Revitalise your body

The newspapers are packed with stories about the latest dangers and hazards to our health - from mobile phones to sugar, mercury fillings to artificial sweeteners, genetically-modified foods to noise pollution. The headlines can leave you feeling confused and overwhelmed - and above all, powerless.

But in reality, choosing to live a healthier lifestyle is a choice that any of us can make. It's not about reacting to the latest scare story, banning certain foods or products from your life and adopting an extreme, all-or-nothing approach - it's about balance and moderation. It's not about being perfect, it's about being a little more health aware, and doing the best you can on a daily basis. After all, it's not what you do for the next seven days that's going to affect your health for the next seven years; it's what you do for the next seven years!

Due to this overwhelming interest on living a healthy lifestyle, Well@Pfizer - an online health education resource platform - has been launched by Pfizer South Africa. Well@Pfizer provides South Africans, with healthy living information that is relevant for South Africa and practical enough for people to start incorporating healthy habits into their lifestyle.

As a wellness and healthy expert and Founder of My Personal Trainer (a leading health, fitness and wellness company), my job is about selling the dream of a healthy lifestyle and having the tools and ability to make that dream a reality for my clients. Well@Pfizer plays a proactive role in helping that healthy living dream become a reality by putting individuals at the center of their own healthcare. Well@Pfizer allows them to make informed choices and offers more convenience and control over their individual healthcare decisions. So for me Well@Pfizer becomes an invaluable source of healthy living information that will benefit all South Africans

With the increase in cancer rates and obesity and ever growing knowledge of trans-fats, saturated fats, carcinogens, whole foods, organic, and a list of other buzz words, many people are now asking themselves how can I live a Healthy Lifestyle? While each person may have their own definition, a healthy lifestyle should lie in Balance. Balance in all aspects of life, food, hobbies, business, family, education, and everywhere else.

To help those who are genuinely looking to make changes in their life, for themselves and family, I have put together a list of steps to show how you can begin a journey down a path that leads to a healthy lifestyle.

Step 1: Headlines

Sit down, by yourself, with a friend, spouse, relative, or whomever you plan on sharing this path with, and honestly look at your life. Make a list of different Headlines that fill your life; i.e. Eating, Exercise, Work, Family, Finance, etc.

Step 2: Step 1

A confusing heading perhaps, but first things first, and that is a first step. You cannot begin somewhere you're not, so you have to first figure out where you are starting from. With each of your headlines, figure out where you are; for instance:

Family: Spend a couple hours with wife and kids when I get home from work. We usually watch TV. Take kids to soccer games on the weekend.

Eating: coffee for breakfast, fast food 3 times a week, microwaved food 2 times a week, lot of fruit, home cooked meal on weekends, too many potato chips

Step 3: Analyse

Look at your list. Look at your headlines and descriptions and see where you are. Think about where you want to be, and figure out how to get there. For the example above,

Changes:

Family: I would like to spend more "Quality Time" with my family. Maybe play a board game or play outdoor game like soccer with them. Maybe on the weekends, or when I get home instead of TV.

Eating: Eat something for breakfast (will help to boost metabolism, and give me more energy)

Try to cut down on Fast food to once a week, or switch to a healthier fast food options (Subway)

Fruit - GOOD

Try to eat more Home Cooked meals (don't really have the time, but maybe I can cook more than I need on the weekends and microwave the left overs during the week)

Step 4: Just Do It

More times than not, simply not doing things is our biggest enemy. Excuses are easy to find. It's not hard to live a healthy lifestyle; you just have to do it. Be serious about it, for yourself, and your family. Each change you make in your life will benefit you as a person; your Health and General Well Being.

As I said before, it's about Balance. Start slow, but start. It's not a matter of cutting out all snack foods, running marathons, and needing to be a millionaire, it's about making adjustments in your life to increase your overall well being.

Now that you have the steps to kick-start your journey towards your healthiest life, its time to look at some of the elements within your lifestyle you will have to change:

1. Eat a healthy diet
Eating a nutritious; balanced diet is perhaps the lynchpin of healthy living. Not only does it keep all your body systems working efficiently, it also provides energy, protects your heart, helps prevent and fight off disease, maintains a healthy body weight, contributes to healthy skin, hair and nails and even influences mood. Most of us eat too much processed and refined food (containing excess sugar, fat and salt) and not enough whole grains, fibre, fruit and vegetables.

Take action

Take a daily pill. Most people benefit from a daily multivitamin and mineral complex, particularly if they don't eat the recommended five portions of fruit and vegetables each day, if they regularly miss meals or rely on highly-processed foods.
Up your antioxidants. These naturally-occurring compounds fight disease-causing free radicals in the body and are found mainly in vegetables, fruits, whole grains, legumes and nuts. Vitamins A, C and E and the mineral selenium are powerful antioxidants, so foods rich in these micronutrients are a great place to start.

