When we think of good health, the first thing that comes to our mind is Weight-Loss. Sadly, for most of us, that’s the only thing that we attribute to a good health. However, weight management is just one aspect of a good health. Other aspects include high energy levels, good mood, good skin, good hair, deeper sleep state, ability to focus and the list goes on. All these, along with weight loss or maintaining the right weight are the real indicators of a good health, which is nothing but a byproduct of a healthy lifestyle.
Here are some lifestyle changes that you can make to get on a journey towards a healthier you. These are really simple changes and you do not have to wait till tomorrow to start, you can start them right away. It does not require any investment, all it needs is a committed you with a belief that you can start them right now and follow it. Soon enough you would step towards automaticity and you would not even have to put any effort to follow these.
- Eat only 3-4 meals in a day: You should eat not more than 3-4 meals in a day, which should be your breakfast, lunch, snack (optional) and dinner. Other than these 4 meals, try not to consume anything other than water. If you follow this, it would give enough time for the food you ate at each meal to digest and would also give enough intermittent rest to your digestive system. Also, have these 4 meals at the same time everyday (with a maximum of 30 minute deviation)
- 20 minutes or more fasted state workout: When you workout after being fasted for 12 or more hours, it helps to flip your ‘metabolic switch’. In simple terms, your body starts using stored fat for fuel instead of glucose [1]. The easiest way to achieve this is to have your dinner early and then workout before your breakfast the next day. If you workout regularly, all you need to do is to adjust your workout schedule accordingly. If you are a beginner, start with basic 20-minute workout schedule and eventually increase the duration.
- 10-minute walk after each meal: A 10-15 minutes walk after each meal (especially lunch & dinner) is the best dessert that you can serve your body. Walking helps speed up the time it takes food to move from the stomach into the small intestine. This could help improve satiety after eating, aid digestion and help control blood sugar [2].
- Chose the right oil for cooking: Do not use polyunsaturated oils like vegetable, soybean and corn oils because they are highly refined and create inflammation. Instead, use local oil you grew up on, like cold pressed mustard and coconut oil, pure ghee, etc. Use Olive oil only for mild cooking and salads (Indian cooking, which is typically done at high temperature, tend to oxidize olive oil that leads to free radicals and hence cause inflammation) [3]
- Include fresh fruits in your daily diet: Fruits are the source of many essential vitamins, minerals and fiber that remains to be under-consumed. Remember that fruits have fructose and are relatively high on calories as well and hence it makes it very important ‘when’ you eat fruits. You should never have them as dessert. Best time to eat fruit is either at the breakfast or 30 minute before your lunch. You can also consume it as your evening snack but never after sunset.
- Early Dinner, Late breakfast: Each cell in our body has a circadian clock that is aligned to function in sync with Sunrise and Sunset cycles. After sunset, our body starts to prepare for rest and pancreas slows down the process of digestive enzyme secretion. Hence, it is ideal to eat our last meal by sunset, or at-least align it as close as possible to the sunset. Also, do not rush for your breakfast the next day, unless your body demands for it (listen to your body). If you do not consume anything other than water between your dinner and breakfast, that not only gives rest to your digestive system but also routes all the energy to other bodily functions like immune system, cell repair, skin repair, detoxification, muscle and hair growth, hormonal balance and numerous other functions. E.g. If you eat your dinner by 7PM and have your breakfast at 9AM the next day, it would give you a healthy and beautiful 14 hours of intermittent fast.
- Every now and then, take a break from Sitting: A sedentary lifestyle is the main reason for hypertension, obesity, cardiovascular diseases and early ageing. Metabolism slows down 90% after 30 minutes of sitting [4], which simply mean your body starts to convert glucose into fat instead of actively utilizing it. However, just 3-5 minutes of walk can get your metabolism back on peak. Hence, make sure you move and move frequently. Hence, avoid taking lift and instead take stairs whenever you can, walk when you are on phone or during your scrum and put an alarm if needed for few days till this process is automatized.
- Stop eating when you are 80% full: We tend to overeat almost all our meals because of mindless eating. Since we do not practice conscious eating, we do not listen to our body when it indicates we are full. Hara Hachi Bu, is a Confucian teaching that instructs people to eat until they are 80% full [5]. If you simply listen to your body and stop eating before you are full, it would not only bring down your calorie consumption but also take a lot of load off your digestive system. Do not watch TV or be on Phone, do not have stressful thoughts or indulge in arguments when you eat. Also, chew your food well (after-all all the taste we experience is while the food is in mouth, so why rush?) and eat slowly. This will give your body enough time to assess when you are full and indicate you accordingly.
- Expose yourself to morning Sunlight: Like other natural health resources around us, importance of morning sunlight has also been largely neglected, possibly because it is free. The AM sunlight helps your body align to the Circadian rhythm and facilitates serotonin secretion by the brain, which is a ‘Happiness inducing hormone’ and sets the tone for a good day [2]. It also helps you get a good night sleep (Read my blog on good sleep rituals for deeper state of sleep). Moreover, our body primarily depends on sunlight to synthesize Vitamin D, which is so important for good bone density and overall bone health. You should expose yourself to sunlight for at-least 10 minutes everyday but not later than 10 AM.
Will power has a shelf life, rituals don’t. Hence, you can design beautiful rituals to include these lifestyle changes in order to sustain them. Once these become a part of your lifestyle and you are able to do this for a period of time, you will see the result for yourself. These lifestyle changes sound really simple and the fact is that good health was always this simple but unfortunately, it has been made to sound complicated after the commercialization of health & fitness industry. Think of these changes as you are investing in mutual fund. You do it regularly but not with an aim to withdraw immediately. Stay with it for sometime and you will reap the benefits.
A goal is accomplished by a set of actions and every action starts with a first step. Make this your first step towards a healthier and better you!
References:
- https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5783752/
- https://time.com/5405778/walking-after-eating-good-for-you/#:~:text=Her%20research%20has%20found%20that,help%20improve%20satiety%20after%20eating.
- Book: Magic Weight Loss Pill by Luke Coutinho
- Book: Ikigai by Hector Garcia and Francesc Miralles
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hara_hachi_bun_me
