Going Back to the Basics

Recently we had guests, my husband’s friends from college, from many eons ago. We had a lovely lunch, and a good conversation, and gradually the talk turned towards health. They talked about stress and high blood pressure, heart disease and diabetes, each one talking about their personal ailments. They talked about the medicines they take to control their conditions, and the habits they are trying to develop to feel better.

I realized I would be joining their age group pretty soon. That made me sit up and think through this whole health business. To me, nowadays, being healthy, or following health guidelines is very confusing. There are so many different viewpoints on how to take care of health through diet, exercise and medication. So I sat down and went through all the information I have collected over the years and tried to simplify it.

High blood pressure and Diabetes. These two, alone or together, are the major risk factors for heart disease, stroke and dementia. I feel if one can control or avoid these two, there is a much better chance of increasing one’s health span .

So how do we tackle these two?

Exercise: The simplest ways are to move more and do body weight exercises.

  • Move more: I am not talking about exercise here, no, just simple movement. The easiest way is to make it a game with yourself. Every little bit counts.
  • Get up every 30 min. and walk around your space.
  • Or learn a new dance step.
  • Or go to the nearest park-even if you have to drive there, and walk.
  • Or each time a particular word is mentioned on T.V, get up and walk in place
  • Or talk to a friend and walk as you do so.
  • Or take all the joints in your body through their range of motion.
  • Or push on the kitchen counters to get in some simple pushups.
  • Or do some toe and heel raises while waiting at the checkout line.

Eat wisely: The easiest way is to eat simple foods, mostly plants, not too much- the Micheal Pollan Way

  • Studies have shown that especially for women, portion sizes matter a lot. So fill up your plate, once, and try not to go for seconds. Difficult to do, I know. So then, fill up your plate, put half the food in another plate, and use that as the seconds. Simple!
  • Eat vegetables three times a day. The easiest way for me is to roast a batch in the evening and have enough leftovers for the next day. Again, I know this won’t happen all the time, but even 50-75% is good.
  • Try to decrease the use of processed food, try to decrease the use of packaged, pre-cooked meals. I do use frozen vegetables, a lot, but I think as far as I have read, those are good.
  • Sweets are to celebrate. Cookies and Ice cream and cake are treats. Keep them that way. There is a thought that ‘you are worth it, you deserve to treat yourself, celebrate each day, go for it!!’, but the fact is, that you deserve more to feel and be healthy. So cut back. The easiest way-don’t keep them in the house. This one is tried and tested. When my younger kid went to college, there was a period of time my freezer, fridge and pantry had no sugary snack-I lost 5 pounds! As soon as she came back, I have started buying the cheesecake bites and chocolate in her name, only to gain back more!

Stress less: Easier said than done. But this one is the most important point. If one is not stressing about life, one can take care of oneself. In the simplest terms, stress causes a tightening of the blood vessels, which causes less blood flow to your heart, lungs, brain. Less blood flow means, less nutrients to that organ, stagnation, which even for a few minutes can lead to harm. Have you ever felt a tightening of the chest on getting angry, or a weird sensation in your neck and jaw with anxiety? In women, stress related heart disease is more common. Chronic stress leads to chronic cortisol release which leads to its own list of problems. The easiest way to take care of stress?There is no easy way, its constant practice and being vigilant about your feelings.

  • Exercise. Yes, move more, but walking outside in nature has been shown repeatedly to help with stress.
  • Breathe. Learn to breathe, deep. When you are at your desk, or watching t.v, or cooking, or doing the other myriad things, take a deep breath and let it out slooowly.
  • Learn to be mindful, be in the present. The simplest way is to cut short your anxiety inducing thought process and note your surroundings. Anxiety, worry, stress is fear of the future. Bringing your mind to the present might break that cycle of fear.
  • Have faith. Believe in something bigger than yourself, be that God, or the universe. Once you believe that entity is in control, ‘you can do your best and to them leave the rest’. It’s a very freeing thought, try it.

Sleep tight: The easiest way is to not get too stressed about it

  • Start with the morning routine-get up at the same time every day and turn your face to the sun.
  • Count back 8 hours and go to bed at the same time. Yes, even on the weekends.
  • Clean the bedroom. Keep the clutter out of sight. Keep the room dark.
  • No phone/t.v./kindle/iPad for an hour before bed. This one is the hardest for me. There’s always one more article to read or video to watch.

Each of the above actions is simple and easy to do. I feel life, and health, have become so complicated and expensive, it’s a good idea to go back to the basics and keep it simple.

All the above points are so easy to do on a routine basis, but in the general mindlessness of the day, these get forgotten. I am going to work on these one habit at a time

What do you find difficult to do for your health?

Go for a walk and take a picture of the sweetest thing you see today.