Eating more fruit and vegetables is one of the simplest things you can do to enhance your health - and up your antioxidant intake. While ‘five-a-day' is the well-known recommendation, the ideal is seven to nine portions, according to many experts. Don't get stuck in the trap of eating the same varieties, day in day out. Make it a rule never to leave the house without having consumed one of your five a day, and always have another one in your bag, lunchbox or car.
Avoid trans fats. Increasingly, evidence is building to suggest that this type of ‘manufactured' fat is more harmful even than saturated fat - no safe level has been established. Read food labels and avoid products with the words ‘hydrogenated vegetable oils' or trans fats on.
Switch to wholegrain and brown versions of rice, pasta and bread - these are more nutritious, in terms of their vitamin and mineral content, and also contain more fibre than white varieties.
Eat more fish. There is strong evidence that the 'omega-3 fatty acids' in oily fish helps to protect against heart disease. Eat sardines, salmon, herring, mackerel or fresh tuna once a week, and another type of non-oily fish once a week.
2. Maintain a healthy body weight
More than half the adults in South Africa are overweight. If you are overweight (having the “bierboep” looking like a crate of beer instead a six pack), losing weight and making healthier food choices is crucial to better health, as obesity is associated with an alarming number of diseases including diabetes, high blood pressure, stroke, heart problems, some types of cancer, arthritis of the back and legs, gallstones, breathing problems, some complications of pregnancy and depression.

Take action

Weigh yourself and check your body mass index. If you are overweight, aim to lose weight. Don't be tempted by quick-fix faddy diets. The best way to keep weight off is to lose it slowly and sensibly.
Don't cut out, cut down. Instead of banning biscuits from the house, for example, allow yourself one in the morning and one in the evening instead of eating half the packet.
Learn what portion sizes look like. For example, a serving of cheese should be about the size of a matchbox, a serving of meat the size of the palm of your hand. While what you eat is obviously a very important part of the equation, even very healthy food, like wholegrain bread, oily fish and pasta, when eaten to excess, is fattening.
Reduce your use of oil or fat in cooking. You can substitute water, tomato juice or white wine - with a dash of soy sauce - for oil in pan frying.
Go easy with fat-laden condiments and sauces, like mayonnaise, oily salad dressings, rich or creamy sauces and gravy.
Trim visible fat from meat, and don't eat the skin of meat or fish. Opt for leaner cuts, such as back bacon rather than streaky, chicken breast rather than leg…
Don't forgo dairy products, as these are the richest source of calcium, which has an essential role in muscle contraction and in metabolism. It's also vital in maintaining bone health, as calcium is a component of bone. Go for low fat versions instead.
3. Get moving
Despite myriad campaigns and initiatives, we South Africans still aren't getting off the couch nearly often enough to benefit our health. Obesity is such a fast-growing problem in this country. But we remain sedentary at our peril: regular physical activity has been shown to reduce the risk of a number of chronic diseases including cardiovascular disease and Type 2 diabetes - as well as the risk of premature death.

Take action

Stop and think before you make a journey. Could you walk it or bike it instead of driving or using public transport? If it will take under ten to 15 minutes to get there, then the answer is yes!
Be more aware of how you use your body. Bend your knees when you pick up heavy objects, sit at your desk properly and try to keep your tummy pulled in and shoulders back and down.
Find a fitness goal that you can work towards. It could be something as simple as being able to walk up all seven flights of stairs at work, or entering a charity fun run.

Think of a sport or fitness activity you loved as a child - perhaps netball or judo, cross country running or ballet - and find somewhere that you can give it a go again. It may rekindle your enthusias.
Avoid labour-saving devices in and outside the home - like the remote control, the food processor, the lifts and escalators, the shopping home delivery service - even the ‘no-scrub' bathroom cleaning fluid!
Invest in a pedometer (you can get one for a few pounds) and monitor your steps for a full day. The goal is to reach 10,000 steps per day, but if you are like most Brits, your total may be closer to half of that. Aim to build up by 200 steps per day.
4. Drink more fluids
Many of us spend a lot of time in a state of ‘hypo' hydration. We're not officially dehydrated but just slightly under-hydrated. This can make you feel sluggish, impair mental function and increase the risk of constipation. It also doesn't do wonders for your complexion.

Take action

Keep a bottle of water handy - on your desk, in your bag or in the car - you'll be surprised how often you take a sip from it.
Drink a cup of water for every cup of tea or coffee you drink.
Swap sugary fizzy drinks for sparkling water. Don't drink too many diet drinks - the acid in them is harmful to teeth and there is still controversy over the safety of the artificial sweeteners they contain.
Swap at least some of your caffeinated beverages for decaffeinated ones. Caffeine is a diuretic, meaning it makes the body shed water. ‘Water-processed' decaffeinated coffee is free from chemicals and much tastier.
Monitor the colour of your urine. If you are adequately hydrated, it should be the colour of pale straw. Dark urine, infrequently passed, is a sure sign of dehydration.
5. Watch the booze
Excess drinking has become so much part of our culture that many of us barely notice we are doing it leading to alarming increases in alcohol related diseases from cirrhosis of the liver to heart problems, stroke, obesity, some cancers and alcohol-related accidents. Stick to the recommended amounts and you can enjoy alcohol without harming your health.

Take action

Don't get involved in ‘rounds'. You often end up drinking just because it's been bought for you, even though you already feel you've had enough.
Don't drink alcohol when you are thirsty. Make your first drink a large soft one; otherwise you will gulp it down too quickly.
Don't drink on an empty stomach - either drink with food or eat before you go out.

For more information on healthy lifestyle visit www.wellatpfizer.co.za or www.pfizer.co.za