work and make the right investments, the payoff is going to be greater than any stock market boom.
Here are just a few proceeds we’ll receive:
- Better resistance to illness
- Less or no aches and pains
- Increased mental alertness
- Greater energy - catch me if you can!
- More flexibility
- Blood sugar stability - imagine no more cravings/crashes
- Emotional health - think happy days!
These represent the interest paid on the investments in our health. Every day is payday!
Not only do my health investments pay dividends to me, but also to my husband, kids, family, and many others that I interact with.
Plus, I get to share this lesson of the bank account with others and then they get paid!!! How good is that?
Now we know what the good investments in our health account are and what just a few of the rewards are. But what are the expenses?
Health Account Expenses
This is the list of expenses that will cost in the short and long term.
As you read, take note of the changes you’ve already made and what the next step could be to eliminate an item or habit that has a high health cost.
Fast Food Diet
At conferences and seminars I’ve done throughout the years, I have often shown my fast food displays that include a hamburger, cheeseburgers, fish filet, fries, onion rings and other foods that are several years old. Believe it or not, they still look the same.
Don’t know about you, but I find that scary! We like our food to last, but good, healthy, nutritious food naturally decays.
Food that lasts don't benefit us, especially when it’s loaded with chemicals, fats, preservatives, and other ingredients that harm our health. It will make large withdrawals, counteracting all the great work you've done to build a healthy bank account for your health.
Sporadic Exercise
Remember that exercise is important? We might miss a day or two here or there, and that’s understandable. But our bodies were made to move.
Taking an hour or two to work on a project or max out your abilities in the gym once a month or so isn’t going to increase your health account balance.
And it’ll have your body crying out for mercy!
OTC and RX Medications
We’ve already discussed how medications can hinder your health. They often act like siphons on your account, making withdrawals you might not even notice.
Educate yourself. Read labels and those pesky inserts. Talk to your doctor. Research what foods, herbs, and vitamins can help take care of whatever illness or disease you’re struggling with.
In many cases, there are lifestyle changes that can eliminate illness and negative symptoms without medications.
Stress
We can’t always eliminate stressors in our lives, but we do have power over making health choices that equip us to handle stress and how we respond to those situations and circumstances.
Empower yourself to find peace and joy no matter what. (God’s Word says that He gives us His peace that surpasses understanding, so it IS possible!)
Synthetic Supplements
Synthetics will stimulate, yet, not nourish your cells. That is expensive in more ways than one.
The University of California Berkeley conducted the Landmark Study in 2007, which observed people who took supplements for over 20 years. The ones who took synthetic supplements had higher diabetes and heart disease than those who took none at all.
Those certainly aren’t the results one would expect from all the advertising claims of supplements. And the opposite of the results we desire.
On the other hand, the study showed that those who took a whole food natural supplement were far better in their health and longevity.
The closer we get to how God made things, the more we benefit.
Dehydration
If you are just 1% dehydrated, you’re not going to be able to think clearly and will experience fatigue.
Water is essential! And having enough water is important.
Remember, our bodies are between 45% - 75% water. Let’s hydrate and give them what they need.
Excessive Sugar Kills
The average American consumes 2-3 pounds of sugar a week, totalling 100-150 pounds of sugar a year. And possibly more, considering the variants of sugar found in processed foods that may not be taken into account in these figures.
That’s astounding, especially when you consider that prior to the 1900s, the average American consumed about 5 pounds of sugar PER YEAR.
What does all that sugar do to our bodies? It can cause:
- Eczema in children
- Toxemia during pregnancy
- Elevated triglycerides
- Fatigue
- Food allergies
- Free radical damage in the bloodstream
- Headaches
- Hypertension
- Hormonal imbalances
- Type 2 diabetes
- Hyperactivity
- Fluid retention
- Heart disease
- Tooth decay
- Depressed immune system
And that’s the short list! Sugar was never meant to be consumed in large quantities on a regular basis. We've trained our taste buds to crave sugar, but by battling and defeating this addiction, we make a large investment in our health.
Victim Mentality Harms
Just as a positive and grateful attitude is akin to making deposits to our health, negative thoughts and victim embracing are like making withdrawals.
It’s easy to come up with reasons we’re unhealthy:
- My poor health is my parents’ fault. They should have taught me better.
- It’s in my genes. I can’t help it.
- It’s my spouse’s fault. They keep bringing in the junk.
- If only my doctors were better, I’d be healthier.
However, no matter what our background or current circumstances are, we have the power to make changes in our lives. To respond differently. To break poor habits. And to build the muscles of self-control and discipline.
Unforgiveness and Bitterness Destroy
As costly as it is to forgive, there is only one consolation: unforgiveness costs far more.
Bitterness is like a murky swamp blocking us from the treasure of good health. It weighs us down as much as a physical load would and wears us down.
Scripture tells us to forgive not only for our relationship with God and others, but for ourselves.
God designed us as intricate, marvelous beings and intertwined our hearts, minds, and bodies.
Even science supports this concept. Even though they don’t know why, study after study shows that our emotions impact our physical well-being and vice versa.
When we forgive - quit trying to force someone to understand and pay for the hurt they’ve caused - we’re the ones who experience freedom.
And greater health as we add one more deposit helping to build a healthy bank account.
Lack of Knowledge Impedes Success
Knowledge comes from God’s Word and wisdom is when we apply it to our lives.
In the area of health, God has given us direction and instruction. Science and the medical field can give us a glimpse into the details of why God’s plan works.
That’s why my mission is to learn and share everything I can about living a healthy lifestyle and creating a health bank account that’s full of treasure and wealth.
Knowledge is powerful. When we learn to apply God’s Word in every area of life and live according to God’s guidance, we are blessed in countless ways.
Growing Our Health Accounts
If we don't examine how we spend our money, keep track of expenditures, and balance our bank account on a regular basis, we’ll overdraft our account.
The same is true for our health account.
If we spend all our money on diet cola or fast food or sweet and salty snacks, expenses will overdraw our health account.
Too many expenses can lead to bankruptcy.
Instead, we want to live a vibrant, rich life that comes with our deposits outweighing our withdrawals.
Your health account is already open. Start making more deposits today.
I’d love to hear how your new-found (or renewed) wealth of healthy living blesses you and what you're doing to build a healthy bank account.
I pray that in all respects you may prosper and be in good health. 3 John 2
