The Foundation of Health: Conclusion

When I ask my patients about their diet and exercise routines, I often get a long list of all the healthy things they are doing to stay in shape. Of course, like a boss hiring new employees, I realize that this "resume" is only part of the story. Obviously, though we don't exercise nearly as often as we should or eat as well as we would like to, we are reluctant to admit it. However, this can be a big obstacle to our improving our health because we hide our own bad habits, even from ourselves. So in this final entry on the foundation of health, I would like to take some of the mental aspects of how we deal with our health habits and flip them over, so we can have a more positive approach.

Bill Moyers had an interview on PBS this past year with Michael Pollan. Mr. Pollan is the author of An Omnivore's Dilemma and recently, In Defense of Food. In his interview, he had two main recommendations for people who wanted to improve the food they were eating and the national food system, learn to cook and grow a garden. I was amazed at the Zen nature of his recommendations. For though it sounds simple, it would be a tremendous shift if we were all to start cooking for ourselves and to start growing some of our own food. His biggest rationale behind these recommendations is that it would give people an opportunity to compare quality, home-grown, home-cooked meals with what we normally eat now, which is not nearly of the same quality. It is a good idea, but a difficult one to implement. Cooking and gardening can take some time, especially if you have never done it before. It is a good starting point, though. These are just some ideas for adventures in healthier living.

In a previous post, I gave some ideas for improving your general diet plan. Now I would like to look at some longer-term "lifestyle adventures". First of all, I think we should all remember that the most successfull long term plans often start out with little baby steps. Why? Because those little baby steps add up over time and pretty soon we can see that we are making real progress. So before we all plant victory gardens and start planning our daily menus for the next year, I would like to recommend a few baby steps.

• Grow a few potted vegetables and herbs to use in your cooking. Roma tomatoes can be grown indoors if you have enough light and they make a great addition to many dishes. In addition, you get to taste a real tomato!
  
• Find four healthy meals that you can make at home and become an "expert" at preparing them. Make one meal per week.

Making little changes like this can motivate you to make bigger changes down the road. One last note here. Let's not beat ourselves up when we don't eat well. We should simply note that we could have eaten something better. On the other hand, when we eat a delicious and nutritious meal we should pause for moment of thanks and congratulate ourselves for doing the right thing. I know this sounds hokey, but try it for a month and see if you don't notice what your eating that is good and what is not.

Exercise, which was discussed in the last post, is much the same way. Before we set out to climb Mount Everest, we should probably get a few day hikes under our belts. The flip-side of that coin is that if you start doing a day hike here and there, pretty soon you are looking for bigger adventures. As we improve our physical health, our mind starts to dream of greater challenges and this is a good thing. It is what truly keeps us young.

What exercise is the best for you? I think it is the exercise that motivates you to do more, to dream of bigger challenges. That will be different things for everyone, whether that is running in the next marathon or taking that long hiking trip or playing basketball with your friends, doesn't really matter. What does matter is that it is an activity that you love and one that motivates you to stay active. If you wake up and tell yourself grumpily "I have to go running today so I can stay in shape", then I would say that running isn't the activity for you. On the other hand if you wake up excited about taking your morning run because you know it makes you feel so much better throughout the day, bravo! Activities, of course, may change over the course of our lives, but we can stay active throughout our lives if we are careful to maintain the three-legged stool I mentioned in the last blog. Always include cardiovascular training, strength training and stretching in your overall exercise routine. Remember, good health is the foundation of a happy life!