Recently I've been thinking more about my health and how I can avoid getting ill (I had a really bad bout of 'flu in January, and it made me realise how vulnerable the human body can be). Anyway, here's my five step health regime. It's just commonsense ideas really.
1) Eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. I always have vegetables with my evening meal, but recently I've been taking fresh fruit to work rather than go to Sainsbury's and buy sandwiches. So this is my typical lunch. I try to buy fruit locally and in season (obviously this doesn't apply to things like bananas.
2) Drink two litres of water per day. I used to drink coffee and tea constantly, especially at work. As soon as I finished one cup I would get another. Then I just gave it up and started to drink water. Usually I bring a two-litre bottle of water in to work and put it on my desk and do not leave to go home until it has all gone. This is the single best thing I have ever done for my health. If for any reason I do not get a full two litres of water I start to feel really ill. I must have been INCREDIBLY dehydrated when I was drinking coffee all day (I still have cups of tea, but I never touch coffee now). Our brains are seventy per cent water, so even a small amount of dehydration must have an effect on our mental processes.
3) Walk or run three miles per day (objective to cover a thousand miles in a year). This is a struggle to do, but so far I’ve kept it up (more or less). I started by getting up an hour earlier and jogging round the lanes (exactly three miles) but I only managed to keep this up for two weeks. So I started using my lunch break at work and just walking round the block three miles. Or taking three separate one-mile walks (makes the day go quickly). One of the marketing executives was trying to tell me that walking isn’t much good but I don’t see the difference in walking three miles in forty minutes or jogging three miles in twenty minutes (walking isn’t aerobic, but that’s not what I’m after).
4) Get at least seven hours sleep per night. Not much progress with this one - there always seems so much to do, plus I get easily distracted with books or television (for instance Newsnight last night had a fascinating focus group looking at Tony Blair’s “legacy” and this took me over my 11pm cut-off). I’ve compromised by getting as much sleep during the week as I can, and then making up the lost hours at the weekend, so I’m getting an average of seven hours per night.
5) Take the following supplements – zinc, omega 3, glucosamine. Doctors say you can get all the nutrients you need from a balanced diet, but I think supplements are the best way to guarantee this. Also, you’d need to eat a lot of fish to get 1000 mg of omega 3 per day.
See also http://afroml.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/six-point-plan-to-improve-my-health.html
1) Eat five portions of fruit and vegetables per day. I always have vegetables with my evening meal, but recently I've been taking fresh fruit to work rather than go to Sainsbury's and buy sandwiches. So this is my typical lunch. I try to buy fruit locally and in season (obviously this doesn't apply to things like bananas.
2) Drink two litres of water per day. I used to drink coffee and tea constantly, especially at work. As soon as I finished one cup I would get another. Then I just gave it up and started to drink water. Usually I bring a two-litre bottle of water in to work and put it on my desk and do not leave to go home until it has all gone. This is the single best thing I have ever done for my health. If for any reason I do not get a full two litres of water I start to feel really ill. I must have been INCREDIBLY dehydrated when I was drinking coffee all day (I still have cups of tea, but I never touch coffee now). Our brains are seventy per cent water, so even a small amount of dehydration must have an effect on our mental processes.
3) Walk or run three miles per day (objective to cover a thousand miles in a year). This is a struggle to do, but so far I’ve kept it up (more or less). I started by getting up an hour earlier and jogging round the lanes (exactly three miles) but I only managed to keep this up for two weeks. So I started using my lunch break at work and just walking round the block three miles. Or taking three separate one-mile walks (makes the day go quickly). One of the marketing executives was trying to tell me that walking isn’t much good but I don’t see the difference in walking three miles in forty minutes or jogging three miles in twenty minutes (walking isn’t aerobic, but that’s not what I’m after).
4) Get at least seven hours sleep per night. Not much progress with this one - there always seems so much to do, plus I get easily distracted with books or television (for instance Newsnight last night had a fascinating focus group looking at Tony Blair’s “legacy” and this took me over my 11pm cut-off). I’ve compromised by getting as much sleep during the week as I can, and then making up the lost hours at the weekend, so I’m getting an average of seven hours per night.
5) Take the following supplements – zinc, omega 3, glucosamine. Doctors say you can get all the nutrients you need from a balanced diet, but I think supplements are the best way to guarantee this. Also, you’d need to eat a lot of fish to get 1000 mg of omega 3 per day.
See also http://afroml.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/six-point-plan-to-improve-my-health.html
1 comment:
Really great advice. The only thing I would add is 5000 IU of Vitamin D every day, as we don't usually get enough from the sun.
Post a Comment